Former Wallaby buys NSW pub for $50m
Former Wallaby-turned-pub baron Bill Young has struck the biggest regional pub sale so far this year by snapping up a major hotel in the NSW Riverina region for $50 million, adding the seventh venue to his family’s hospitality empire.
The Gem Hotel, in the regional city of Griffith, is in the top five NSW gaming venues with 29 poker machine entitlements, award-winning restaurant Bull & Bell Steakhouse and 65 four-star hotel rooms. Its annual revenue is above $13 million and the pub is one of the most profitable regional hospitality businesses ever brought to market.
It comes after Bathurst’s Panorama Hotel Motel sold for $25 million at the start of this month, which was at the time one of the strongest regional hotel price transactions this year.
It’s the first foray for Young – who played 46 times for the Wallabies and more than 100 games for the Canberra-based Brumbies – into the regional pub market.
“We’re delighted with the acquisition of The Gem, and look forward to further enhancing the already outstanding reputation the hotel and the proud Riverina district is known for,” Young said.
Young Hotel’s six other pubs in Sydney include the Bar Broadway in Chippendale – bought three years ago for $37 million – the Illinois Hotel in Five Dock, the Five Dock Hotel, the Royal Hotel Top Ryde, the Concord Hotel in Concord West and the Mortlake Hotel. The Young family also owns the Wisemans Ferry Inn on the Hawkesbury River.
He also owns Baroola Cattle Station, near the NSW town of Cowra, that breeds Angus and cross steers.
Hotelier Jim Knox listed the venue for sale publicly as he consolidates his interests. He has already sold the Area Hotel in Griffith, more than tripling his investment. Knox paid about $8 million for that hotel in 2019 and sold it for about $30 million in 2024.
“The Gem has been an extraordinary part of our business journey. We are proud of the scale and reputation the hotel has achieved, and I’m confident it is in excellent hands with Bill Young and his team,” Knox said.
Knox has a significant hotel portfolio of about a dozen venues.
The Griffith sale puts the Gem Hotel in the top league of regional pubs, including Knox’s purchase of the Port Macquarie Hotel for $53 million, along with other sales outside capital cities such the Robin Hood Hotel in Orange, which sold for $47.4 million, and the Windsor Castle Hotel in East Maitland for $50.5 million. All of those sales were in 2022.
The latest deal was brokered by HTL Property, which has transacted the five biggest regional pub sales in NSW in the last two years.
“The patent economic strength enjoyed by Griffith – and its surrounding area and driven primarily by agriculture, manufacturing and viticulture – provides a robust platform for sustainable long-term hotel trade,” HTL Property managing director Andrew Jolliffe said.
“The landmark sale of the Gem Hotel sets a new benchmark not just in Griffith or the Riverina, but across the entire regional hospitality landscape,” he said.
