Ashton Waugh-led syndicate buys Tamworth pub

The property sits on a 3500 square metres site located on Peel Street, the main street of the city.

It is the second acquisition in Tamworth by the syndicate, which already owns the Tudor Hotel.

Mr Waugh said the acquisition was a logical progression for the syndicate, which has been looking to increase their holdings in the city.

“We will look to trade the hotel and expand the business. While immediate plans are still in their infancy, an updated menu and creating a family-friendly environment with children’s playground and the obligatory live country music are high on the list,” he said.

“We will also look to maintain and expand a traditional offering for the public bar, gaming room and sports bar. To us, there exists obvious upside in the venue, coupled with the synergies created by our existing management structures in Tamworth.”

Mr Waugh owns several well-known pubs in NSW, including the Narellan Hotel and Ettalong Beach Hotel.

In 2018 he and his brother Mitchell Waugh sold the Four In Hand Hotel in Paddington in a $7 million deal to John Azar through his Sydney-based Good Beer Company.

Strategically located licensed premise

The Tamworth property was sold by the Cannon family, lifetime publicans who had owned Joe Maguire’s since 2004.

The hotel is strategically located as the closest licensed premise to the enormous northern Tamworth growth corridor, which itself expects to see 15,000 new residents over the next 15 to 20 years as the Tamworth City Council’s 100,000-person plan comes to fruition.

The property was sold through HTL’s Xavier Plunkett via a buy-side mandate.

“Despite continued transactional success, many vendors have been reluctant to formally bring property to the market via on-market campaigns and off-market transactions such as this will be prevalent in the short to medium term,” Mr Plunkett said.