Bouldercombe Royal Hotel in the hands of Australian Financial Security Authority

The town’s only pub closed in 2018, with liquidation and bankruptcy filed soon after. Find out what the latest is.

From the outside, it doesn’t look abandoned but the doors of the Bouldercombe Royal Hotel haven’t opened in more than three years – and it doesn’t look like beers will be served there anytime soon.

The town’s only pub was closed suddenly in October 2018 and the company went into liquidation soon after.

The following June, the owner and company director, Roly Gooding, filed for bankruptcy.

While the pub has been closed for three years, locals have been maintaining and mowing the yard, due to bushfire and wildlife concerns.

Inside one of the windows of the Bouldercombe Royal Hotel, liquor bottles on the bar and a television still hangs on the wall.

The property was last on the market from September 2016 to May 2019, for $600,000.

It is not currently listed for sale and due to the bankruptcy, is in the hands of the Australian Financial Security Authority.

“We can confirm that AFSA is acting as the Official Trustee in the bankruptcy of Mr Gooding. In relation to the Bouldercombe Royal Hotel at 20 Leanne Hinchcliffe Drive, Bouldercombe, we are currently undertaking a review of the property as part of AFSA’s regular property monitoring procedures,” an AFSA statement read.

“This will help determine the actions we may take, including the potential sale of the property.”

AFSA was unable to answer any questions around how much longer it would take and why it has taken more than three years to review the property.

Harry Bruce's cartoon of the Bouldercombe Hotel.

A land title search shows Westpac Bank as the mortgagees of the property.

The Independent Liquor Group also has a caveat on the property, which would be for a $7500 outstanding liquor bill from 2018 this publication has previously reported.

Roly Gooding owned the Bouldercombe Hotel since 1972 and had to close it down last year after he filed bankruptcy. The owner of pubs in Barcaldine, Blackall and Longreach said the drought and electricity prices were killing rural pubs and town businesses.

The liquidation of the company, Roly Investments, was finalised in October 2020, with $804,930.61 still owing to creditors.

The company also operated businesses at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Blackall, and Commercial Hotel, Longreach.

Blackall-Tambo Regional Council was owed around $40,000 in unpaid rates and Westpac bank was owed around $560,000.

Other creditors included the tax office, Ergon Energy and a Gold Coast accounting company for a combined $192,000 and one worker was owed $12,500 in wages and superannuation.

Mr Gooding told this publication in 2019 he couldn’t afford to keep up with rising electricity prices and when he filed for bankruptcy it was like “throwing a lifetime of work down the drain”.

The Bouldy pub in years gone by.

The hotel is situated on two titles of freehold land on 1.4 hectares and has a bottle shop, internal dining room, beer garden and BBQ area and four budget rooms upstairs.

The Royal Hotel was built in 1897, making it more than 120 years old.

It was originally built by Samuel Heiser and was first situated halfway along Mt Usher Rd.

The large two-storey building is believed to have been shifted in 1930 to its present location across from the park.

Royal Hotel at Bouldercombe in 1989