Historic Tumbulgum Tavern yours for $7m: Northern Rivers waterfront icon awaits next generation
After years of riverside memories and famous drop-ins, the family behind the laid-back 1887-built pub – complete with its own mooring dock on the Tweed – are ready to pass the pint glass.
They fondly recall the day champion surfer Mick Fanning came past on a jetski to lend a hand, and when staff swore they poured actors Russell Crowe and Paul Hogan a frothy… but mostly it’s camaraderie they’ll miss.
The iconic waterfront Tumbulgum Tavern at 126-134 Riverside Drive, in northern NSW, is a 20-minute drive south of the Gold Coast Airport and just a 45-minute drive from Byron Bay. It could be yours for $7 million.
The pub – for sale as a business and freehold going concern – spans 950 square metres on an expansive 2864-square-metre block. It is the only watering hole in the village, which is just a three-minute walk away.
With “magnificent views” to Mount Warning and sunsets from the balcony, the property brims with potential to expand and value-add.
The Tweed area is gaining momentum as a foodie trail. Next, generation owners could expand the dining area to double capacity, while taking advantage of some planned foodie upgrades underway right now – think outdoor pizza oven and Texas barbecue grill, as well as a new incoming playground.
The pub, which has earned a 4.4-star Google rating, is doing well, bringing in “exceptional revenue with very little marketing spend”, according to the listing.
Demi Harrison, daughter of owner Andrew Stratis, now aged in his 80s, says her parents purchased the pub in 2014 after stumbling across the village on a Sunday drive.
“They stopped for lunch at the pub and Dad fell in love with the place,” says Harrison.
Her father had just sold two large pubs in Brisbane and was on track to retire.
“He imagined spending weekends fishing across the road in the river and enjoying his ‘retirement’ with a small investment that he could enjoy.”
Fast forward 11 years, and Stratis is finally ready to retire again, and is more motivated than ever to sell. The property was listed “quietly” a few years ago, but now he’s serious, reducing the price from an initial asking price of $10 million.
Locals love their Tumby Pub, as it’s affectionately known, and Harrison says punters travel from as far north as Brisbane to enjoy lunch by the river.
There are sunsets aplenty, live music every Friday night and Sunday afternoon, a pool comp on Wednesdays to tie in with parma night, and al fresco dining on seafood platters from the award-winning bistro.
The tavern underwent significant renovations in the ’90s and these days includes 10 gaming machines, an events space, plus untapped revenue potential in an unused drive-through bottle shop.
Ray White Commercial’s Burleigh agents Ryan Langham and Nathan Huxham are marketing the property.
“It doesn’t get any more laid-back than the Tumby Pub,” Langham says.
“It’s your classic country watering-hole where you’d know all the regulars, and feel part of the community.”
This sense of community is echoed by Harrison, who has witnessed humanity at its best in the face of adversity over the years.
“The one memory of the pub that stays with myself and my parents would be the generosity and comradeship of the Tumbulgum community,” she says, recalling the floods of 2022.
“The community turned up ready to assist anyway they could, even leaving their own properties to help the pub.
“There were free beers on offer, and the pub was back up and running within a few days.”
The pub even had its moment in the sunlight, featuring in two beer advertisements for beer producer Carlton & United Breweries over the years, while the village appeared in the classic Australian movie, Muriel’s Wedding.
“We were the favourite meeting place for the film crews during various reality shows being filmed in the area, including I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and a few American movies,” Harrison adds.
“We have a famous person that does come in regularly for a chicken schnitzel … but we can’t say who.”
Langham says the pub would be an astute investment.
“The Tweed area is still a bit of a best-kept-secret but word is starting to spread about just how liveable it is,” says Langham.
“The Tumby Pub is a cornerstone of that … as commercial property, it has a lot of potential.”
“Hopefully, people will continue to patronise the tavern and see it in the same eyes that my father did over a decade ago and continues to do so,” adds Harrison.
It is the oldest pub in the Tweed area, established in 1887 as the Metropolitan Hotel, and popular with the sugar cane farmers at the time.
In the 1880s, Tumbulgum was the main town in the Tweed Valley, with an active commercial sector that had its own bank. However, these days, the larger town of Murwillumbah is considered more of a commercial centre.
Tumbulgum’s population is estimated to be around 454, according to the 2021 census.
The property is for sale via an expressions-of-interest campaign.
