Two years ago, Chris Scroggy was minding his own business when the Sydney realtor rang. How much would he consider selling his bar for, she asked. Scroggy’s bar, The Quarterdeck, had been a fixture in Narooma for almost two decades. A waterfront shack, it advertised itself as “The Little Red House of Tunes”. Scroggy told the caller a “go away” price and hung up. Two days later, she rang back. She was offering more.

The buyer was Justin Hemmes, 51, a Sydney publican and restaurateur who had taken an interest in the NSW South Coast town, population 3400. “I raced over to tell [Andrew, the owner of The Inlet, a neighbouring restaurant],” Scroggy remembers. “We collided in the doorway. He was coming over to tell he was also selling to Merivale.”