Local legends the Dougherty family are winding up at their striking Clocktower Hotel, in the northern NSW town of Grafton.
The pub commands a corner in the commercial core of Grafton, on a 1,221sqm site with more than 80 metres of street frontage seeing extremely high foot traffic. It provides a public bar, sports bar with the highest performing TAB in town, gaming room, commercial kitchen and bistro, and café, beside a council car park for over 250 vehicles.
It generates annual revenues of around $4.4 million across departments, and has a long history as a Top-3 gaming venue in the Clarence Valley LGA, with its 18 band 3 entitlements.
Further upside might be found in the gaming operation through hardware upgrades and introduction of a full smoking solution, longer trading hours and Sunday trade, and improved access from the car park.
The Dougherty family are prominent members of the northern rivers community, and highly regarded for their owner-operated interests, running hotels, finance and insurance, real estate agencies and bookmaking businesses in the region for over 75 years.
They constructed the two-storey brick Clocktower in 2008 on the site of the former Parkview Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 2002. A licence was transferred from the Royal Hotel, owned by four generations of the family, since 1947.
Mid-2021 the Doughertys sold their Grafton Hotel to Jim Knox, and the Clocktower is the last hotel asset owned by the family, who cite personal reasons and alternative investment opportunities as reason for the divestment.
NSW’s northern rivers region is one of the state’s most favourable regional markets, offering both economic and lifestyle opportunities and finding unsatisfied demand from investors.
This month the Short family listed its long-held Seabreeze Beach Hotel in South West Rocks, around two hours’ south of Grafton.
Strong interest is expected in the Clocktower from multiple regional syndicates and private hoteliers, likely to be attracted to its underlying fundamentals of prime main street location, a large land holding, diversified income and an efficient layout.
Initial guidance on the sale is $13 million, in a campaign being managed by HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett and Andrew Jolliffe, who suggest it is “one of the most significant” north coast pubs to be sold on-market this year.
“The various generations of Doughertys should be very proud of the wonderful Hotel they have literally built from the ground up,” expressed Jolliffe.
“It not only is an outstanding business, but a well-established focal point and exceptional hospitality offering for the Grafton community.”
The freehold going concern of the Clocktower Hotel is being sold via Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday, 5 October.
