John Purkis and family have passed the reins of the landmark Tea Gardens Hotel in Bondi Junction to Ryan hotel dynasty principals John and Sally Ryan.
Purkis bought the big multi-storey Art Deco hotel mid-2014 from Aussie Leisure Group, but opted the time had come to surrender the old girl of the east.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed our time owning and operating this significant hotel, and wish the Ryan family every success moving forward,” he offered.
Set on an 800sqm site surrounded by retail offerings including Westfields and Myer, local institution Easts Club, and major transport interchanges in the thriving Bondi Junction CBD, Tea Gardens provides patrons a street level main bar, gaming room with 30 machines, upstairs balcony bar, lounge, front balcony overlooking Bronte Street and outdoor deck at the rear.
The Hotel’s licence allows for early trader 7am opening, and 2am late trade Thursday to Saturday.
Purkis retains a portfolio spanning Sydney, counting the Imperial Hotel in Rooty Hill, Royal Hotel at Sutherland, and rumoured to be Australia’s oldest pub, Parramatta’s Woolpack Hotel, established in 1796.
He bought the Tea Gardens for around $36 million, following the global financial crisis, capitalising on the misfortunes of Aussie Leisure Group, which had paid $45 million eight years earlier.
The Ryans portfolio includes venues in Melbourne and Brisbane, but is centred around the Sydney CBD, such as the historic Orient Hotel in The Rocks, Ship Inn and the Paragon Hotel at Circular Quay, as well as the Banksia Hotel at Rockdale.
The family group is understood to have pad north of $70 million for the Tea Gardens, reportedly a record sale nationally for the year.
It is the largest pub transaction in Sydney since Sam Arnaout’s Iris bought the Strathfield Hotel for $80 million in July 2022, which came just a month after the all-time highest pub sale nationally the month prior, when Nelson Meers Group bought the Crossroads Hotel at Casula for circa $160 million.
The off-market sale of the Tea Gardens, in Sydney’s somewhat under-pubbed eastern suburbs, was orchestrated by HTL’s Andrew Jolliffe, who also brokered Purkis into the pub a decade ago.
“The Tea Gardens enjoys an iconic status borne from a history of extraordinarily reliable and voluminous multi-departmental revenue generation,” said Jolliffe.
