Laundy consortium pays record for Wagga Wagga pub
A consortium of publicans led by Lee Green, including Arthur and Stu Laundy, Sam Cruikshank and Sean O’Hara, has paid a speculated $26-$27 million for the Thomas Blamey Tavern at Lake Albert, on Wagga Wagga’s southern outskirts.
On 6110 square metres at 55 Main Street, at the north east corner of Hume, the asset includes a bistro, function space and gaming room with 26 electronic gambling machines.
There is also a drive through bottle shop and large car park.
HTL Property’s Blake Edwards brokered the off-market deal for the long time owner-operators.
The price sets a new record for a country or inland New South Wales pub – breaking the watermark set last November when Arthur Laundy in partnership with Mark Dalton and Philip Tudor, banked c$24m for Orange’s Hotel Canobolas.
Consortium settles into Riverina
The Thomas Blamey Tavern is the fourth Riverina pub recently acquired by the Laundy/Cruikshank/O’Hara families.
Elsewhere in Wagga Wagga, the consortium last year outlaid a speculated $5m-plus for the Sportsmen’s Club Hotel, not long after spending $3.5m for the Duke of Kent.
The partnership also controls the region’s Turvey Park Hotel (story continues below).
At Albury’s Lavington, the publicans recently snapped up the Springdale Heights Tavern for $22m.
Mr Green also operates the South Dubbo Tavern.
Another Riverina deal
Elsewhere in the Riverina, three months ago, Harvest Hotels paid ex-Wallaby Matt Burke and family $16.2m for Lavington’s Northside Hotel.
Three smaller Wagga Wagga pubs sold in the 18 months before the including the Duke of Kent for $3.5m, Romano’s (a speculated $7m) and Riverina.
“Sales of this magnitude in leading regional centres are becoming increasingly frequent, and are representative of a market place that still enjoys prosperous consolidation opportunities,” Mr Edwards said of the Thomas Blamey Tavern result.
“With a record 100 NSW hotels changing hands last year, and the average loan to valuation ration at 46 per cent across the asset class, the sector is performing at a transaction volume premium to the same period during CYQ1 last year,” colleague Andrew Jolliffe added.
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