Seven hotels have sold in western Queensland within six months, with more on the market.

But regional pubs have a troubled past, with the Insurance Council of Australia saying they are becoming a growing problem to insure.

Pubs have sold in Quilpie, Muttaburra, Birdsville, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Blackall and Wyandra — in some of these towns, the pub is the only licensed venue, restaurant and bottle shop for hundreds of kilometres.

Publicans old and new come to the Outback

Pubs and businesses in western Queensland experienced their worst year for sales and tourism in 2019, following years of drought and the widespread floods in February 2019.

When it comes to Cloncurry’s Post Office Hotel, its sale was an unexpected change for locals.

Previous owners Ian and Nancy Dodd had managed and lived in the hotel for more than three decades.

However, publican life was all too familiar for new owner Trevor Jones, after leaving Boulia’s Australian Hotel five years ago to travel.

“I got a call saying the Post Office was for sale on Wednesday, made an offer Friday, flew to Cloncurry on the Saturday — done and dusted,” Jones said.

He said locals were loyal to the Post Office Hotel, which he would have to adapt to.

“It was very hard for the old owners raising their children there, but to me it was just to keep the show running.”

Risks and insurance costs add pressure

Fire hazards have become a problem for old and abandoned pubs, with recent fires at the Lyceum Hotel in Longreach and the Muckadilla Hotel west of Roma.

The Insurance Council said one pub per fortnight across Australia experienced a fire and the price to insure pubs and clubs had increased as a result in the past five years.

Head of risk Karl Sullivan said regional pubs were usually harder to insure than those in metro areas, as age, climate and disaster-prone locations escalated prices.

“Some people tell me pub ownership is the second most popular dream after home-ownership,” he said.

Sullivan said that with the price hike to insure pubs and clubs in regional areas, business owners were looking to overseas insurers.

“Certainly over the past five years, availability [of insurers] has started to become more of an issue — particularly for remote areas and older pubs.”

Outback pubs not dead yet

Despite the added pressures to outback pubs and regional business, the Australian Hotels Association believes the sales have given the rural tourism industry a bright future.

The association’s chief executive, Bernie Hogan, said outback pubs were still a viable business, especially for buyers wanting to enter the industry.

“I’m not telling western Queenslanders anything by saying the drought has been tough, but these pubs are still a good business,” he said.

“We see fairly regularly that owners are looking for a more modest investment or looking for a tree change moving to western Queensland.

“Pubs are still seen as the centre of the community … they’re the meeting place, they’re the grocery store, they’re where the Royal Flying Doctors know where to land.”

– ABC / Kemii Maguire