One of Sydney’s most iconic pubs has finally changed hands after a four-year search for the right buyer.

The Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay has sold for approximately $140 million to Gallagher Hotel Management, ending more than 50 years of Thomas family ownership.

The sale was announced on Wednesday, 18 March.

The deal marks a significant moment in Australia’s hospitality property market.

According to JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, which brokered the transaction, the sale ranks among the highest prices ever paid for an Australian hotel – on par with the Beach Hotel Byron Bay and well above the $80 million paid for the Manly Wharf Hotel.

The Thomas family first put The Oaks on the market in 2022 with an asking price around $175 million.

At the time, the listing attracted interest from high-profile buyers including pub baron Justin Hemmes and – according to persistent industry rumours – British chef Rick Stein, who has publicly called The Oaks his favourite Sydney watering hole.

“There was a persistent rumour that I had bought The Oaks for $175 million – if only!” Stein joked in an interview last year, according to the Daily Mail.

Negotiations stalled over price, and the venue remained in Thomas family hands until now.

David ‘Taffy’ Thomas first acquired the leasehold from Tooth & Co in 1975, backed by his mother Alala. Over five decades, the family transformed what began as a single hotel into one of Australia’s largest multifaceted pubs.

The venue carries the names of those who built it: Taffy’s Sports Bar, Alala’s Cocktail Bar, and the John Meillon OBE Bar, honouring the Australian actor who was a daily regular.

Family representative Andrew Thomas said the timing was right.

“It’s the right time for the family to move on and the Gallagher family are the right custodians to pass the baton to,” Andrew said.

“The Oaks is one of a kind and has been an enormous part of our family history.”

Patrick Gallagher, who runs Gallagher Hotel Management with his wife Angela and three of their four children, described the acquisition as generational.

“It’s one of those generational opportunities – something we’d be hanging on to ourselves for well past [when] I’m dead,” he told the Australian Financial Review.

The Oaks sits on a 2,188-square-metre site with B4 Mixed Use zoning that allows development up to five storeys, subject to council approval.

That potential has raised questions among regulars about the long-term future of the pub’s famous beer garden – built around an 80-year-old English oak tree that gave the venue its name.

For now, Gallagher has indicated no major changes are planned.

“There are no immediate plans to update or renovate The Oaks,” he said, though the family would “tweak” some elements.

Multi-billionaire pub baron Arthur Laundy, who owns more than 90 pubs, welcomed the sale.

“It’s an excellent hotel. It has been run very, very well,” he told The Australian.

“Pat Gallagher has been in the hotel trade a long time. He is second generation and has done very well.”

The acquisition adds to Gallagher’s growing north shore portfolio, which includes the Longueville Hotel (purchased for approximately $50 million in 2022), Hunters Hill Hotel, and Jacksons on George in the CBD (bought for about $20 million in March 2025).