Ned Kelly & Co have taken the second new pub in as many weeks, growing the Mudgee region portfolio with Gulgong’s Centennial Hotel.
The 148-year-old Centennial stands at the town centre corner of Mayne and Medley Streets in Gulgong, home to around 2,000 people in the NSW food bowl, half an hour’s drive north of Mudgee.
Gulgong is famously the town on the former paper $10 note, and childhood stomping ground of bush icon Henry Lawson, whose likeness was featured on the currency. Ten-dollar memorabilia and Lawson paraphernalia still adorn much of Gulgong’s persona, including the $10 Hotel across from the Centennial.
The Centennial is similarly period, decked with bush pub essentials such as rabbit traps hanging from ceilings and a mounted boar head.
Rodney “Ned” Kelly took his experience with big Sydney operations west a few years ago, purchasing what became Kelly’s Irish Pub in Mudgee and finding himself a die-hard convert to the region.
Earlier this month he consolidated this confidence with acquisition of the Globe Hotel Rylstone, around 30 kilometres east of Mudgee.
In the past year the freehold owners were forced to resume control of the Centennial, which they had leased out. Engaged with their own operations elsewhere, they offered the Gulgong staple to market.
The sale was through local agent Richard Thomas, for an undisclosed amount.
Kelly says the strategy in Gulgong will be a natural continuation of the Mudgee holding and plans with Rylstone.
“It’s a fantastic area around here, definitely one of the spearhead growth regions of NSW.
“We’re continually booked out here at Kelly’s and if I’ve got another accommodation venue, the synergy’s there.”
While big brother Mudgee sees more in events and wine-focused tours, Gulgong’s antique stores and museums embody more of an “old-world charm”.
The Centennial currently holds seven rooms, which Kelly says can be easily adapted to nearly double the number of beds, making it ideal for spill-over from Mudgee.
There are plans to reinvent the menu, installing a 100 per cent Mudgee region wine list and serving local produce. Another consideration is pitching to tours of weekend motorcyclists, providing facilities to store and work on precious vintage machines when they stay.
The rapid Kelly & Co expansion has put some strain on the fledgling family business, but the opportunity in his chosen part of the world couldn’t be denied.
“Geographically it’s great. It’s just timing,” he explains. “I probably wouldn’t have done them this close together if I had the choice, but pubs come up so rarely in this area that I had to take it.”
