Former Wallaby Adds Glebe Hotel to Portfolio

Hotelier and former Wallaby front-rower Bill Young has added to his growing pub portfolio snapping up the Friend in Hand Hotel in an off-market deal worth more than $10 million in Glebe.

Young’s last hotel purchase was the $28.5 million acquisition of the former listed company Lantern Group’s Five Dock Hotel in 2017.

The Glebe hotel in Cowper Street has been owned by the Byrne family for 36 years.

But in a twist, the Byrne family purchased the hotel from Young's family almost four decades ago.

“We are delighted that our family legacy is in appropriate hands, with the fact that Bill Young has purchased the hotel given his family’s history of owning the property before our family did,” vendor Michael Byrne said.

"Young family to Byrne family, and now back to Young family; such great history and a changing of the guard that actually means something to those involved.”

The Friend in Hand’s corner site has been a watering hole for locals of Glebe and Pyrmont since its establishment as a hotel in 1858.

The transaction marks the second freehold hotel sale in one week by HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Sam Handy and Andrew Jolliffe who brokered the deal, following the sale of Drummoyne’s Oxford Hotel to Arthur Laundy for $42 million.

Sydney’s pub market continues to run strong with the sale of Harold Park Hotel in Forest Lodge for around $6 million this week, in a deal brokered by JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group.

HTL Property advised that New South Wales pub market has seen double digit volume growth with almost a billion in sales during the past financial year, according to its recent report. This includes the Manly Hotel Steyne which sold to Iris Capital for a record price of $65 million.

HTL’s managing director Andrew Jolliffe said he expects the hospitality indexed property market is set for another strong period ahead.