Wanna buy a nice pub?
A trusty Ultimo local, Austin, has informed us that the Lord Wolseley Pub is up for auction on 4 November 2010, 10.30am, at the Sydney Morning Herald Auction Centre. We are not going, as we have jobs and things like that, but if you do go, tell us what happened.
The Lord Wolseley has had a rollercoaster of a time lately - selling in 2007 to the Harvey Family (pub dynasty family, think Three Wise Monkeys, uugghh). The sale to the Harvey’s could have meant nasty things for the Lord Wolseley, but it ended up on a small bar licence, which actually worked out pretty well for locals - and meant an end to pokies. The weird thing about small bar liquor rules is - you have to have a meal with your beer - if you want to sit outside on the park bench. We actually kind of like this sort of old fashioned complication, it’s mildly endearing.
Given the heritage value of the site, it is unlikely to change into anything residential or (other) commercial use, but we shall have to wait and see what happens. Maybe it won’t even sell…
An article by the Alternative Media Group (which, incidentally, is penned by our local Ultimo source) suggests that it might sell for about $2.25 mill.
For some stories of the dark old days at the Lord Wolseley, have a read of this 2005 article about Neddy Smith’s infamous pub crawl. According to the Lord Wolseley website, some local drinkers will be happy to chew your ear off about Smith shooting a few rounds into the wall to make his point in an argument, and about Abo Henry attacking a police officer behind the pub.
