Central Coast publican Adam Drabarek has purchased the Hunter Valley’s Criterion Hotel.
The Criterion Hotel will be the third pub in Drabarek’s portfolio, who also owns the Imperial Hotel in Coonabarabran and Howlong Hotel in the Riverina town of Howlong. For Drabarek, the purchase of the venue represents a move closer to home. The Weston property is located in the outer Newcastle region, only 10 minutes from Cessnock and 20 minutes from either Maitland or the outer suburbs of Newcastle.
“Part of the appeal of this venue is its proximity to my home in the Central Coast, which suits my plan to be a hands-on operator of this venue,” Drabarek said.
The sale was facilitated by HTL Property, who represented previous owners the Kelly Hotels Group.
“We think Kelly Hotels Group has done a great job with the venue, and we think we can continue to grow the venue through our hands on style of management and community engagement into the future,” Drabarek added, “We want to thank Kelly Hotel’s for their cooperation and professionalism with the handover process, and look forward to getting stuck into running this venue”
The venue houses a number of facilities, including a bar, bistro, 10 accommodation rooms, and a 15-machine gaming room. The liquor license spans to 3am and total average weekly revenues are in excess of $50k.
Though on-market sales are low, HTL Property projects that off-market pub sales will continue throughout the year.
“Two years of frenetic transaction activity and continuing strong trading conditions are resulting in an acute lack of on-market pubs for sale,” advised HTL Property Director, Blake Edwards, “We are expecting this clearly active transactional marketplace to continue well into 2023.”