Gallaghers back behind the bar at Sydney’s Jacksons on George
Jacksons on George, one of Sydney’s best-known watering holes and recently reincarnated as an upmarket hospitality venue, is back in the hands of the Gallagher publican family.
Patrick and Angela Gallagher run a string of pubs through Sydney and beyond, including the Railway Hotel and Hunters Hill Hotel.
Now into his 60s, Patrick Gallagher said despite taking a strictly “commercial point of view” he couldn’t help but feel a flash of the old romance owning one of Sydney’s best names.
“There’s always a certain amount of romanticism in a pub like this, in a city like Sydney,” he told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.
“It’s an exciting venue to own and operate. I’ll probably be having lunch there more often than I’m doing things operationally but my wife and my two boys are very hands on.”
The $20 million deal marks a return for the Gallaghers, who took on the leasehold in 2013 with developer Lendlease in control of the freehold. The Gallaghers left in 2018 as Lendlease demolished the site to build Sydney Place including Salesforce Tower.
But Lendlease had big plans for the original bar, founded in 1986 and an integral part of Sydney’s nightlife for three decades. It was reinvented with a hatted restaurant, bars and a rooftop terrace under the stewardship of DTL Entertainment, led by entrepreneurs Paul Ford and Steve Bannigan, publican Michael Broome and restaurateur Maurice Terzini.
The sale by DTL to the Gallaghers comes as Terzini, the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar founder, announced his resignation from the high-profile group amid allegations that he protected his son Sylvester Terzini following multiple sexual assault claims, as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Meanwhile, the doors open to a new future at the reincarnated version of Jacksons – it won the Hotel of the Year gong at the Australian Hotel Association Awards last year – where new neighbours are emerging around it including the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, One Circular Quay luxury residential tower and the 55 Pitt Street office tower.
“Jacksons has the potential to be like it was, in the sense that everyone has a Jacksons story,” Gallagher said.
“Everyone I know tells me they’ve got a story about how they’ve been to Jacksons or, as they like to say, they got thrown out of Jacksons.
“The difference is that we’ve gone from a sticky-carpet pub type memory to a beautiful place that is still a fun place for Sydney people and tourists to go to.
“I’d like to think that we’ll be creating similar unforgettable memories. Already there are people who talk about how they love it. It’s their local, that’s a good sign.”
The off-market transaction was brokered by JLL’s Kate MacDonald and Ben McDonald. MacDonald described the new Jacksons, which reopened two years ago, as having an “almost perfect scorecard of attributes” that could tap into the bustle around the new development and the flow of tourists arriving on cruise ships.
Handing over the keys, DTL’s entertainment director Michael Broome, who has worked previously with the Gallaghers, was just as generous.
“The pub couldn’t go to a better person. Pat will make that thing hum even more than it is.” he said.
