Paddington’s famed and once-hatted Four in Hand has been sold again, for $8.25 million, this time to well-known hotelier Colin M Parras.
Previously the domain of celebrity chef Colin Fassnidge, under the ownership of Joe Saleh, the pub acclaimed for its restaurant prowess was sold in 2015, to Mitchell Waugh’s PHMG (Public House Management Group) for close to $8 million.
Early 2018 PHMG listed the pub for sale, potentially as a private residence or development site. The public backlash that followed, driving a local resident lobby to collect 12,000 signatures demanding its protection, was relieved when John Azar’s Good Beer Company took the deeds in September for just north of $7 million, vowing to retain it as a pub.
“It’s quite bittersweet selling the Four,” says Azar of the sale to Parras.
“It has such a great local and loyal following and everyone loves it. We wish the purchaser every success with it and look forward to seeing them down there.”
The purchase by Parras backs up his acquisition of Arthur Laundy’s Quarryman’s Hotel in Pyrmont for circa $12.5 million in February, heralding the man’s return to the game after the big-ticket sale of his Peachtree Hotel in mid-2017 to Chinese developers. Parras will exchange on the Paddington property in January 2021.
This is the second asset sale in less than a week by Good Beer Company, following the $32 million sale of Randwick’s Duke of Gloucester to Justin Hemmes, and understood to be part of a broader divestment strategy by Azar.
