Commercial Hotel Tara publicans Owen and Tracey Brauer sell up after 18 years

After almost two decades supplying cold beers and warm meals to the community of Tara, beloved locals Owen and Tracey Brauer have sold the Commercial Hotel.

Drew, Guy, Callum, Tracey and Owen Brauer at the Tara Hotel.

When the Commercial Hotel Tara hit the market some two decades ago, the century-old hotel looked like an attractive proposition to long-time resident Tracey Brauer.

However, her husband Owen wasn’t quite convinced.

“It took me about two years to talk Owen into buying it,” Tracey said.

“It just came up for sale and we are both locals born and raised in Tara who’ve always liked talking to people and hospitality is a great way to meet people.”

The pair decided to buy the hotel, and now after 18 years at the helm of the Commercial Hotel Tara, they’ve sold the business and are looking forward to “hugging grand babies” and “playing with cattle”.

The couple, who were born and raised in Tara, have been pillars of the community for decades with their 111-year-old hotel a meeting place for locals and visitors alike.

Commercial Hotel owner Owen Brauer, Tara. Picture: Liam Kidston

Tracey and Owen reflected back on their purchase of the pub and the almost two decades of ownership.

“It’s a lot of fun looking after people and it is really rewarding to run a good show and have a good event where people come back and compliment our meals and our staff,” Tracey said.

Owen agreed and said they’ve enjoyed fostering social connection within the community.

“It’s also the characters you meet and we’ve made some great friends over the years,” Owen added.

“There are challenges as well, people seem to think you start work at 10am which is funny because we very often are there at 5am and then of course there’s the behind the scenes tasks such as licensing and legal responsibility and just like any business there are things to look out for,” Tracey said.

Tracey said the Commercial Hotel had been a supporter of the community for many years, acting as both a meeting place and a sponsor for local events and clubs.

“One of the regular things we hear from people new to town is how friendly everyone is, if you find someone sitting alone having a meal our staff and other customers will go out of the way to welcome them to the town,” Tracey said.

“We love looking after people and the customers support has been overwhelming it has also been an honour to be able to support and sponsor sports teams and events in the community, it is very rewarding.

Commercial Hotel, Tara. Picture: Liam Kidston

“We experience a lot of people come in the afternoon and have a debrief, they have a beer and a yarn and work out everyone is in the same boat and you're not alone,” Owen said.

“There have been a lot of changes with the pub over the years with a lot of renovations we completed ourselves, the other big change we’ve seen is the growth in the town.”

Tracey said the pub had been sold to a local and would continue to serve the community into the future.

“It has been bought by three owners in partnership and one of them is a local four generations back like we are and his daughter is going to manage it so it will stay within local hands,” she said.

“They will run it their own way and there will be more renovations coming which will be very exciting.

“It is very important to see it stay local we actually turned another sale down so these people could buy it because we know they will support charities, functions and sports team and continue on the traditions.”

Tracey thanked the community for all of their support over the years.

“We’d just like to put a big thank you out there to our customers, our staff, our family and friends it really has been a wonderful ride and we are looking forward to what's next.”

The Commercial Hotel will host a farewell party for the pair on Friday, August 23.