Harvest Hospitality continues its portfolio management with the listing of its OG, the historic Courthouse Hotel in Tamworth.
The Courthouse is a stately two-storey brick structure featuring an ornate Georgian iron lacework balcony across the upper level. Built 1876 it is the region’s oldest pub.
Occupying a substantial 1,216sqm site zoned Commercial Centre, it commands around 20 metres of frontage to Tamworth’s main thoroughfare, primary retail and hospitality strip, Peel Street, close to a council-owned car park for approximately 250 vehicles.
Holding a 3am liquor licence, it provides a broad offering through its bar, bistro and gaming operations.
Chris Cornforth and Fraser Haughton acquired it through their pub company, then known as Harvest Hotels, in 2016, marking their first major hospitality asset.
They carried out a comprehensive refurbishment, repositioning it as one of Tamworth’s leading food and beverage destinations.
The high-performing regional hotel reports circa $125k in weekly revenue, with nearly 40 per cent coming through the bar and nearly 30 per cent out of the bistro. The 19 Band 2 gaming machines are currently ranked #530 on the Liquor & Gaming ranking of NSW pubs.
Tamworth is the largest regional centre of the New England region, with a population exceeding 67k, forecast grow another 30 per cent in the next 15 years. Its gross regional product of roughly $4.7bn is derived through a broad mix incorporating agriculture, manufacturing, health, education and professional services, and is regarded as one of the most diverse and sustainable in regional New South Wales.
Harvest maintains active management of its investor-backed portfolio, regularly a buyer and seller.
After announcing renewed investment strategies mid-2025, the group sold the Northside Hotel in Lavington to JDA Hotels in October, and in December launched its latest acquisition fund, targeting a $500 million raise.
And last week it listed its newly renovated Woy Woy Hotel, marking the first time the pub has been publicly offered to market in more than 25 years.
The freehold going concern interest in the Courthouse is being sold through HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe, Xavier Plunkett, Blake Edwards and Ben Kennedy, who speak of its operational scale and late-night trading fundamentals. An Expressions of Interest campaign concludes Thursday, 26 March.
“Tamworth continues to demonstrate sustained population and economic growth,” notes Jolliffe.
“Assets of this calibre, particularly those benefitting from significant gaming holdings, valuable late-night trade and diversified income streams, are unsurprisingly tightly held and infrequently offered to the market.”
The wider New England region remains a highly sought-after regional market for hoteliers. HTL has managed the bulk of hospitality asset transactions in the region, amounting to over 25 venues in the past five years, with total value exceeding $250 million.
Known as the country music capital of Australia, Tamworth boasts a year-round calendar of major events, attracting more than two million overnight visitors annually.
“The Tamworth Country Music Festival generates hundreds of thousands of visitor nights each year, while the Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC), featuring a 3,500-seat indoor arena, hosts major national and international equestrian events, camp drafting and rodeo competitions – in addition to trade shows, concerts and sporting fixtures,” adds Plunkett.
