Bill Drakopoulos’ Sydney Restaurant Group (SRG) has pulled the trigger on its plan for pubs, picking up the large-format Coast Hotel in Budgewoi.
Well known as a restaurateur, Drakopoulos has paid $15 million for the Central Coast freehold, on a sprawling 5,100sqm mostly underdeveloped site overlooking the water, with an exclusive catchment area.
Patriarch Bill Drakopoulos is a veteran of hospitality, with experience spanning more than 40 years. Awarded “restaurateur of the year” in 2009, Bill sits on the board of Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) and is NSW chair.
The family’s Sydney Restaurant Group (SRG) owns and operates 15 sites in Sydney, ranging from fine-dining restaurants to cafes and function spaces, an accredited (WSET) wine academy and bespoke wine club, and home catering.
“Our core values have always been focused on offering the best service and products in locations and settings that are truly unique,” says Bill.
“Our venture into hotels is something we have been planning for quite some time, and we very much look forward to creating amazing spaces and offerings, fitting of their surrounds – much like we have done with our existing restaurants.”
Vendors at the Coast were Mark Stead and partners, who have held it since 2006. Stead holds title at several other pubs, including the Berowra Village Tavern and two in Thirroul, each with different partners.
“It’s refreshing to welcome a new entrant to the sector, and particularly one with such highly regarded hospitality pedigree in the form of Bill Drakopoulos and his sons Daniel and Perry,” offers HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, who managed the deal with colleague Blake Edwards.
Stead engaged HTL following the $35 million sale to the Laundy family of Woy Woy’s Bayview Hotel, south of Budgewoi, in late 2021.
“We can for foresee positive trading conditions recommencing from the very outset of the New Year,” posed Dragicevich.
