Activity continues in regional Australia with sale of the Duke of Kent Hotel – representing the third Wagga Wagga pub sale announcement in as many weeks.
Located on Wagga’s main drag, Fitzmaurice St, the Duke is a welcoming country pub with a spacious public bar and claim to “one of the most expansive ranges” of beer on tap in the region.
It offers a restaurant, gaming room with 12 machines, and the recently refurbished all-weather The Deck, overlooking the Murrumbidgee River.
The freehold has been the property of passive investor Bruce Whyte, the business under long-term lease to local operator Ward Gaiter.
Sale of the Duke freehold goes to the syndicate led by Sam Cruikshank and local pub identity Sean O’Hara.
The pair were the buyers in one of the other recent Wagga sales, taking the freehold going concern of the Sportsmens Hotel at the end of April.
“We like pubs and we like Wagga Wagga,” says Cruikshank. “So we asked Blake to approach the vendors and broker a deal.
“We paid more than we wanted to, but in the long run it will be a great investment.”
The transaction was brokered by HTL Property’s Blake Edwards, who notes a market where buyers are willing to settle for being landlords.
“With all the transactional activity that has occurred post-CV-19, there are not many entry level pubs still for sale,” posited Edwards.
“Hence, strategic and deliberate buyers are putting their hands on any available stock.”
