‘The pub life’: How hotel barons keep it in the family

At three of Australia’s biggest family-run pub empires, the transfer to next generation is under way.

From left: Charlie Laundy, Sophie Laundy, Arthur Laundy, Danielle Richardson and Molly Willis. Peter Rae

Sarah Petty

Jun 2, 2025 – 5.00am

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Arthur Laundy has been tapping kegs since he was eight when his father ran the Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, then in the heart of working-class inner Sydney.

Plunged into the family business in his twenties when his father died in a light plane crash, Laundy has grown the group from two pubs in 1969 to more than 40 – an empire now worth $1.75 billion and putting him at no. 94 on this year’s Financial Review Rich List.