Canberra pub, Kambah Inn, at 19 Primmer Court listed for sale with price guide starting at $3 million

The privately owned and operated tavern at 19 Primmer Court, Kambah includes a public bar, pokies room, bistro, bottle shop and 12 hotel rooms.

The business is being sold by the estate of the late publican Garry O'Donnell, who died in 2018.

Knight Frank is marketing the property for sale as an expressions of interest campaign, with a price guide starting at $3 million.

Daniel McGrath, head of agency ACT at Knight Frank Canberra, said the sellers were "happy to look at all sorts of avenues".

"It's not necessarily a straight up and down pub sale," he said.

"You've got the option to run a pub, to run some accommodation with those 12 rooms upstairs or the other option is a potential redevelopment of the site or adaptive reuse of existing buildings."

The 943-square-metre site has a 16-metre height limit for future development, subject to approvals.

For buyers wanting to continue the business, it holds a licence for 10 gaming machines.

Built in 1976, the hotel went through a refurbishment in 1991 to convert the first floor from a public bar to accommodation.

Kambah Inn manager David Charman, who has worked there for 10 years, said he hoped the pub would continue under new ownership.

He said while the pub had faced challenges since the onset of the pandemic, it was a popular spot among locals.

"We still have a good afternoon trade, where the tradies are still quite happy to come in and be very joyous," Mr Charman said.

"Especially now that the warmer weather is starting to hit today ... it seems to be starting to pick up in the afternoons."

Already the Kambah Inn has attracted interest from pub operators, all with "links to Canberra" Mr McGrath said.

"The interest has been mainly from people that want to continue running it as a pub and improve it from there," he said.

While pubs have become hot property across Australia in recent years, sales in the Canberra region don't come along often.

Most recently, the property that houses Woden pub The Alby sold for $8.3 million to interstate investors in February, four months after it opened.

The new owners took on the commercial asset with a 10-year lease in place to Doma Group.

In August, a prominent Newcastle publican snapped up the The Tourist Hotel in Queanbeyan for $14 million.

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A little further afield, the Moss Vale Hotel sold for about $16 million this year to Sydney-based Royal Hotels Group.

The Binalong Hotel was another regional pub to go up for sale this year, hitting the market after more than 50 years.

In 2021, The Sir George made headlines after Sydney publican Fraser Short reportedly paid $14 million for the Jugiong establishment.

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