Huge interest in century-old pub

Birdsville – One of Australia’s well-known pubs, located far away from the major cities, is on the market for the first time in decades and attracting local and international interest.

The 134-year-old Birdsville Hotel is the sole watering hole for Birdsville – a population of 140 – and having a drink there has become a must-do for the tourists who make the trek to the town for its centuries-old annual horse races and thriving music festival.

Owner David Brook – whose family has lived in Birdsville since the late 1880s – said the property agents told him there had been “interest from afar” by people wanting to invest in or manage the pub, which is more than 600km from the nearest big town.

For Brook, who bought it in 1979 and whose granny owned the hotel between 1920 and 1946, the pub’s isolation is its selling point.

“When you explain to them that you can have a [race] meeting and get 6 000 and have a music festival ... and get 9 000 for the weekend in a town where there’s only one pub, you can work out that it’s not a bad business,” he said.