WESTON'S Criterion Hotel in the Hunter region has sold to a Central Coast-based publican.
Adam Drabarek, who also owns the Imperial Hotel in Coonabarabran and Howlong Hotel in the Riverina town of Howlong, purchased the hotel for an undisclosed sum.
However, market sources have indicated that the hotel sold for around $8.5 million.
The hotel was last sold in 2020 for $3.8 million.
HTL Property director Blake Edwards worked on the transaction with Xavier Plunkett on behalf of the Kelly Hotel Group.
"We went to market last year and had multiple groups interested," Mr Edwards said.
"There is a pretty large catchment in Kurri Kurri and Abermain with quite a lot of people but very few pubs because quite a lot of the pubs have closed down so there hasn't been any really strong operators in that area.
"The buyer is a good operator and he is going to invest quite a bit of money into the pub and bring some vibrancy to the nightlife there."
Mr Drabarek said part of the appeal of the venue was its proximity to his home on the Central Coast.
"It suits my plan to be a hands-on operator of this venue," Mr Drabarek said.
"Kelly Hotels Group has done a great job with the venue, and we think we can continue to grow the venue through our hands-on style of management and community engagement into the future."
Bringing in an average weekly revenue in excess of $50,000, the venue includes a bar, bistro, 10 accommodation rooms, a gaming room with 15 machines and a 3am liquor licence.
The Criterion Hotel was built in December 1903.
Historical information names James Jones as the first licensee, an experienced hotelier who ran pubs in Newcastle and Sydney prior to setting his sights on the booming coalfields of South Maitland.
The sale marks the eighth NSW pub sale in 2023 by HTL.
Mr Edwards said two years of frenetic transaction activity and continuing strong trading conditions had resulted in a lack of on-market pubs for sale.
"Quite similar to the residential market, there is not a lot for sale at the moment. People are staying put," he said.
"Pubs are trading well and are very popular but it just seems to be that no one is deciding to sell."
The sale follows HTL's record regional sale of the Robin Hood Hotel in Orange which sold for $51 million to publicans Ben Cochrane and Tim Ireson and a group of investors in February.
It is the second time the pub has changed hands in the past two years, and its price tag is more than double what was paid for it in late 2020 by the Marlow Hotel Group, headed by Jason and Peta Marlow, when they shelled out $19 million to the Marshall family.
