Queensland hotelier Tony Prentice is lightening the portfolio, offering up the Commercial Hotel of Gatton after an unexpected 15 years.
Built 1927, the Commercial is the pub “Where everyone knows your name” and one of the oldest in the Gatton-Laidley LGA, 92 kilometres west of Brisbane and home to around 1,500 people.
The Commercial offers a public bar, keno, upstairs accommodation and a beer garden, on a prominent 1,401sqm corner site.
Tony Prentice bought the Hotel in 2005 as an investment, but the benefits of running it have seen him keep the keys for 15 years. He also holds the proximate Gatton View Hotel and Sundowner Saloon, as well as the Walloon Hotel and Weeroona Hotel at Goodna.
Now looking toward scaling back his workload he says it is the “right time” to sell.
In late 2015 Gatton’s heritage-listed Imperial Hotel was destroyed by fire. It was a popular haunt for backpackers and its absence drew the young travellers to the Commercial instead.
The Hotel’s accommodation has potential to be a backpacker operation, subject to council approval.
Prentice has engaged Power Jeffrey’s Andy Nason to market the asset, who says there has been interest from potential buyers outside the industry to convert the pub into office space.
Knowing its operational strengths, Prentice poses it is ideal for a ‘hands-on’ owner-operator or couple.
The freehold going concern of the Commercial Hotel Gatton is to be sold via onsite auction, Thursday 28 January, 11am.
