The Keystone Group – the owner of 17 venues across Australia, including Sydney’s popular Bungalow 8 and Cargo Bar – has gone into receivership.
The venues will now be up for sale, according to a statement by insolvency management company Ferrier Hodgson and reported by Music Feeds. The news follows Keystone’s selling of the Newtown Hotel in February to Colonial Leisure Group.
The full list of venues to be sold is:
- Bungalow 8 (Sydney)
- Cargo Bar (Sydney)
- Manly Wine (Sydney)
- Sugarmill Hotel (Sydney)
- The Rook (Sydney)
- The Winery (Sydney)
- Gazebo Wine Bar (Sydney)
- Chophouse Perth
- Chophouse Sydney
- Jamie’s Italian Sydney
- Jamie’s Italian Perth
- Jamie’s Italian Canberra
- Jamie’s Italian Brisbane
- Jamie’s Italian Adelaide
- Jamie’s Italian Trattoria (Sydney)
- Kingsleys Brisbane
- Kingsleys Woolloomooloo
In a market of multiple permanent venue closures and sales over the past two years since the introduction of Sydney’s controversial lockout laws, however, the news isn’t terminal for those partygoers who frequent Keystone venues.
Receiver Morgan Kelly said the business would continue to trade as normal until the sale went ahead. “Given the current buoyant hospitality market we anticipate a lot of interest in the sale of the venues,” he said.
“The venues in the Keystone Group comprise some of the most iconic and well-known brands in their respective markets.
“The sale of the group represents a unique opportunity for the right operator and is particularly suited to hospitality specialists interested in expansion.”
For now, optimism remains that the eventual new owners of these venues can transform them into improved nightlife destinations, and not another set of soulless apartment towers that Sydney sure as hell doesn’t need.
