Stephen Hunt’s group is looking to divest Newcastle icon the Kent Hotel, at the centre of Hamilton’s bustling Beaumont Street precinct.
Built 1924, the big two-storey brick pub occupies a substantial 667sqm lot, with dual street frontage and an elegant second level balcony overlooking the corner of Beaumont and Cleary streets.
Peter Hunt bought the Kent freehold in 2002, and his son Stephen managed it for 17 years before it was put to market mid-2019.
Stephen had been building his own interests and put out a call for capital, finding major interest and over 20 private investors.
Late 2019 growing vehicle SJH Hotel Fund paid what was a record price for the region of around $25 million for the freehold going concern. The younger Hunt said at the time his history at the pub provided insights on upside potential and gave his investors a rare level of certainty.
The Kent features multiple bars, commercial kitchen and bistro, and gaming room with 24 machines, all under a 3am extended trading licence. It also enjoys direct access to more than 40 council parking spaces.
It has benefited from $3 million recently spent to extend its trading footprint, incorporating unused office space and accommodation rooms into the trading area.
The operation records average weekly revenue of around $141K, largely from the high-margin bar and gaming departments, while marketing literature suggests upside “across all departments” and notes the aging hardware and lack of a dedicated service point in the gaming room.
Newcastle is reaping the rewards of a revitalised CBD and waterfront precinct and congruous population growth, leading to the city and wider Hunter Region being the second-largest metropolitan area in the state. This rise has been largely fuelled by priority infrastructure investment and enviable tourism numbers.
A sale campaign through HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Andrew Jolliffe and Blake Edwards expects competitive interest from both local and Sydney-based hotel groups, particularly given the limited supply and increasing demand in such tightly held precincts.
“The Kent Hotel represents one of Newcastle’s most enduring and dominant hospitality operations,” Dragicevich says.
“It has been a cornerstone of Newcastle’s hospitality scene for decades, and benefits from a proven and resilient trade profile.”
The start of FY26 has witnessed a hive of activity in pub real estate, motivated by revenue growth and strong balance sheets, and the decreasing cost of favourable financing.
“From an agency perspective, there has been a marked and positive shift in buyer sentiment, and we are certainly seeing this translate into increased transactional volume and, consequently, yield compression,” adds Jolliffe.
The Kent is being sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Tuesday, 7 October.
