After nearly five decades in the same hands, the handsome New Ivanhoe Hotel of Blackheath is for sale by the Ray family.
Found on a large site of around 1,500 sqm on the Great Western Highway in Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains, 90 minutes west of Sydney, the Ray family have been running the 1930s old world pub known affectionately as ‘The Ivy’ for the past 45 years.
Patriarch Vic Ray first entered a lease on Blackheath’s other pub, the Gardners Inn, in the early 70s after being forced to leave work as a coal miner.
In 1976 he and wife Sybil took a lease on the New Ivanhoe, and a year later upgraded into the freehold.
Descendants Dennis, Dale and Kerrie have been involved in all aspects of operations over the years. Kerrie began behind one of dad’s bars back in 1973, while maintaining a second job and career in Sydney.
She and her partner Bruce Pelchen now reside at the Hotel, and after nearly half a century she has decided to sell.
The prominent two-storey corner pub offers public bar with 3am trading, gaming with eight machines, and the only drive-through bottleshop in Blackheath, which is also one of only two in a 10-kilometre radius.
Upstairs are 14 well-presented accommodation rooms, three of these with their own ensuite, and a three-bedroom manager’s residence.
Blackheath is a community of 4,500 people that swells considerably with the influx of tourists and day-trippers on weekends and during holiday periods. The precinct is set to commence upgrades to the village centre in the coming year.
The Rays have appointed JLL Hotels Kate MacDonald, in conjunction with Knight Frank’s Mike Wheatley, who note the ‘fresh eyes’ benefit the next owner will find and expect competition “will be fierce”.
“The New Ivanhoe Hotel offers an incoming purchaser an incredible foundation to build upon, established over 46 years by the Ray family,” says MacDonald.
“There is genuine upside to be realised in all areas of the Hotel through renovation and repositioning of the offering.”
The freehold going concern of The Ivy is being sold via Expressions of Interest.
