The last entry-level pub in Sydney’s indomitable Newtown precinct is up for sale, as hunger for f&b hotels continues unabated.
The Botany View Hotel is near the southern end of King Street, closer to St Peters station than Newtown, and near the recently transacted Sydney Park Hotel.
It has been owned and operated under management for the past 25 years by the Murphy family, and sports two levels with extended trading hours including an upstairs beer garden with expansion potential.
The Botany View is being marketed by CBRE Hotels’ Sam Handy and Daniel Dragicevich, who suggest it is not yet trading at levels in line with surrounding stalwart pubs.
“It is widely considered that a King Street pub with extended trading hours and a first floor beer garden should be achieving significantly higher revenues,” says Handy.
“Any publican that has ever had aspirations of owning a Newtown pub that doesn’t want to spend in excess of $20 million should consider this opportunity very carefully.”
CBRE report an increase in enquiries for food & bev venues in offices around the country; Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, as well as Sydney.
Newtown has undergone a big operator boom in the past four years or so, with virtually every pub in the district being acquired by reputable operators and enjoying extensive capex and business rejuvenation. Some of these include Riversdale’s purchase of the sprawling Marlborough Hotel, Solotel buying The Bank, and Merivale buying the Queen Victoria in April 2015.
Furthermore, Newtown has seen a significant influx of displaced revellers from the lockout-stifled CBD and Kings Cross, and the traditional bohemian and cuisine-loving local pushed beyond the main strip to less frequented and more esoteric offerings.
To the south of Newtown station, the Union Hotel has recently been voted one of Sydney’s best by consumer good-time rag Time Out, and Ray Reilly will undoubtedly be attracting the cool crowd to his reinvented Sydney Park. The Botany View is conveniently placed between the two.
The Expressions of Interest campaign for the Botany View ends Thursday 18 August, 2016.
