.jpg)
.jpg)
Owners of Orange pub are selling up just months after buying it
By David Fitzsimons
After 140 years one of Orange’s most historic hotels has closed its doors for good and is up for sale.
The Great Western Hotel opposite the railway station is being advertised as "no longer trading".
Selling agent Gary Blowes, director of Blowes Real Estate, said it would suit accommodation and restaurant use.
MORE NEWS: If you spot a fox with a royal blue clog and two beige shoes, a woman in Molong would like them back
He said the premises had 30 rooms for accommodation, but none of them had ensuites.
Blowes said the hotel was recently bought by local hoteliers who were now re-listing the hotel for sale.
On January 28 the pub's Facebook page announced the Great Western had been sold and that the bistro would soon close. This occurred in February.
Blowes said they were in “serious negotiations” with a group of Sydney hoteliers for the site.
He said he expected more information would be available within a month.
The property is listed with a price guide of more than $5.5 million via expressions of interest.
Its poker machines have been transferred to another Orange hotel.
MORE NEWS: Exclusive: MP Phil Donato hospitalised after boating accident; surgeon hopeful following operation
The sale would include all remaining equipment, a functioning kitchen and bar.
The NSW Liquor and Gaming website says an application to transfer the hotel’s liquor licence was “provisionally approved” as of March 31.
According to the hotel’s website the premises were established in 1879, soon after the arrival of the railways to Orange.
It originally featured a major top floor balcony.
However that was removed as part of major renovations in the 1950s.
That included the new owner buying the former red cedar bar from Petty’s Hotel in Sydney and installing it in Orange.
When The Orange News Examiner phoned the pub on Friday afternoon the call rang out.