The Roche family’s pub group has sold and settled Armidale landmark the Railway Hotel to the growing New England collection of Jim Knox.
The Victorian-style pub was built in 1879, featuring a crested parapet and extensive iron lacework, with a modern extension at the rear. It occupies a 3,819 sqm site enjoying dual street frontage, and a strategic position as the nearest licensed venue to Armidale Base Hospital, which is the largest employer in a region counting population of approximately 30k people.
It provides a public bar, sports bar with TAB, gaming room holding 13 machine entitlements, a well-equipped commercial kitchen feeding the voluminous 1879 Bistro, providing seating for over 100 patrons, and a drive-through bottleshop. There is also parking for more than 60 vehicles.
The hotel holds a late trading 3am licence, but is currently open until only 10pm most nights, and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. It benefits from a large residential and commercial catchment, generating around $80K in weekly revenue.
The private Roche family’s DB Pubs P/L acquired the hotel in late 2021 from freeholder Brett Groundwater and operator Charlie Redmond, of Hospitality Dynamics, for circa $8 million. This furthered their exposure in a region possessing a robust agricultural economy and significant educational presence, including the esteemed University of New England.
This addition followed Knox purchasing Armidale’s White Bull Hotel in July.
The Railway title includes 800sqm of surplus land, on which Roche Group secured a DA for construction of a 16-room motel, approved by Armidale Council.
But since this time the group has decided to redirect focus toward core assets closer to its base in the Hunter Valley.
Mid-2024 they sold the nearby Royal Hotel to Harley Payne for $10 million.
And in early 2025 they listed the Railway, shortly after acclaimed Sydney operators Feros Group acquired the Wicklow Hotel in town.
Terms were swiftly settled on the Railway sale, with Knox taking operations in a lease arrangement for a year, through a structured 12-month extended settlement that has now concluded.
Knox has tendered his own DA for other works on the hotel and is still considering the existing approved plans for the motel.
While the sale price was not disclosed, agents report the freehold going concern transaction was within market guidance provided at the time of listing, of circa $9 million.
The campaign was negotiated by HTL Property’s Xavier Plunkett and Ben Kennedy, marking the 22nd FGC transaction by the agency involving either the Roche Group or Knox in the past decade.
“The transaction provides further evidence of the continued strength and momentum within the regional pub sector, with quality hotel assets continuing to attract strong investor demand despite the softening in other real estate submarkets,” offers Kennedy.
