Ex-CUB boss snaps up popular Melbourne pub for $20m
Former Carlton & United Breweries boss Peter Filipovic and his partners Dave and Merv Shannon have snapped up a South Melbourne venue for about $20 million in Victoria’s biggest pub transaction so far this year.
Bells Hotel, an inner-city pub on the corner of Moray and Coventry streets, adds to the growing portfolio of the Saxon Group, headed by Filipovic and the Shannon brothers. The group runs a string of well-known venues already such as the Royal Saxon in Richmond, Naked for Satan in Fitzroy, Brown Cow in Hampton and Sons of Mary in Brighton.
Filipovic described Bells Hotel as an already iconic pub that still had lots of potential for future improvement.
“It’s a big pub, and it really is a well-known pub in the heart of the community and supports a lot of local football clubs and great causes,” he told The Australian Financial Review. “We will renovate the pub. It just needs a bit more love and attention.
“We will definitely renovate over the next two to three years and make it a bit more contemporary.”
Bells Hotel first opened in 1974, initially called Freer’s Family Hotel. After a number of licensees, Commercial Hospitality Group’s Sam Tresise took over the hotel in 2013, which he then significantly renovated.
Over 1161 square metres, the pub’s hospitality spaces include a rooftop with views of Melbourne’s skyline. It also has 40 gaming machines, making it the first gaming hotel transaction in the past 18 months.
Will Connolly, senior vice president at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, said there had been a lull in major hotel transactions recently, especially when it came to venues with gaming facilities.
“Since the sale of the Rye Hotel, which was the most recent larger gaming hotel at circa $50 million, there’s been an 18-month period between transactions,” Connolly told The Australian Financial Review.
“There has been uncertainty [in the market] out there, just in terms of potential legislative changes.”
Another significant pub transaction in Melbourne this week was Fitzroy’s Napier Hotel, one of the most well-known pubs in the city’s inner north. Headed by publican Guy Lawson for nearly three decades, the pub’s freehold going concern sold to Baxter Pickard for about $10 million.
Pickard, who also operates wine bar Wally’s Albert Park and wine delivery company Grapeful, said the Napier represented everything special about Melbourne’s pub culture.
“I’m excited to ensure the continuation of the legacy Guy has created for close to 30 years,” he said. “I’m committed to preserving the spirit that has made the Napier the icon it is, while ensuring it continues to thrive for generations to come.”
Connolly, who also brokered this off-market deal, said the sale process of the Napier Hotel was carefully orchestrated, with respect and legacy taking centre stage.
“A transaction such as this means much more than property and numbers – it becomes about preserving the future of a venue that matters deeply to the community, enabling its story to continue evolving in the right hands,” he said.
