Queensland’s only government-built pub, the one-of-a-kind Babinda State Hotel, is being sold by private owners after almost four decades.
Built in 1917, the hotel holds claim to being the only pub in the state constructed and operated by the Queensland Government at the time. It joined the Queensland Heritage Register in February 2002.
The Queensland Government built the pub as part of a state enterprise scheme to support the growth of the local sugar industry and ran it until 1929.
A two-storey timber structure, the lower level offers a main bar with Keno and front deck, gaming room with three machines, commercial kitchen, restaurant and cafe, function rooms, six accommodation rooms and a bottleshop.
On the upper level there are accommodation wings, with 10 separate rooms, ensuites and bathrooms, and wrap-around timber balconies overlooking main street, plus a four-bedroom self-contained manager’s residence.
The building has been fitted with a large solar panel array, and there is off-street parking available in the council carpark on the western side of the property.
The asset holds two titles totalling 3,564sqm – one with the Hotel, on 1,884sqm, and an adjacent block of land with a three-bedroom house and dual street access. The sites are zoned District Centre.
Babinda State Hotel is known for its solid timber bar top, one of the longest in Australia, and appeared on an episode of Farmer Wants a Wife.
Babinda is a seaside town of roughly 1,300 residents, a leisurely 60-kilometre drive south out of Cairns.
Its famous pub has been under the stewardship of owner-operator Kitty Anning, who is now retiring to spend more time with the grandkids and hopes to have “farewell drinks” when a deal is done.
The pub is being sold with a reduced asking price of $2.2 million, after first appearing on the market in 2023 for $3.6 million.
A sale campaign on the freehold and business is being conducted through Babinda Real Estate’s Segrid Hudson, who sees it as a prime investment with huge potential.
“The multi-revenue business is being offered for sale with a motivated vendor,” she says, “And is a rare opportunity to secure this iconic valuable property.”
