Pub tsar more than triples money in $30m Griffith sale

The sale to Mr Middleton, who owns half-a-dozen venues in the NSW Riverina and in Yass, represented a 275 per cent gross capital gain over the period of Mr Knox’s ownership.

Selling agents Xavier Plunkett and Nick Tinning from HTL Property said it was the biggest regional pub sale of the 2024 financial year.

Mr Plunkett attributed the surge in pub values in Griffith to the regional hub’s very desirable hotel fundamentals. These, he said, included full employment, well-above-average incomes, an enormous itinerant worker base, a favourable ratio of one pub per 7000 residents and government regulatory restrictions preventing new competitors entering the market.

“The incoming purchaser will no doubt enjoy a long-term sustainable competitive advantage in the city,” said Mr Plunkett.

While HTL did not identify the buyer – the firm referred to the new owners as a “highly regarded private investor with local connections” – a title search shows it was acquired by Golden Vault Hotels, owned by Leeton-based Mr Middleton and his wife, Cuiping Zeng.

Mr Middleton and Ms Zeng have built up a large portfolio of regional pubs, which they operate through their family business.

They include the Yenda Hotel, Yanco Hotel and Leeton Hotel in the Riverina and the Clubhouse Hotel and Royal Hotel and Bottlemart in Yass in the NSW Southern Tablelands.

Mr Middleton’s sister Hannah, who manages the Leeton Hotel, declined to comment on the family’s latest acquisition in Griffith.

Vendor Mr Knox, who paid $57 million in 2022 for the Port Macquarie Hotel, also owns the Gem accommodation hotel in Griffith, alongside interests in agriculture and engineering. He said the sale of the Area Hotel was part of plans to consolidate his holdings close to his head office in Armidale.

The sale was part of a surge in deals in the final three months of the 2024 financial year.

According to HTL, there were $423 million of unconditional sales in the three months to June, a 213 per cent increase on the $135 million of deals struck in the corresponding period a year ago.

Of these $423 million of deals, HTL negotiated 88 per cent of them, according to its managing director, Andrew Jolliffe.

Notable sales this quarter include Rich Listers the Laundy family’s purchase of the Light Brigade Hotel last month at the top of Sydney’s Oxford Street for about $20 million.

HTL in conjunction with Colliers also brokered the circa-$13 million sale of the leasehold interest in the Town Tavern in QIC’s Westpoint Shopping Centre in Blacktown on behalf of receivers. The sale to an unnamed existing hotel operator included 30 gaming machine licences.