The Tattersalls Hotel in Narrabri has come to market, as its Central Coast owners increase focus on businesses closer to home.
Narrabri is around 450 kilometres due west of Coffs Harbour, about 500 north-west of Sydney.
It is a country region that is growing in prospects and employment, as seen in the recent advancements in Santos opening the $3bn Narrabri coal seam gas project, and the town making the short-list for one of the NSW Government’s regional hub Country Universities Centres.
Vendor Ian Negline and family own a few pubs, as well as caravan parks and an events business on the Central Coast.
They recently divested the Caledonia Hotel in Aberdare and now seek to also pass on the Tattersalls to focus on their local operations.
“Small communities, they need a link to the publican,” says Negline. “I think an owner-operator would really succeed well there; someone who could be a bit closer, and spend a bit of time there.”
The Hotel offers a public bar, commercial kitchen and bistro, nine pub-style rooms, TAB and drive-through bottle shop, on a 1712sqm block.
It holds a gaming room with 15 EGMs, eight in smoking solution, which Negline offers is good variety for the mountainous area, 212 metres above sea level. For the past two years it has hovered in the upper six-hundreds on the L&G list of gaming venues.
The Tatts used to have a strong food business, which has waned in recent years. Negline says food is one of the most challenging aspects for pubs in country towns and believes the Hotel has potential. To this end he has recently employed a new chef.
“I think that’s one aspect that’s really a growth area; something that can be built back up again.”
Records show the Hotel has traded consistently for years, reporting $3.2 million in FY17. Yields for comparable opportunities will likely see a sale price in the mid-$2m range.
The family has listed the freehold going concern with Ray White Hotels’ Blake Edwards and Xavier Plunkett, who see the future upsides in the region.
“Narrabri is located in one of the most fertile and productive agricultural regions in Australia, and is also benefiting enormously from the construction of the Santos Gas project, which aims to drill 850 natural gas wells on 425 sites over the 95,000-Ha Project area,” notes Plunkett.
The Tattersalls Hotel is being sold by way of Expressions of Interest, closing Thursday 23 November.
