Hunter Hotel Group snaps up Terrigal Hotel in $47 million coastal pub deal
In one of the biggest pub sales of the year, The Hunter Hotel Group has snapped up Terrigal Hotel on NSW’s central coast in an off-market deal worth $47 million.
Run by Bill Hunter and his son Paul, the group now owns 10 venues across the central and mid-north coasts, including Bateau Bay Hotel, Kincumber Hotel and Pippi’s at the Point.
“We look forward to building on [the Terrigal Hotel’s] strong reputation and continuing to deliver great hospitality for the local community and visitors alike,” said Paul Hunter, the Hunter Hotel Group’s managing director.
The beachfront pub covers around 4,000 square metres with multiple levels, dining spaces, a gaming lounge and function areas, and pulls in more than $285,000 in weekly revenue.
Long-time owners Patrick and Angela Gallagher decided the time was right to sell, a decade after buying the pub for about $28 million.
“We were heavily involved with Terrigal Sharks [rugby team],” Patrick told The Australian Financial Review. “It was just a really lovely pub, to be a part of real community pub.”
It’s not the last we’ll see of the husband and wife team.
“[We were] looking to bring our next step back closer to Sydney. It was just the drive was just getting a little tiresome,” he said.
The sale leaves the Gallaghers with five venues, including Jackson’s on George, which they re-bought earlier this year. The Hunters Hill Hotel is reopening this week after a $10 million renovation.
Publican John Daly, who co-owned Terrigal with the Gallaghers, also has stakes in Jackson’s on George and the Longueville Hotel in Sydney. His collaboration with the Gallaghers dates back to the Leichhardt Hotel, which they sold to hotelier Peter Walker for $14.5 million in 2016.
According to JLL’s Ben McDonald, who brokered the sale, “Terrigal Hotel’s scale, trading performance, and blue-chip location made it a highly attractive acquisition for experienced operators like the Hunter family.”
The Terrigal sale adds to a string of major hotel transactions this year, with coastal pubs in especially high demand. In May, Glenn Piper’s Epochal Hotels picked up the Bermagui Beach Hotel on NSW’s South Coast for around $20 million, while businessman Scott Didier purchased Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel for $140 million — the second-highest price ever paid for an Australian pub.
Jonathan Jackson, 14th August 2025
