Industry cornerstone Laundy Hotels has put down roots in another new precinct, opening the brand-new Plough & Ale Inn in the Illawarra region.
Mid-2020 news emerged Arthur Laundy’s group had purchased a 4,000 square metre site opposite the District Park within Lendlease’s major Calderwood Valley development.
The new tavern-style venue includes a modern bar, bistro/restaurant embracing in its rural aesthetic and moniker, outdoor dining areas with sweeping views of the lake, gaming room, multiple function spaces, and a children’s play area.
The Plough quietly opened its doors this month, allowing the group to better train and polish staff and operations before challenging hordes of eager locals arrive to check it out.
“It’s gone very well, and it’s handling itself well,” reports Laundy. “It opened doing very big numbers, with no publicity.”
The venue is one of the first stages of Lendlease’s Calderwood Valley project, in the Illawarra foothills, which is aiming to create a vibrant community village for more than 12k future residents. The community will include a small supermarket, several specialty retail stores, a childcare centre, and 200 hectares of open space, incorporating parks and playgrounds, sportsgrounds, walking paths and cycling trails.
News of the new pub has drawn the eager attentions of locals. Following the usual planning stages, construction began in 2021, taking almost a year.
At opening the cost of building the greenfield site came in at a little over $20 million.
Laundy Hotel Group has been an active part of the hotel industry since 1945, but it wasn’t until 2019 Arthur produced his first ground-up new build, opening the Marsden Brewhouse, in the booming north-west growth corridor.
More recently, the group’s rebuild of the destroyed and long-closed Log Cabin in Penrith has been the latest new star entrant to the portfolio, since its reopening in April.
Arthur reports both the Log cabin and Marsden Park are “going gangbusters”, while today he is overseeing the taking over of their recent purchase with Alistair Flower, the Tacking Point Hotel.
But the building continues unabated, and the next newcomer, Jordan Springs, is said to be “well underway” and slated to open prior to Christmas.
In light of record-setting pub sales and valuations, creating an all-new venue for $20 million might appear a cheap option by comparison, but the pub king says things never stop changing.
“These interest rates might slow it all down a bit,” he poses. “But we had it so easy for so long, paying almost no interest. If you can take the good, you gotta take the bad, too.”
