Criterion Hotel in Gundagai sells for over $6 million as Riverina pub boom continues

The Criterion Hotel in Gundagai has sold for more than $6 million, with long-term publican David Hindmarsh passing the reins to hotelier Tim Fallon.

The sale is believed to be the record price for a regional NSW hotel with 10 or fewer gaming machines and comes following a wave of pub sales across the region.

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The Thomas Blamey Tavern in Lake Albert was sold for more than $20 million earlier this year, while the Duke of Kent, Romano's, Sporties, Lockhart's Commercial Hotel and Jugiong's The Sir George were each snapped up in 2021.

Speaking to ACM last year, prolific local publican Sean O'Hara said the boom was down to millionaire investors realising the potential of regional areas like the Riverina.

Increased interest and the inflated property market has seen many of the pubs sold for prices far beyond what they were initially purchased for.

This is a cause of encouragement for publicans like Dave Fahey, who has just listed the Morondah Pub for sale after more than 25 years.

"We bought it for $130,000 and we've extensively renovated the place over the years," he said. "I'm getting old now and I think we've had a good stint, so it's for sale for $320,000."

He said he wasn't surprised by the increased interest in owning regional pubs as they offered a "good lifestyle".

Others believe the mass purchasing is tied to the rising cost and difficulty of securing licences for poker machines.

Martin Wilton, licensee of The Union Hotel in Tumbarumba, says millionaire investors are purchasing regional pubs en-masse to snap up their gaming machines.

"Licences have gotten way more expensive but they know people are addicted to the machines and they generate so much money, so this is a way for them to get more," he said.

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