Former Wallaby player Bill Young has acquired the historic Epping Hotel in Sydney’s north-west for $50 million, aiming to capitalize on the property’s development prospects and growth in gaming revenue. The nearly century-old pub sits on a 1,350-square-metre site directly opposite Epping Station and forms part of a broader portfolio of hospitality assets owned by Mr. Young. His holdings include the Concord Hotel, Royal Hotel Reedy, Five Dock Hotel, Palace Hotel Mortlake, Illinois Hotel, Bar Broadway in Sydney’s central business district, and the Gem Hotel in Griffith, a regional town in New South Wales.
The purchase follows a recent $100 million acquisition of a similarly styled venue in the affluent Sydney suburb of Double Bay by the Ryan family, highlighting continued investor interest in established pubs with strong operational and development potential.
The Epping Hotel was sold by property developer Lyon Group, which had owned the venue since 2018. The pub features 27 poker machines and a totalizator agency (TAB), contributing to its reported average weekly revenue exceeding $234,000. This equates to annual turnover of approximately $12.1 million generated through its gaming facilities, bar, bottle shop, and food services.
Mr. Young described the Epping Hotel as a strategically advantageous asset in metropolitan Sydney, citing its excellent transport links, rapidly expanding local population, and robust trading platform as key factors behind his investment. The area around Epping is positioned between Parramatta CBD, Macquarie Park, and Sydney CBD, with population growth projected to increase by roughly 31 percent over the coming decade.
Marketing agents from JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, including Ben McDonald and Gus Moors, noted the strong interest from investors during the sale campaign, which they attributed to demand for metropolitan hotels with sound real estate fundamentals and diversified income streams. Mr. McDonald said the transaction demonstrated the depth of investor appetite for quality hotel assets with scale and operational upside in Sydney, highlighting the venue’s existing cash flow, gaming expansion potential, and longer-term development opportunities.
He also emphasized that buyer engagement throughout the campaign was among the highest recorded for a metropolitan hotel sale in recent years, reflecting confidence in the Sydney hospitality market and the specific location’s prospects.