Mr Tomsic, a former builder, said he bought pubs from long term owners and focused on renovating and upgrading venues.

“Our plans are to buy pubs and keep the existing staff on, inject some capital into them, upgrade the product on the floor and deliver high-quality venues back to the patrons and locals,” he said.

Recent reform to gaming legislation in the state has added an extra level of incentive, he said.

The pub sector has yet to recover from the hammer blow inflicted by the pandemic, particularly in Melbourne where venues were closed for more than six months.

“Coronavirus has really knocked everything around. It hasn’t got back to what we were doing prior,” Mr Tomsic said.

The SA deals follow the listing of another landmark Sydney pub, the Terrey Hills Tavern, through brokerage firm HTL Property.

Data compiled by HTL shows NSW and Queensland have so far generated the lion’s share of transactions this financial year.

Sydney has accounted for the bulk of the $1.18 billion in pub deals HTL has tracked this financial year, with about $830 million worth of hotels selling around the state.

The latest sale, conducted jointly by HTL and JLL hotel & hospitality group, was the Strand Hotel in William Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney for about $18 million. It was bought by JAGA, founded by Jon Adgemis and sold by the private Oscars Group.

It recently underwent a $3 millon refurbishment and will be operated by new inner-city boutique hotel group ‘The People’ foundered by Paul Schulte and Andrew Taylor.

By contrast, Queensland saw $217 million worth of deals while Victoria managed just $83 million.