Hotelier Peter Walker pays record $25 million for Blacktown’s Adam’s Tavern

Adam’s Tavern in Blacktown has sold for $25 million.

Sydney hotelier Peter Walker has splashed a record $25 million to snap up the popular Blacktown pub, Adam’s Tavern.

The deal, which is the highest price ever paid for a pub in Blacktown, comes hot on the heels of the $24 million deal Mr Walker brokered in May to sell Norton’s Irish Pub in Leichhardt to Merivale’s Justin Hemmes.

MORE: Inside Karl Stefanovic’s waterfront mansion

Nicole Kidman leads celebrities moving to this NSW region

Inside Justin Hemmes’ $120m pub spending spree

The previous highest price paid for a Blacktown hotel was the Sportsman’s Hotel which sold for $23.4 million in late 2019.

Adam’s Tavern had been held by the same owner for about 30 years.

Adam’s Tavern was located on a 1867sqm site and included a drive thru bottle-shop, public bar, bistro and gaming lounge with 30 machines.

The sale brokered by JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group’s John Musca and Kate MacDonald, represents the largest gaming-centric hotel transaction since the start of the lockdown in June.

The pub had been owned by Bob McGhee, who founded the venue nearly 30 years ago. Ms MacDonald said that Mr McGhee was one of the last remaining independent owner-operators in western Sydney.

“We know that a decision like this doesn’t come lightly, however the timing from a family objective aspect and strength of the market seemed to align” Ms MacDonald said.

The previous highest price paid for a Blacktown pub was the $23.4 million sale of the Sportsman’s Hotel.

The sale of Adam’s Tavern continues a trend of long-term family owners selling their pubs in the past 18 months, with many capitalising on strong demand for establishments during the pandemic.

JLL had managed the sale of more than 15 hotels on behalf of long-term owners who have had their hotels for 25 to 50 years. These included the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay, which the Mooney family sold in June for $55 million, while the Gladstone Hotel in Dulwich sold after 42 years.

Mr Musca said the pandemic had given rise to some resetting of many generational hotelier family outlooks.

“It is only in conjunction with an extraordinary weight of capital to the asset-class and as a result, the strongest pricing outcomes seen in over two decades of hotel transactions,” he said.