Good Beer Company (GBC) has continued its strategic divestment initiative by selling the Four in Hand Hotel in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, in a deal brokered by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group.
It’s the second sale in a week for GBC after it sold the Duke of Gloucester in Randwick to Justin Hemmes’ Merivale, in another JLL deal.
GBC’s John Azar said: “It’s quite bittersweet selling the Four, it has such a great local and loyal following and everyone loves it.
“We wish the purchaser’s every success with it and look forward to seeing them down there.”
GBC rescued the ‘Four’ in 2018 following a ‘Save the Four’ petition, which drew 12,000 signatures after the previous owners considered a sale to property developers who were seeking to convert the architectural icon to residential units.
The group then set about restoring the hotel and rebuilding the business commensurate with the reputation built on decades of loyal patronage.
The local institution has been frequented by some of Sydney’s most famous identities including the much-loved recently deceased John Fordham, who now has a private function room named in his honour at the hotel.
Speaking about the transaction, JLL Senior Vice President, Ben McDonald said: “Generating significant enquiry, the pub attracted interest from hoteliers and hospitality identities looking to build on the hard work undertaken by Good Beer Company, many of whom had a strong existing affiliation with the asset.
“Ultimately, the chance to secure such a loved community hotel was the driver for the purchaser, a private, Sydney-based hotelier who is set to take the keys in January 2021.”
With the sale of the Four In Hand, JLL Hotels has now transacted over $260m worth of hotel assets in the last two weeks alone which speaks volumes about the overall interest and buoyancy of the NSW hotel market.