Billionaire Arthur Laundy pays $20m for Sydney’s oldest pub, the Lord Nelson in The Rocks

Billionaire hotel mogul Arthur Laundy has swooped on one of the city’s oldest properties, buying the heritage-listed Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in The Rocks for $20m.

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel is the latest addition to the Laundy empire.

In a major Sydney pub deal, billionaire hotel mogul Arthur Laundy has swooped on one of the city’s oldest properties, buying the heritage-listed Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel in The Rocks along with its accompanying accommodation and brewery in a deal worth more than $20m.

“I have bought it because I like it,” Mr Laundy, worth around $1.6bn with a portfolio of more than 90 hotels, told The Weekend Australian.

“I like it, it’s nice, I love the building. It’s a beautiful old building, it’s got history, we will get it going there’s nothing surer. It’s going well already,” he added in an interview on Friday.

Billed as Sydney’s oldest continually licenced hotel, the four-level colonial regency-style building fronting Kent Street in Millers Point, close to Sydney’s CBD, includes a bar, brewery, 14-bed accommodation, restaurant and shop selling the hotel’s award-winning beers.

Arthur Laundy at the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel. Picture: Nic Walker

Blair Hayden took over the Lord Nelson in 1986.

Built by James Dempsey between 1814 and 1815 the Lord Nelson is the oldest working licenced hotel in Sydney from the time of its original licence in June 1842. It was added to the NSW State Heritage Register a quarter of a century ago.

The property was occupied by various people until 1901 when it was resumed by the Minister for Public Works. Following that there were numerous proprietors.

The Laundys have been negotiating for several months with the vendor Blair Hayden, who took over the Lord Nelson in 1986.

With the aid of an 1852 photograph, Mr Hayden took the beautiful old pub and completed its restoration to its former colonial glory.

Lord Nelson Hotel, pictured in 1930.

The Laundy family have been acquisitive of late, also buying The Light Brigade Hotel in Sydney’s Woollahra for $20m recently.

This was despite Mr Laundy swearing that 2024 would be all about renovation and redevelopment of his mighty portfolio of hotel and resort assets particularly in Queensland.

Billed as a “jewel” in Sydney’s eastern suburbs’ hospitality offerings, the hotel fronting Oxford Street and Jersey Road is the place to go to catch major live sports and hang out after concerts and sporting events at nearby Allianz Stadium.

The acquisition in June added to the Laundy family’s collection of eastern suburbs assets, which also include the Watsons Bay Hotel and the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel.

Owned by the Bayfield family since 2015, the four-storey hotel at the intersection of Paddington and Woollahra has changed hands just as the sale of Sydney pubs gathers pace according to selling agents HTL Property who would not be drawn on the price paid but said it was a competitive sale process.