Darling Harbour All Hands Brewing House sells for $20 million
Signature Hospitality Group has acquired the All Hands Brewing House on King Street Wharf in Darling Harbour for $20 million, its first acquisition in Sydney.
The company – which is based in Melbourne and operates restaurant chains The Sporting Globe and TGI Fridays, under licence, as well as the Foresters Restaurant and Bar in Brisbane and the WJ Wills eatery in South Melbourne – is understood to have been seeking a presence in the Sydney market for some time.
The “brewpub”, which is popular with Barangaroo workers, has received multiple awards including the Champion Australian Independent Brewery in the brewpub category at the 2019 Independent Beer Awards Australia.
It will remain operating as a brewpub, the term used to describe a pub that brews its own beer on premises, and under the All Hands name following the deal.
The deal was brokered by JLL Hotels and Hospitality’s national director John Musca, on behalf of Red Rock Leisure Group.
Mr Musca described the property as being a combined microbrewery, event space and pub, which includes a beer garden.
The site has a long association with brewing but the present structure has been in place for a relatively short time.
“A microbrewery has been on the site since 2004 and it underwent a major rebuild in 2017 to become the highly desirable site it is today,” Mr Musca said.
Prior to the rebuild the site had first operated under the James Squire banner and later the King Street Brewhouse.
Major players cash in
The sale represents continued commercial interest in the rapidly growing craft brewing sector, according to Mr Musca.
Figures compiled by the founder ofCraft Beer Reviewer and certified beer judge, John Elliott, showed that craft breweries were the fastest growing category in the pub sector.
In 2018, 95 new craft breweries opened across Australia, including contract or “gypsy” breweries that often operate on a short-term basis, right through to large-scale breweries.
Preliminary figures for 2019 indicate that another 96 craft breweries opened that year, according to Mr Elliott, with a total of 717 craft breweries currently operating in Australia.
The transaction follows last year’s sale of the Australian Hotel and Brewery in Rouse Hill for $50 million to the Redcape Hotel Group, also brokered by Mr Musca.
ASX-listed Redcape is now distributing the beer produced at that property throughout its 32-venue network, demonstrating the ability for breweries to be integrated into larger portfolios.
“Craft breweries are rapidly becoming an essential part of, if not expanding, the Australian hospitality experience with the intensified merger and acquisition activity testimony to the increased capital drawn to the space,” Mr Musca said. “The breweries are driving a new level of beverage engagement, building brand stories and customer relationships that create a dedicated following.”
Other positive signs in the sector include acquisition activity by established brewers based in Australia and overseas.
Mr Musca cited Asahi’s purchase of Queensland craft brewer Green Beacon Brewing in 2019 and CUB buying Manly’s 4 Pines and Adelaide-based Pirate Life in 2017 as evidence of the trend.
