Wagga's pub sale carousel continues after the Red Steer Hotel management announced yesterday it will surrender its lease and operations of the pub effective May 25.
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The announcement comes after the Cartwrights Hill establishment was sold to a Sydney-based hospitality company who have chosen to remain anonymous until a deal with new management is finalised.
Sunday will be the pub's final trading night under the current lease holders, leaving Wagga with only a handful of remaining independently-run pubs.
The Red Steer joins pub sales this year such as The Victoria Hotel which sold for a massive $29 million, Lake Albert's Thomas Blamey Tavern for $25 million and Gundagai's Criterion Hotel for $6 million.
The Duke of Kent, Romano's, Sporties, Lockhart's Commercial Hotel and Jugiong's The Sir George were each sold in 2021.
Although unable to disclose the identity of the purchaser or the sale price, HTL Property sale agent Xavier Plunkett did confirm a "Sydney metropolitan-based buyer".
"They intend on closing the hotel next week for about six to eight weeks while they do some cosmetic renovations of the rooms," Mr Plunkett said.
According to Mr Plunkett, the Sydney buyer is finalising a deal with a Wagga-based party to take over operations next week.
Sydney-based HTL Property has now been involved in the sale of eight Wagga pubs amounting about $100 million in the last two years, said Mr Plunkett.
Current Red Steer Hotel licensee and leaseholder Ben Stratton said it was time for him to move on after running the live music venue since 2019.
"I guess it's been a very challenging and tough sort of period over the last couple of years," Mr Stratton said.
"It's been hard to try and live a balanced lifestyle while trying to maintain the business here and keep things running through COVID.
"Yeah, it's just been difficult to try and prioritise the things in my life which are important, like health and relationships."
Like many others in the hospitality industry, Mr Stratton faced recent staffing challenges, working with a "pretty light" management team.
"Some of those key positions were sort of lost after COVID and haven't been replaced, which has also made it difficult," he said.
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Mr Stratton is yet to decide whether his next steps will involve staying in the hospitality industry.
"I still have a love for it, a love for the culture of the pub and all the great relationships you can form in that," he said.
"I really think that's the thing that kept me in it for so long."
Although uncertain of the new owner's plans for the venue, Mr Stratton said he hoped The Steer would continue its support of Wagga's live music scene.
"It'd be great to see people keep investing in the growth of original live music," he said.
"Supporting regional artists is a good way to do that and supporting touring artists is a good way to do that.
"I think it just needs as much advocacy as possible."
Current management are throwing a farewell weekend, with live acts booked to play Friday, Saturday and potentially Sunday.
"Having sort of spoken to people personally and over Facebook now, and more publicly, the real sentiment is a bit of a sense of loss, I guess," Mr Stratton said.
"Naturally, it will become a bit of a fun weekend to try give us and our team here a send off and celebrate the time we've been here."
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