The new year has already found Sydney hoteliers drawn north to Newcastle, as a partnership with Ashton Waugh and Ben Lawler take the deeds to The Commo of Cooks Hill.
A classic red brick two-storey corner pub, the Commonwealth is a stoic local providing public bar, gaming room with 21 machines, 24-hour licence, and ten guest rooms on the upper level.
A few blocks south of the Hunter River and a few west of the Pacific, it is the closest pub to the National Sports Ground, and beneficiary to Newcastle’s construction wave.
Stew Smith and partner Cath Antaw previously owned the Exchange Hotel, around two kilometres west, on Hamilton’s Beaumont Street, and have owned and operated The Commo since 2014. In 2021 they bought another pub, at Taralba.
They are said to have built an enviable and reliable community-focused operation in Cooks Hill, and last year set about capitalising on the uplift – listing the pub, plus an adjacent terrace house already holding licence and council approval for an expanded operation.
Stepping up to the takeover challenge is a syndicate of Ashton Waugh, Ben Lawler and Ryan Haynes, who sources say agreed to a sum in the mid-20s for the freehold going concern and neighbouring property.
“We are excited with the opportunity of being involved with such a classic pub, which is a Newcastle institution,” offered Lawler.
Son of industry icon Bill Waugh, Ashton has amassed his own collection of pubs in selected NSW towns and in Sydney, such as Waterloo’s Grosvenor Hotel, though his Watering Hole Hotels group.
A veteran of the Waugh hotel operations, Ben Lawler has built his own stable of pubs in Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, and the Royal at Camden.
He reports their intention to carry on a local legacy left by Smith and Antaw.
“We aim to focus on community engagement, sponsorships of the local sporting clubs along with great food and bev.
“We can’t wait to be involved with the Newcastle and Cooks Hill local communities.”
The sale process was managed by HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich and Blake Edwards, who noted the standard of the existing business.
“Our client’s, Stew and Cath, have done an incredible job transforming the Commonwealth Hotel into the successful operation that it is today,” remarked Edwards.
On the skirts of a record year of pub sales, divestment of The Commo continues a well-established theme of Newcastle icons being snapped up by Sydney hoteliers – as seen with relative newcomer Glenn Piper snaring Merewether’s Beach Hotel last year for around $40 million.
The nearby Lambton Park Hotel is said to be close to finalisation of sale by Riversdale, also through HTL, as the area enters another generation of bargain-hunters heading north of Sydney for value.
“Newcastle, like other strong metro and sub-metro centres around Australia, represents a real magnet for investor interest in an asset class that has performed at a clear premium to most others over the past few years,” explains HTL’s Dan Dragicevich.
