The Turf Hotel stands at the corner of Songer St and Main Rd. Photo / Supplied
A busy suburban pub going concern business, within leased premises, with multiple revenue streams across food and beverage, accommodation, and gaming machine operations, has been placed on the market.
The Turf Hotel, in the Nelson suburb of Stoke, has been serving pints from its high-profile location for more than six decades – and now derives income from the full gamut of hospitality services, including:
• A traditional Kiwis sports bar with walls adorned by an array of sporting images and memorabilia, surrounded by several big-screen TVs and pool tables, and serviced by TAB betting systems
• A segregated gaming room sustaining 18 machines
• A modern open-plan short-order styled restaurant serving favoured gastro pub fare, and
• Modern accommodation.
The hotel occupies a two-storey building on the corner of Songer St and Main Rd — the southern arterial route running into and out of Nelson. The Turf Hotel's sports bar is licensed to serve up to 150 guests, while venue's restaurant and garden bar is licensed to serve 70 people inside and an additional 15 patrons outside.
The Turf Hotel business is being marketed for sale by negotiation as a going concern business through Bayleys Canterbury.
Tourism and hospitality sales specialists Peter Harris and Kate Mullins say The Turf Hotel is one of the most popular hospitality establishments in Nelson's southern precinct – with the venue a favoured destination among its local clientele.
"It's an unpretentious neighbourhood-styled location where patrons drop in for a beer or two on the way home from work, where sports-lovers can head along to watch their favourite sports, somewhere families can pop in for an inexpensive meal any night of the week, and even as a private function venue where groups of up to 100 people have booked out the entire site for special events," Harris says.
"Entertainment at The Turf Hotel ranges from the 'DIY' styled pool tables, through to the regular hosting of bands on Saturday nights. The grassed lawn is popular with young children to run around on in summer too."
The Turf Hotel business leases its Stoke premises – paying annual rent of $225,000 plus GST – and employs 21 staff on a mix of full-time and part-time contracts. The venue is opens from 8am to 11pm seven days a week.
The hotel's restaurant floor plate flows out onto a sheltered outdoor area, while the neighbouring sports bar also has a substantial outdoor seating area partly covered in a wooden decked space and overlooking the appealing lawns and gardens.
Mullins says the three-and-a-half-star guest accommodation within the property had been completely renovated and refurbished in 2016, and now featured six guest rooms — all with access to shared kitchenette and dining room amenities on the upper floor. Room rack rates start at $75 a night, with the venue often booked by long-term stays paying $200 a week. The rooms have an average occupancy rate of 60 per cent.
"The growth in booking nights has had a flow-on effect for The Turf Hotel's food and beverage division, with guests dining in and taking advantage of the convenient 'charge back' facility – a service typically seen in the sophisticated four and five-star hotels located in our bigger cities," Mullins says.
"The Turf Hotel has been owned by its current operators for the past eight years. In the past two of those years revenues and turnover has grown off the back of substantial investment into the premises which has seen the restaurant facility attracting a strong clientele, while a greater number of guests are now utilising the on-site accommodation services."
Commercial-grade cooking equipment in the restaurant kitchen features a gas hob and oven, deep fryers, a stainless-steel extraction range, walk-in refrigeration unit, multiple stand-alone 'fridge and freezer units, and a commercial-grade dish washer.