Fraser Short has burst into Windsor, picking up two pubs in quick succession with new partners.
The first to arise was Windsor’s well-known Fitzroy Hotel, operated by ‘Lion-heart Luke’ Ainscough, which has sold to the newly-formed syndicate of Fraser Short and Todd Jacques.
Jacques already owns the Sunnyside Hotel, in the Newcastle suburb of Broadmeadow.
The Fitzroy holds a strategic 1,391sqm block in Windsor’s main commercial and retail precinct, close to a Woolworths-anchored shopping centre, with 16 EGMs and a 3am liquor licence.
It is reputed to offer “compelling upside levers” for an incoming owner via appropriate capex.
Known locally as ‘Lion-heart’ for heroic deeds during the Hawkesbury floods, Ainscough only purchased the Fitzroy during Sydney’s first COVID-19 lockdowns, mid-2020, but saw the right opportunity in the incoming offer.
Having also sold his Clarendon Hotel mid-2021, he is now without a venue but is understood to be back in the buyer’s seat.
During the Fitzroy process, Short was in the area and spotted the Tates Hotel, also on George Street, around five blocks south-west.
He subsequently teamed up with a different, unnamed partner, to buy Tates from Steven and Lauren Raffen, who had themselves only bought it in late 2019.
Short and his group Sydney Collective have engineered a number of successful partnerships, including at Watsons Bay Hotel, Northies at Cronulla, and more recently the $40 million purchase of Lennox Hotel with the Laundys.
Outside the traditional pub offerings, the portfolio also includes The Farm at Byron Bay and since late 2021 The Sir George, of Jugiong.
The Windsor and Richmond catchments are bursting with development and strong population growth, courtesy of major land releases and residential developments bringing circa 33,000 new homes and over 250,000 new residents into the North-West Priority Growth Corridor over coming years.
Both sales to Short were through HTL Property’s Blake Edwards and Sam Handy, furthering recent transactions in the region through the firm including the Vineyard Hotel in October, Tilley and Wills buying the Richmond Inn and Ainscough selling the Clarendon last July, and De Angelis Hotels selling the Bligh Park Tavern, late 2020.
There is commonly held belief that the Hawkesbury LGA in particular holds much prospect for the future.
“We’ve seen very experienced hoteliers, such as Nick Wills, Dan O’Hara, Ashton Waugh and Peter Wynne, all confidently invest in the area,” notes Edwards.
“And this quite rightly should instil confidence in other investors assessing the region’s pub investment fundamentals.”
Short echoes the upside sentiment and says the quick succession acquisitions were no accident.
“It seems to me and my team that Windsor just hasn’t been given much attention, and that urban sprawl is not coming – it has arrived, at its doorstep,” he says.
After making the move on the Fitzroy, Short opted to double-up.
“I’ve had good luck operating adjacent businesses, at Cargo Bar and Bungalow8 on King Street Wharf as well as The Australian and Glenmore hotels in The Rocks.
“When Tate’s came up it was more a roll of the die than a strategy.”
very informative