Overview
In Sydney it seems like a pub changes hands every second day. Justin Hemmes just added The Tennyson Hotel to his Merivale portfolio, Goodtime Hospitality Group recently reopened the East Village Hotel and The Flinders is set to reopen real soon. And now, just to round out the year in pub sales, the Clovelly Hotel has been bought by Matt Moran's hospitality group Solotel.
Solotel will take over the Cloey (presently owned by the Iris Group, for those of you playing at home) from February 2017 and have said that the pub will continue to operate as normal, with no big changes being made — at least initially. It's the 28th acquisition for the mammoth hospo group, who earlier this month took over Sydney's Chophouse from the Keystone Group, who went into receivership back in June. Solotel's portfolio includes Aria, Chiswick, The Paddington Inn and Opera Bar.
And while it can sometimes feel like Sydney's pubs are continually shunted between a line-up of big names like a game of hospitality group monopoly, as long as they keep actually improving our favourite watering holes, we're okay with it.