By Clyde Mooney – editor Australian Hotelier
Following its top-dollar sale of the biggest pub in Bondi, Aussie Leisure Group (ALG) is divesting another blue-chip asset – this one with a long-term lease to Woolworths-backed ALH.
The Commercial Tavern in Ayr, near Townsville, is the favoured hotel in the area, and enjoys a super-sized BWS drive-thru with trade the envy of most retail liquor outlets in the country.
The freehold sale offers an incoming investor ownership of the hotel licence and 40 gaming licences, with the security of the country's biggest publican locked in a lease for many years to come.
Set to be auctioned in Crown Melbourne on August 6, the venue is being brought to market by the pub real estate group through Ray White Hotels and Burgess Rawson.
Speaking to TheShout – Pub Sales, Ray White’s director Asia-Pacific Andrew Jolliffe said ALH-leased assets are sufficiently rare and always attract smart money.
"The sale of an ALH-leased asset in Mackay last year for $19 million was pleasingly strong, however the Cambridge Tavern exceeded this result by some way, highlighting the keenly sought after nature of the Woolworths pub arm covenant.”
Fairfield’s Cambridge Tavern was snapped up in just two weeks of its campaign for in excess of $20 million, and represented a high for ALH-related sales in recent years.
The Melbourne-based ALG has chosen to sell down assets in recent years through Jolliffe, including the $36 million sale of Bondi’s Tea Gardens in May.