Roche family call last drinks at Harrigan’s pub and lodge

The Roche family is taking advantage of a busy hotel sector, listing for sale Harrigan’s Irish Pub and the Harrington River Lodge at Harrington on the NSW mid-north coast.

The 18,247-square-metre property sits on a 200-metre waterfront and is being sold because it sits outside the family’s investment mandate. The Roche family is well known in the Hunter Valley, in NSW’s north, where the business is focused.

It follows the two largest coastal pub sales of the year – Port Macquarie Hotel selling to Knox Corp, and Tacking Point Hotel to the Laundy family and Flower group consortium – for a combined $100 million.

HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe and Xavier Plunkett are selling Harrigan’s Irish Pub and Harrington River Lodge. They expect established publicans, accommodation providers and high-net-worth investors to find the coastal location between Sydney and Newcastle attractive.

There is ongoing and deliberate buyer appetite for waterfront hospitality assets down the eastern seaboard.

HTL Property MD Andrew Jolliffe

No price was given, but expectations range around $16 million for the property that generates $4 million in annual revenue from a mix of bar, food, wagering, accommodation and function trade. There are also 14 gaming machines.

Bill Roche died in July this year, but his son Dominic has been running the family interests in property and tourism for a number of years.

Roche and his wife, Imelda, established Nutrimetics in Australia in 1968. They sold the skincare and cosmetics company to Sara Lee in 1997. There remains the Roche Group, a property development company that includes Roche Estate, Hunter Valley Gardens and Harrigan’s Irish Pub in Pokolbin, as well as Cameron Grove Estate in Cameron Park.

HTL Property’s Jolliffe and Plunkett said the separately titled accommodation offering comprises 21 4-star units, a swimming pool, function room with capacity for more than 100 guests and “ultra-luxury three-bedroom owner’s residence”.