Indebted publican Jon Adgemis lists Melbourne pub for sale

Records reveal that there are five caveats placed on the property, including one from Monaco-based businessman Richard Gazal, who has been trying to bankrupt Adgemis over a $25 million debt for years. Consultancy firm Belgravia Group has also lodged a caveat.

Operating company Public Hospitality was founded in 2021 by Adgemis, who rapidly expanded his portfolio during the COVID-19 pandemic. It nearly collapsed in 2024, but a refinancing agreement with Deutsche Bank kept it afloat.

In August 2023, Grossi Group and Public Hospitality reopened the more than 150-year-old Clifton Hotel with its new restaurant, Puttanesca.

At the start of 2025, however, the Grossi family ended its association with Puttanesca, Good Food reported.

“We don’t share the same business values so we couldn’t continue with the association,” the family said in January. The family also said it had ceased its arrangement with Public Hospitality Group and would no longer be involved with Puttanesca.

Option for vacant possession

Linchpin Hospitality, whose leadership team includes chef George Calombaris, began Puttanesca but has stated that it has no affiliation with Public Hospitality other than the group being its landlord.

However, the business interests in the hotel are also being sold along with the freehold, and purchasers will be given the option for vacant possession to operate the business themselves.

HTL Property director Scott Callow, appointed to broker the sale, said that following its most recent refurbishment, The Clifton Puttanesca had become a favourite of many people from Melbourne’s inner east.

“The hotel is situated in busy Kew Junction, with a site area of 643 square metres and enjoying additional income derived from digital rooftop signage,” Callow added.

The agency has already sold two of Adgemis’ hotels on behalf of his receivers, including Balmain’s Town Hall Hotel for $9.5 million, called in by Wexted Advisory, which was tapped by creditor Latrobe Financial to sell the pub. HTL also offloaded Adgemis’ Three Weeds hotel in Paddington in July for about $20 million.

Andrew Jolliffe, managing director at HTL Property, said the opportunity to acquire a successful hotel freehold and business asset within the highly sought-after Melbourne hotel market had become increasingly difficult.

“In excess of two hundred pubs change hands nationally each year, the vast majority of which are in NSW, followed by Queensland,” Jolliffe told The Australian Financial Review.

“Interest in Victorian hospitality and tourism assets has, however, increased dramatically in the past month; with both domestic and offshore investors connecting with us in search of opportunities.”

This comes after FTI Consulting was tapped by New York lender Muzinich & Co last year to be the receivers for five of Public Hospitality’s Sydney pubs – Oxford House, The Exchange in Darlinghurst, The Norfolk, The Strand Hotel and Camelia Grove Hotel – it took control of.

BDO was appointed as the administrator of Public Lifestyle Management, the operating company behind the assets.

Tax authorities are also chasing Adgemis, claiming they are owed $162 million by the publican. He has since tried to avoid bankruptcy through a personal insolvency agreement, which involved him signing over a house he owns with his mother to trustee WLP Restructuring.

But Deputy Commissioner of Taxation Julian Roberts outlined to the trustee at the end of July how it was owed more than double what Adgemis had initially told creditors, and pointed to the “extravagant lifestyle” he continued to live, including his $60,833-a-month lease of a Bondi apartment.