The Australian Hotel, established by the Maguire family in 1891, has been sold outside the family for the first time ever, to growing Sydney publican Warren Livingstone.
A local western Sydney family was behind creation of the Australian Hotel, on 6k+ sqm on the border of Windsor. Facilities include public bar, bistro, indoor gaming room with 10 GMEs, beer garden, eight well-appointed accommodation rooms, a large drive-through bottleshop and significant off-street parking.
After so long under their stewardship, Kim Maguire says she and the family have mixed emotions on sale of the Hotel.
“[It] was built by my late husband’s ancestors 131 years ago,” she says.
“We are delighted with the outcome, which will breathe new life into the Aussie, and allow me to focus on my grandchildren.”
McGraths Hill is home to around 2,500 locals, found around 56 kilometres north-west of the Sydney CBD, and just a few kilometres from the Vineyard Hotel, which sold last October for circa $70 million.
Sources suggest the Aussie now joins the collection of Livingstone for circa $11 million. It follows his acquisition of the Rose & Crown Hotel in Parramatta earlier this year.
“The pub is perfectly situated in a growing region which has always piqued my interest,” reports Livingstone.
“We look forward to getting our hands on the operation and working with the community to provide a new and exciting hospitality offering for greater-Western Sydney.”
Sale was through JLL Hotels’ Kate MacDonald, who notes it as another exit by long-term family operators, just as that of the Pendle Inn, sold in May after 70 years in the same hands, the Glenquarie Tavern in Macquarie Fields, sold by the Radford and Cullen families this month after 47 years, and the New Ivanhoe Hotel in Blackheath, sold by the Ray family also after 47 years.
“This is a transaction I am particularly proud of as it has assisted a genuine, hard-working owner-operator to divest her asset at a time in the market capable of delivering a life-changing outcome not only for herself, but for her children and her children’s children,” offered MacDonald.
