This is how much the Central Hotel could sell for

BUNDABERG'S much-maligned yet equally beloved Central Hotel is on the market.

FOR SALE: Sources say the Central Hotel could break the $3 million mark. Picture: Mike Knott BUN181214CENTRAL1

IT HAS a few affectionate nicknames: the Cenny, the Central, the Dirty C.

Now, the future of Bundaberg's much-maligned yet equally beloved Central Hotel, is up in the air as it goes on the market - for $3 million or more, according to industry sources.

The Central has already been wiped from the website of its parent company, Lantern Hotels, which owns the freehold title and has joined with business owner Barry McKee to sell off the property and the business as a package.

CBRE Hotels agent Glenn Price said his team had been "talking to parties who are active in the market at the moment, and there are already multiple parties running their eyes over the opportunity".

With an ageing fleet of pokie machines and plenty of unused space upstairs, it was "a good base for incoming operator to build on".

"It will likely go to a pub operator who will bring it back to a more traditional pub style operation - with functions, nice lunches, a new dinner menu," he said.

The pub has been put up for sale alongside the Courthouse Hotel in Cairns. The pair are the last remaining two Queensland hotels owned by Lantern, which has sold $50m worth of real estate through CBRE this year alone.

Many NewsMail readers said if they had the cash to buy the pub, they would "burnt it" or "bleach the hell out of it" - but despite its reputation, the pub has been a popular weekend hotspot.

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