{"id":76342,"date":"2026-08-20T06:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76342\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T06:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T06:14:18","slug":"avc-snaps-up-sydneys-clock-and-bank-hotels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/76342\/","title":{"rendered":"AVC snaps up Sydney\u2019s Clock and Bank hotels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australian Venue Co. (AVC) has exchanged contracts to\u00a0acquire\u00a0The Clock Hotel in Surry Hills and The Bank Hotel in Newtown in partnership with a private freehold property investor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sale of the two landmark pubs, managed by Solotel, marks a significant shift in ownership after long tenures: The Clock was held for 23 years and The Bank Hotel for 14 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sources suggest that AVC acquired the two pubs for circa $100m, and that The Clock Hotel\u00a0component\u00a0of the transaction represents\u00a0the largest sale ever recorded for a food and beverage-centric pub in Australia with minimal gaming and no accommodation.\u00a0The brokerage team would not be drawn on the price.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The portfolio was brought to market by John Musca, Ben McDonald\u00a0and Kate MacDonald from JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group in May 2026 on behalf of\u00a0private investors, Amalgamated Hotels. Also sold within that portfolio was the Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/theshout.com.au\/australian-hotelier\/merivale-set-to-acquire-sackville-hotel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">set to be acquired by Merivale<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Positioned on Crown Street in Surry Hills, The Clock is a prominent corner hotel generating\u00a0significant revenue\u00a0across its bar, food, and bottle shop operations, with 10 gaming machines. The venue benefits from its proximity to Central Station, the Tech Central innovation district, and the Moore Park entertainment precinct, including Allianz Stadium and the SCG.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bank Hotel holds a prime location on King Street, directly opposite Newtown Station, capitalising on the daily movement of over 16,000 commuters. The venue produces\u00a0strong and consistent\u00a0revenue and\u00a0operates\u00a0under a 24-hour liquor licence. Its position is further enhanced by Newtown\u2019s designation as a Special Entertainment Precinct and its proximity to the University of Sydney and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, which is undergoing a $940 million redevelopment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"800\" width=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Bank-Hotel-Newtown-1_LR.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19108\"  \/>The Bank Hotel, Newtown. Image supplied: JLL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Bank and The Clock have been part of their local communities for well over a century, and we recognise the important place they hold in Newtown and Surry Hills. We look forward to working with the venue teams and building on what makes each pub so valued,\u201d stated AVC CEO Paul Waterson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McDonald noted that the two pubs were both in two of inner-Sydney\u2019s most active hospitality and nightlife thoroughfares.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCrown Street and King Street represent two fundamentally different but equally compelling hospitality environments, one defined by lifestyle dining and urban density, the other by entertainment culture and late-night trade. What unites The Clock and Bank Hotel is their ability to maintain relevance across generations of patrons, their position at the centre of high-traffic precincts, and their track record of consistent trading performance regardless of broader economic conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of AVC\u2019s partnership with private investors, Musca noted: \u201cThe partnership between Australian Venue Co and institutional property capital represents a growing investment model in the hospitality sector, combining operational expertise with long-term real estate ownership to maximise both trading performance and asset value appreciation,\u201d stated Musca.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AVC has spent the last six months bolstering its presence in Sydney\u2019s CBD and surrounds. At the beginning of the year, it had <a href=\"https:\/\/theshout.com.au\/australian-hotelier\/avc-buys-solotel-mantle-leaseholds\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acquired four major leasehold properties off Solotel<\/a>: \u00a0The Golden Sheaf, Double Bay; Barangaroo House; Public House Petersham; and The Erko, Erskineville. A few months later, the national group <a href=\"https:\/\/theshout.com.au\/australian-hotelier\/solotel-avc-partner-on-courthouse-hotel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">partnered with Solotel on The Courthouse Hotel in Newtown<\/a>, with Solotel retaining the freehold and AVC taking on the leasehold. AVC has also transformed the old Quay restaurant and Squires Landing sites in The Rocks into <a href=\"https:\/\/theshout.com.au\/australian-hotelier\/avc-reimagines-landmark-harbourfront-site-as-the-oriana\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a new major waterfront venue, The Oriana<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian Venue Co. (AVC) has exchanged contracts to\u00a0acquire\u00a0The Clock Hotel in Surry Hills and The Bank Hotel in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[113176,113177,59006,113178,247],"class_list":["post-76342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-amalgamated-hotels","tag-avc","tag-jll","tag-solotel","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}