Darling Harbour’s All Hands Brewing House swallowed for $20m
Sydney’s booming pub market has drawn in the expanding Signature Hospitality Group, which has just snapped up the All Hands Brewing House on King Street Wharf in Darling Harbour for $20 million.
Publicans including Justin Hemmes, Arthur Laundy and Sam Arnaout bought pubs last year as the market surged and the early sale indicates this year could also be active.
Signature Group has brands including restaurant chains The Sporting Globe and TGI Fridays, as well as the Foresters Restaurant and Bar in Brisbane and the WJ Wills eatery in South Melbourne.
It has sought out a site in which to launch the brands in Sydney with the All Hands Brewing House fitting in with the sports-themed pubs.
The pub was sold by the Red Rock Leisure Group, which tapped JLL Hotels and Hospitality’s John Musca to broker the deal. Mr Musca also brokered last year’s sale of the Australian Hotel and Brewery in Rouse Hill for $50m to the listed Redcape Hotel Group.
All Hands has fast become a staple of Sydney’s harbourside Barangaroo precinct and craft breweries are the fastest-growing category in the pubs sector. The industry has grown at nearly 10 per cent a year for the past six years with 52 new breweries, brew pubs and contract brewers opening in 2018, bringing the total number of craft ale producers to 585. Industry revenue is expected to hit $604m by June this year.
Musca says the All Hands Brewing House is a rare combination of a microbrewery, event space and a beer garden on King Street Wharf.
“A microbrewery has been on the site since 2004 and it underwent a major rebuild in 2017 to become the highly desirable site it is today,” he says.
Microbreweries are now a major part of the pub landscape. “The breweries are driving a new level of beverage engagement, building brand stories and customer relationships that create a dedicated following,” Musca says.
Many of the major breweries have been buying into the sector in recent years, with Asahi buying Queensland craft brewer Green Beacon Brewing in August and CUB buying Manly’s 4 Pines and Adelaide-based Pirate Life in 2017. Independent brewer Tribe acquired Mornington Peninsula Brewery in August 2018.
Independent Scottish brewer BrewDog set up its first Australian operation last month at Murarrie on the Brisbane River.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
