Sydney pub sold for $70 million-plus in biggest sale of the year

Pub veteran John Ryan has splashed out more than $70 million for the Tea Gardens pub in Sydney’s east in what is the largest deal this year in the booming hotel sector.

It will add it to his stable of Sydney pubs, including Ryan’s Bar, Paragon Hotel, The Ship Inn and The Orient Hotel. The Purkis family have owned Tea Gardens for 10 years, having bought it in 2014 for $36 million.

The Tea Gardens pub has sold for more than $70 million.

Located in Sydney’s bustling Bondi Junction near Westfield Bondi and the Easts club, it is set over two levels, exceeding 800 square metres of space, including outdoor areas, a highly sought after balcony, large kitchen operation and 30 gaming machines.

“We have thoroughly enjoyed our time owning and operating this significant hotel, and wish the Ryan family every success moving forward,” John Purkis said.

Ryan will look at the pub when he gets the keys and then decide if any changes are needed.

HTL Property managing director Andrew Jolliffe advised on the sale at a time when the pub sector has come back to life with more than $1 billion in sales so far this year.

“Bondi Junction is, in and of itself, a bustling CBD and in the sparsely represented hotel landscape that is Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the Tea Gardens enjoy an iconic status,” Jolliffe said.

He said the deal was concluded over a “series of discreet discussions held over a very short period of time, has led to the largest single pub sale nationally for 2024”.

Pub agents said assets like the Tea Gardens are iconic for a reason. The barriers to entry for competitors in such a highly developed area are high and the number of hotels in the broader area is comparatively low to others.

In the inner west, the leasehold of the popular Newtown Hotel is on the market as its owners, the Universal group, continues to remix its portfolio.

The leasehold of the Newtown Hotel is on the market.

Sitting at the gateway to the King Street retail and entertainment strip, the hotel sits on a high exposure corner of over 700 square metres and has been a popular haunt for the locals and students from the nearby University of Sydney.

Spanning more than 1500 square metres of trading space, street level features a public bar with sliding windows providing indoor/outdoor dining, a gaming room holding ten machines with entitlements owned by the lessor, a poolroom, and an all-weather beer garden.

JLL senior vice president Kate MacDonald, executive vice president Ben McDonald and vice president Greg Jeloudev are advising on the sale. It generates an average weekly revenue in excess of $120,000.

“In these challenging lending environments, we’re seeing a real focus on high cash flow businesses with strong earnings,” Macdonald said.

“Newtown Hotel represents almost everything that pub operators are looking for right now; a robust business, long tenure, and a vibrant location.”

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