High-octane outback legend the Silverton Hotel is bursting back to market, as its septuagenarian gatekeepers look to new distant horizons.
Silverton is iconic Australian red earth country, more than 12 hours’ drive west of Sydney. The town of just 48 residents welcomes around 120,000 visitors a year.
It is only a short 20-minute drive from bustling Broken Hill, where a group of miners famously gathered for a beer and went on to create Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP).
Built 1884, the pub provides public bar, commercial kitchen and bistro, undercover beer garden and dining area seating 300-pax, and seven large new accommodation rooms each sleeping five people, plus an in-ground swimming pool and a private manager’s residence nearby.
In 1981 Silverton was the location for the sequel to the 1979 cult classic Mad Max. First-timers Peter and Patsy Price bought the pub in 2010 for around $500k, drawn to the beauty and history of the area.
They embraced the Mad Max legend, even creating their own fuel-crazed vehicle to haunt outside, and the filmmakers returned to Silverton for the fourth and final instalment, Mad Max: Fury Road.
The pub has seen plenty of accolades, highlighted by taking the 2017 AHA NSW Best Bush Pub. Through the pandemic period the Prices have completed further enhancements, now able to accommodate 300 seated guests for functions, and fostering local staff.
Central to Silverton’s appeal, the Hotel enjoys consistent business and repeat clientele, serving more than 1,000 meals through the bistro each week, and reporting occupancy rate in the accommodation north of 70 per cent.
The Prices have also furthered their involvement with the celebrated St Pats Recovery Day, and the annual Priscilla-inspired Broken Heel Festival out of Broken Hill.
Peter says there are even more conventions, weddings, and events such as ‘Opera in the Outback’ going on now, and Films Furiosa has just created their next instalment.
It’s suggested incoming owners can take the pub “to its next stage” by capitalising on the all-new Mundi Mundi Music Festival, slated to bring a thousand happy music fans past the front door every August.
Sales literature cites net profit at the Hotel of more than $300k, bringing asking price of $3.25 million.
“Even as it flourished into one of the most filmed and photographed hotels in the country, the Silverton Hotel has maintained its laid-back country lifestyle,” notes Resort Brokers’ Chris Kelly, marketing the property.
Now both in their 70s and married almost fifty years, Peter and Patsy are looking to wind down and settle into the house they began building nearby more than a decade ago.
“They say opportunity only knocks once in your life … well, this is it,” poses Peter.
