Melbourne pub bounces back from pandemic slump, spy sells, cherry tree gets

Paul Waterson, Chief Executive of Australian Venues Company, which has secured a deal to purchase eight prestigious Leithhold venues from Sand Hill Road Group this week, said he expects comparable sales across a strong portfolio of 180. High is pandemic level.

“Since December of last year, we have caught up very well,” says Waterson.

Despite the slow return of workers to office towers, city hotels are trading at par with suburban venues.

Strong nighttime deals, particularly a rise on Thursday and weekend clientele, are boosting CBD hotels, he said.

“Venues are not limited by demand, they are limited by staff capacity,” he said.

Australia’s Venue Co, backed by private equity giant KKR, has reopened a $100 million deal. Put on hold at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – Purchase a bag of leasehold interest from Sand Hill Road.

They include the Espy in St Kilda, the Garden State in Flinders Lane, the Prahran Hotel, the Terminus Hotel in Abbotsford, the Richmond Club Hotel, The Posty, The Bridge Hotel and Horiava.

Waterson said the latest Omicron wave of the pandemic has not affected pub patrons.

“For the first time in three years, we are seeing a large corporate Christmas event. December is inundated with bookings and very extravagant parties planned,” he said.

Sand Hill Road, across from brothers Andy Mullins and Matt Mullins, has collected, renovated, bought, sold and built Melbourne’s famous watering holes.

Andy Mullins said the group still owns and has big plans for the Waterside Hotel on Flinders Street, which was not part of the deal with Australian Venue Co.

“We are committed to the great future of Melbourne hospitality,” Mullins said.

Back in Cremorne, former Great Britain Hotel proprietors Chris and Penny Hodges have been running Cherry Tree since 2014, with a few years left on the lease.

Allen wasn’t the only one associated with the pub built on the corner of Cremorne Pleasure Gardens during the gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s. Career criminal Squishy Taylor also appears to have jumped over a bar and stolen his ten shillings from the cash register in 1908.