THE Ettamogah Pub, once a major tourist attraction for Albury, is likely to get a second lease on life.

The pub site has been sold for an undisclosed sum, almost two years after it went on the market with huge debts.

Ray White Real Estate at Wagga yesterday said a deal for the 9.57 hectare property was done earlier this month.

Agent Angus Macleod said the owners wished to remain anonymous but he believed they hoped to reopen it as a hotel.

The property was offered in conjunction with a licence for the Ettamogah concept — including the Ettamogah Mob characters created by artist Ken Maynard — paving the way for a return of the lovable larrikinism of the outback pub.

The Border Mail could not confirm if a former owner was involved.

The pub closed in May 2011 when its owner Leigh O’Brien was said to have debts of about $9 million.

Mr O’Brien’s company, L. & D. O’Brien Holdings, was placed in liquidation after Melbourne architects, Hayball, applied in the Federal Court for the company to be wound up over $375,857 in unpaid fees.

The collapse of the Ettamogah empire cost creditors at least $25 million, with a dispute surrounding the rights of the Ettamogah concept and cartoons.

Mr Macleod yesterday said much of the delay in selling the property was due to the “complicated” conditions that had to first be met.

“There was reasonable interest in the site but sale when it is with a liquidator is not a straightforward process,” he said.

The pub is run down but Mr Macleod said while it would “need of a lot of TLC”, it was not beyond repair.

“It depends what they want to do with it,” he said. “If they want to do something badly enough, anything’s possible.

“I believe it’s their intention to reopen (as a pub).”