Blacktown tavern sold for $25m as long-time owners exit sector
Adam’s Tavern includes 30 gaming machines.

Blacktown tavern sold for $25m as long-time owners exit sector

Just two months after selling Norton’s Irish Pub in Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner-west to Rich Lister Justin Hemmes for $24 million, well-known pub owner Peter Walker has splashed out a similar amount for a venue in the city’s west.

Mr Walker, who also owns the Doonside Hotel in Western Sydney, agreed to pay $25 million for Adam’s Tavern, a nearby gaming pub at 61 Richmond Road, Blacktown.

The sale set a record price for a Blacktown hotel, according to selling agents John Musca and Kate Macdonald from JLL (who also sold Norton’s Irish Pub on behalf of Mr Walker), while highlighting the strong demand for metropolitan pubs despite the city’s lockdown.

The previous highest price paid for a Blacktown hotel was the Sportsman’s Hotel which sold to Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital for $23.4 million in November 2019, in a deal also brokered by JLL.

The sale of Adam’s Tavern continues a trend of long-term family owners divesting their holdings amid the uncertain trading outlook, while capitalising on strong appetite from owner-operators and institutional investors.

Adam’s Tavern, which includes a drive-through bottle-shop, public bar, bistro and gaming lounge with 30 machines, was offered for sale by Bob McGhee, who established the hotel 30 years ago.

Mr Musca said JLL had managed the sale of more than 15 hotels on behalf of long-time owners of between 25 and 50 years.

These include the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay, which the Mooney family sold in June for $55 million to a group of high-profile investors after 30 years of ownership; and the Gladstone Hotel in Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s inner west, which the Coote family sold to ASX-listed Redcape for $38 million in December after 42 years of ownership

One of Sydney’s oldest pubs, The London Hotel in Balmain, was snapped up in July by a private investment group for $8.5 million after more than three decades of ownership by the Stevens family, in a deal also brokered by JLL.

Adding to the string of divestments of long-held pubs, was the sale in July of the Grand Hotel in Newcastle (30 years of ownership) to a local syndicate, the sale of the Tumut Star Hotel in Tumut (34 years of ownership) in regional NSW in June and the sale of the Emerald Hotel, South Melbourne (48 years of ownership) in December to Kay & Burton chairman Gerald Delany for $6 million.

“The owner [of Adam’s Tavern] was one of the last remaining Western Sydney owner-operators in a climate where independent single hotel ownership is diminishing,” Ms Macdonald said.

‘We know decisions like this doesn’t come lightly, but the timing from a family objectives and strength of market perspective seemed to align.”

Mr McGee said he wished the new owner Mr Walker, a long-time friend, all the very best.

“I’m confident he will do very well at Adam’s,” Mr McGhee said.