Dunalley Hotel: Pub operator CLLJ Pty Ltd enters administration amid alleged debts of $700K-plus

A pub licensee says she is feeling “pretty down” after a company administrator was called in to save the business, which has hit the market amid alleged debts of at least $700,000. What went wrong.

Dunalley Hotel, depicted in 2010. Picture: File

A company administrator has been called in to save a Tasman Peninsula pub facing alleged debts of at least $700,000, with the business hitting the market to find a saviour.

CLLJ Pty Ltd, which holds the lease to Dunalley Hotel, called in Shelley-Maree Brooks, of Rodgers Reidy Tasmania, on August 14.

Ms Brooks said she estimated the company’s debts would exceed more than $700,000.

Employee entitlements are believed to be in excess of $200,000, consisting mostly of unpaid superannuation, while unsecured creditor claims exceed $500,000, Ms Brooks said.

Ms Brooks said she believed the company had a GST and income tax debt with the Australian Taxation Office, but that the debt was smaller than the amount owed to employees.

“I’m still working through it at the moment,” she said.

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The business is being actively marketed for sale via Rodgers Reidy, with the pub facing possible closure if a buyer is not found.

“We’re still trading, we’re working with the landlord. I’m hoping to have it sorted by the end of the week to negotiate a sale,” Ms Brooks said.

“I can’t trade indefinitely. I’ve been trading for a month to five weeks now and trade’s going really well, we’re trading profitably, but it’s not forever. This is a short-term situation until hopefully we can find a buyer.”

Ms Brooks said she had returned the business to profitability by ceasing the operation of pokies – so as to prevent the company from having to pay out a large win when it can least afford it – slimming down the menu, hiking the price of some items, and securing new suppliers.

Dunalley Hotel licensee Cara-Lee Cleaver, 42. Picture: Facebook

The business became indebted due to “ongoing trading losses,” driven by the “big impact” of Covid-19, the pandemic-driven tourism downturn, the cancellation of Falls Festival, which deprived the pub of an end-of-year sugar hit, and the rising cost of doing business, Ms Brooks said.

Boomer Bay woman Cara-Lee Cleaver, 42, the hotel’s licensee and company director of CLLJ, which is owned by her parents, said she was feeling “pretty down”.

She agreed that Covid-induced tourism downturns and Falls’ cancellation proved fatal.

Ms Cleaver said she had “no clue” what was in store next for her.

“Time will tell,” she said.

“I’ve offered to stay and work if they need me.”

Ms Cleaver said she “wouldn’t have a clue” what the company’s total debt was, but “didn’t think it was” as high as $700,000.

Ms Cleaver took over the business in March 2014. It’s understood she was an employee prior to becoming licensee.