Country celebutante Ned Kelly has exited the Weston local Criterion Hotel, handing the reins to coastal publican Adam Drabarek.
Rodney ‘Ned’ Kelly bought the re-stapled Hotel with first-timer partner Corey Dunn in late 2020 from Peter Calligeros.
Negotiating several crazy COVID years and several more acquisitions, welcoming to the gang Scone’s Belmore, the Tattersalls in Casino, and the Amble Inn in Corindi Beach – also in partnership with Dunn – Kelly Hotels listed the Criterion in October.
Kelly and Dunn had already submitted a DA for a major expansion at Corindi Beach, and cited the need to recycle some capital from Weston.
The pub offers a bar, bistro, 10 accommodation rooms, a gaming room with 15 machines, and a 3am liquor licence, and came reporting weekly revenues in excess of $50k.
Weston is just 20 minutes from the outer suburbs of Newcastle, or 10 minutes from Cessnock. The Criterion holds a 910sqm lot and enjoys relatively low competition in a catchment with a large population.
Purchaser is Central Coast based publican Adam Drabarek, for a price sources suggest was around $8.5 million. Drabarek already owns the Imperial Hotel in Coonabarabran and Howlong Hotel in the Riverina, and thanked Kelly Hotels for its “cooperation and professionalism” in the handover.
“Part of the appeal of this venue is its proximity to my home in the Central Coast, which suits my plan to be a hands-on operator of this venue,” he says.
“We think Kelly Hotels Group has done a great job with the venue, and we think we can continue to grow the venue through our hands-on style of management and community engagement into the future.”
A prior corporate boss of Sydney-based groups, particularly Riversdale, Kelly suggests the pub needs someone with a “bit more focus” and that the next stage of its lifecycle should be under an owner-operator.
“We took over a diamond in the rough, polished it up, and are now selling to someone better equipped to take the next steps. I wish him all the best.
“We saw something there, we unlocked that value, now Adam’s better suited to take it into the next chapter of its life.”
The sale was brokered by Blake Edwards and Xavier Plunkett of HTL Property, claiming the firm’s eighth NSW pub sale for 2023, in the wake of the big-ticket divestment by Marlow Group of the Robin Hood Hotel in Orange late February.
On the back of a record 2022, Edwards expects the “clearly active” marketplace to continue well into this year.
“Two years of frenetic transaction activity and continuing strong trading conditions are resulting in an acute lack of on market pubs for sale,” he adds.
