Blue Mountains pubs set for new generation of owners
The new owner of the Grand View Hotel at Wentworth Falls, Jenny Wang, is still learning about the Mountains.
Ms Wang, who lives in Sydney with her husband and daughter, has only had the keys to the door for a few short weeks.
She intends to keep the bar and bistro as they are but has one firm plan: To add at least six new poker machines to the nine already in the pub, she said.
Ms Wang has long had an interest in the hospitality industry and also owns the Chittaway Bay motel on the Central Coast.
Imperial Hotel, in Mount Victoria, is set for a makeover. Photo: Supplied
She will remain living in Sydney, with a manager running the Grand View.
The Wenty Falls new ownership is one of many changes in the Upper Mountains pub world recently.
The Alexandra at Leura changed hands in March, when it was bought by a consortium of investors from the northern beaches along with some locals.
The new owners have installed a wood-fired pizza oven and generally brightened the place up.
The Family Hotel at Katoomba had also been for sale but is no longer on the market following the sale of the Alex. The Blackburn family owned both pubs and were happy to see one go and keep the other.
The Blue Mountains Hotel at Lawson is still up for grabs. It failed to sell at auction in July last year. Recently renovated, it has a beer garden, bottle shop, large owners’ accommodation plus five guest rooms.
In Blackheath, new lessees will take over at the Gardners Inn on December 10.
And at Mt Victoria, the Imperial was given final approval by the Local Planning Panel in August.
The company that bought it in February 2017, One Pro Blue Mountains Hotel Ltd, will undertake an $8.3 million renovation, the pub’s first major redevelopment since the 1980s.
