McGuires Hotel, Shamrock Hotel and The Grove Andergrove for sale in Mackay

Three Mackay pubs are for sale including one that had a zoo, a century-old hotel named after a lucky symbol, and a tavern built on the site of an old drive-in movie theatre. DETAILS

McGuires Hotel, Shamrock Hotel and The Grove Andergrove for sale in Mackay.

A Spanish-inspired pub once home to a zoo, a century-old hotel named after a lucky symbol, and a watering hole built on the site of an old drive-in movie theatre.

They have vastly different histories but share two things in common: they are iconic Mackay venues and they are up for sale, with one already reportedly changing hands.

Redcape Hotel Group, which operates 35 hotels across Australia worth more than a collective $1.4bn, is offloading the Shamrock Hotel on Nebo Rd as well as the Andergrove Tavern, now known as The Grove.

The hotel and pub are expected to sell for around a joint $50 million. 

Andergrove Tavern was recently renamed The Grove, perhaps affectionately drawing reference to the former drive-in movie theatre that used to stand there.

The Grove Hotel, Andergrove.

Now boasting a bistro restaurant, function spaces and a gaming room, the pub’s location in the heart of Mackay’s northside makes for a popular watering hole.

The Australian Hotelier recently reported The Grove was sold to an unknown buyer for an undisclosed sum just weeks after it was listed.

Over on the southside, managed fund group Moelis Australia bought the Shamrock Hotel for $13.667 million in 2017 but its current asking price is not known.

The Shamrock Hotel on Nebo Road, Mackay

With a restaurant and bar, accommodation, gaming lounge, function room, and bottle shop on the busy Bruce Highway, Shamrock is considered a high profit investment.

HTL Property and JLL are jointly managing the expression of interest sale process for both The Grove and Shamrock on behalf of Redcape, ending on Wednesday, September 13.

Redcape froze its quarterly redemptions in June and was delisted from the ASX in 2021, and is now under MA Financial management.

As reported in the Financial Review, the group’s decision to sell the Mackay pubs followed investor interest in the properties.

Also on the southside, RWC’s Craig McVean and Scott Wells are hunting for new owners to take on the heritage-listed McGuire’s Hotel at 15 Wood St.

It is the first time the pub has been listed in nearly four decades.

McGuires Hotel on Wood St in Mackay. Photo: Contributed

Built by Barney McGuire Senior and later Barry Junior, the Spanish Mission style building was the ‘Ritz of the North’ when it was completed in 1938.

It once had a zoo in the rear of the hotel known as the Belmore Zoological Garden.

The kangaroos, snakes, and crocodiles were a huge hit, especially with US soldiers billeted in the hotel during World War II.

McGuires Hotel also housed Barry Junior’s collection of stuffed animals and birds, shells, Aboriginal and Papua New Guinean weapons and artefacts now housed at James Cook University.

The art deco hotel now boasts 23 mixed accommodation rooms, a four-bedroom manager’s residence, large beer garden, gaming room, seven bars, a dining room and street dining.

Mr McVean told The Hotel Conversation that McGuires was being sold with a 2am trading license and 800-person capacity.