One of Sydney’s best-known pubs – the Oaks Hotel on the harbour city’s lower north shore Neutral Bay – has been put up for sale for the first time in almost 50 years with a record-busting price tag of [insert drumroll…] $175 million. If it finds a buyer at that price or slightly below, it would be the biggest sale in the sector’s history. Owner David ‘Taffy’ Thomas said after receiving many unsolicited offers, the family was ready to sell the beloved pub and its 80yo oak tree in the centre of the beer garden. The current titleholder of Australia’s most valuable pub is southwest Sydney’s Crossroads Hotel, which was bought for $160 million in April. That pub has put its COVID infamy behind it to go on to bigger and better things… Next on the list is the Beach Hotel in Byron Bay – it was sold for $104 million in February 2020.