Original Arnott's bakery is for sale in the Hunter Valley
The building that houses Morpeth Sourdough – and an original oven room for Arnott’s Biscuits – is on the market in Maitland with a price of $950,000.
William Arnott, the founder of Arnott’s, started his baking business with his brother David in the mid-1800s.
They leased and baked in the Swan Street property from 1861, after their Maitland site was flooded, and the business was forced to relocate to Newcastle in 1865. Details of the insolvency case can be found in some 1864 editions of the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advisory.
It’s now owned by his great, great, great grandson, Stephen Arnott, along with his wife Allison, who are also in the business of baking. They visited the site in 2001 and records show the new generation Arnott’s picked up the property for $390,000 in 2003.
The original oven room in the building. Photo: Supplied
“On the way back to Sydney, Allison said we should buy the building and renovate it.” Mr Arnott told the Maitland Mercury. We turned around and returned to Morpeth to ask owner John Rademaker, if it was for sale. He was about to list it”.
The Heritage Council of NSW’s Annual Report mentions the “$50,000 interest-free loan to Allison Arnott to carry out conservation work” on the site, and restoration of the shop front and living area took around 18 months.
The total process took 13 years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, including restoring the original oven. But after at this point the Arnotts are looking to retire, and thus sell.
Agent Charlie Lund, who is taking the property to auction on September 16, said most of the interest so far had come from Sydney buyers looking to use it for commercial ventures.
The building is set up to run three businesses, as it also has liquor and restaurant licenses. Photo: Supplied
It’s attracted a great deal of interest so far, and Lund noted that “It’s gone a bit silly”.
“You can run three businesses on it”, she said. “It’s got the liquor license, and the restaurant license. You could do little tapas bar or a little whiskey bar downstairs.”
In terms of adding to the property, she said, there’s the option of adding a staircase to the back area to open it up for further use.
Morpeth, dating back to the 1830s. is located in Maitland in the Hunter Valley on the southern banks of the Hunter River. The Morpeth Sourdough building features as part of the Morpeth Heritage Walk, which also includes several hotels, the police station, post office and the former Astor Theatre.
The Arnott’s Bakehouse isn’t the only finger of biscuit-themed real estate to come onto the market this year, with the Arnott’s family home in Newcastle being listed for sale at the start of the year.
