The Duke of Gloucester Hotel in Sydney’s Eastern has been listed for sale with a $30m price tag, just four years after it was last on the market.
HTL Property’s Sam Handy and Daniel Dragicevich are managing the campaign to sell the pub, which is known as ‘the Dog’ by locals. The hotel has been operating under the management of the Good Beer Group on behalf of the private syndicate who bought the pub in 2015.
Owner John Azar said that the rationale behind the sale is the need to redeploy capital for the refurbishment of another hotel.
“We’ve had several unsolicited approaches to buy the Dog in recent times and decided to put it to market to focus on our redevelopment of the Keg & Brew,” Azar said.
The syndicate bought the hotel from Newhaven Hotels in 2015, for around $17m and immediately undertook a $3.5m renovation, which also saw it refurbished and reconfigured. The Dog also boasts a 2am liquor licence, annual revenues well in excess of $8m and 19 gaming machines attached.
The gaming room was not a part of the overall renovation and has remained largely untouched since its last sale, outside of some hardware upgrades. HTL Property Director Sam Handy said the gaming area represents the clearest opportunity for the income purchaser.
“The Duke of Gloucester Hotel is surrounded by several TOP 200 gaming rooms, all with the maximum gaming machine holding of 30 machines.
“An incoming purchaser would be strongly advised to immediately increase the hotel’s machine holding from 19 to the allowable 30 and doubling the size of the gaming room by extending into the existing TAB and smoking area,” Handy said.
The two-storey hotel is prominently perched on an imposing 746sqm landholding at the cross section of Frenchmans Road and Clovelly Road in Randwick. The expansive trading footprint spans two levels and presents three bars, two kitchens, TAB, designated gaming room and multiple outdoor areas.
Handy added, “Whilst the business upside levers are obvious, it is expected that the underlying land and building value will excite a large segment of the market seeking prime property indexed to a stable and secure cash flow businesses”.
The Duke of Gloucester Hotel is being sold via Private Treaty.