Golden opportunity at Nambucca Heads' Golden Sands Tavern
A golden opportunity to acquire the leasehold on a thriving hospitality venue has popped up on NSW’s laid-back Mid North Coast.
The Golden Sands Tavern is centrally situated in Nambucca Heads, a seaside town of about 6700 people about 40 minutes’ drive south of Coffs Harbour.
The hotel’s dozen Band 3 poker machine entitlements and effective local monopoly on hotel gaming help underpin its trading profile, says selling agent Xavier Plunkett of HTL Property.
“It’s the only venue of its kind in Nambucca Heads, and in many ways it’s the heart of the town,” he says.
The tavern brings in about $25,000 in weekly gaming revenue and about $15,000 in weekly bar revenue, totalling about $2.38 million a year. It is being offered with about 19.5 years remaining on its lease.
Strong income foundation
Plunkett says the current leaseholder has taken a “basics-only” approach to operations, leaving open a range of possibilities to improve profitability, including repositioning the food offering, optimising gaming performance and activating under-utilised trading areas.
“For an experienced operator, there is considerable scope to improve performance and extract further value from the existing operation,” he says.
“The established gaming and bar revenues provide a solid income base, but they’re really just the start of what could be achieved here.”
The property could also suit a first-time publican looking to enter the hotel industry in a popular coastal location with a relatively modest capital outlay, Plunkett adds.
“Buying a hotel freehold on the Mid North Coast could set you back $10 million, but this is a profit-making opportunity at a fraction of that cost,” he says.
HTL Property is accepting expressions of interest between $1 million and $2 million for the leasehold.
The vendor, who owns a range of commercial properties across NSW, is also open to the possibility of selling the freehold if a suitable owner-operator steps forward, Plunkett says.
A sought-after coastal location
Nambucca Heads is part of the Coffs Coast region and is one of its most popular tourist locations, boasting a patrolled main beach and several other beaches, plus easy access to national parks and coastal walking tracks.
It sits at the mouth of the languid Nambucca River and derives its name from the Gumbaynggirr word meaning “entrance to waters”.
Scenic lookouts and old-fashioned retail outlets dot the town, which is also home to Australia’s first island golf course, the Nambucca Heads Island Golf Club.
“It’s an area where you get the best of both worlds: consistent visitor activity and a permanent residential catchment,” Plunkett says.
“To find an affordable coastal hotel leasehold, offering established income and genuine operational upside, in a location as desirable as Nambucca Heads … is not something that happens every day.”
