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A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
A corner pub in Collingwood, a gaming hotel in Dandenong or a sporting club in Frankston: up to four separate assets, each priced on its own evidence before they are added together.
A Melbourne pub, hotel or club is valued by separating what is being sold: the trading business, the liquor licence, any gaming machine entitlements and, where owned, the freehold. The business leads on comparable venue sales read as a multiple of maintainable earnings, and the licence, entitlements and property are priced separately so none is counted twice.
Hotels and clubs are valued when a lease is being sold or a freehold going concern is listed, when a shareholder in a hotel company wants out, when a bank reviews a facility secured over the venue, or when a property settlement in the Federal Circuit and Family Court at Melbourne or Dandenong needs a figure at a set date. Club committees ask for one when a merger with a neighbouring club is on the table, or before they sell surplus land or entitlements.
Almost every one of those situations turns on the same problem. The asking price for a venue usually bundles the trade, the licence, the entitlements and the building into one number, and a lender, buyer or court will want to know how much of it is which. Pulling that number apart is the bulk of the work.
A certified valuer will listen to your situation and answer any questions you may have, at no cost.
The Market Approach leads. Pubs and hotels across Victoria sell often enough, and are followed closely enough by specialist brokers and lenders, that sales evidence carries more weight than any forecast.
Comparables are filtered first on the interest sold. A freehold going concern, a leasehold business and a bare transfer of entitlements are different transactions, so we only compare like with like. Within that, we narrow by venue type, location, licence category and trading hours, the number of approved gaming machines, and the balance between bar, bistro, accommodation and gaming income, and read each sale against maintainable earnings.
Gaming income is analysed on its own line. How long it lasts depends on the entitlements' remaining term, the venue's approval for gaming, limits on machine numbers in the area, and harm-minimisation rules, none of which touch the food and beverage side of the business.
Sustainable earnings are capitalised after the licensee's own work is replaced with a salaried venue manager and, where the operator owns the building, after a market rent is charged. That isolates what the trade earns from what the bricks and mortar earn.
Kitchen, cellar and bar plant, accommodation fit-out and gaming equipment at market value, with the liquor licence and the entitlements added as separate assets. In a venue that trades thinly, the entitlements alone can be worth more than the business, and the report shows that.
These are the adjustments a reviewing valuer looks at first, so the report lists each one with the reason it was made. For pubs, hotels and clubs they are usually:
Two Victorian regulators matter here. Liquor Control Victoria grants and transfers the liquor licence and sets its trading hours and conditions. The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) approves premises for gaming and oversees the entitlements that let a hotel or club operate machines. What a venue is worth depends on what both currently permit, so the report records the licence category, the approved machine numbers and any conditions before a single comparable is chosen.
Gaming entitlements are what most distinguishes Victorian hotels and clubs. They are held for a fixed term, they can move between venue operators with the commission's approval, and their remaining life is part of what a buyer is paying for. In many middle-ring and outer suburban venues they carry a large share of the total value, which is why we never let them disappear into a single goodwill figure.
Melbourne's venues also differ sharply by position. A CBD or Southbank hotel trades on office workers, visitors and events; a Collingwood or Northcote pub on live music and a loyal local crowd; a Dandenong or Werribee hotel on gaming and bistro trade; a Bayside or Mornington Peninsula venue on summer weather. The national count of accommodation and food services businesses grew just 1.3 per cent in 2025 to 2026 (Source: ABS, Counts of Australian Businesses, July 2022 to June 2026, released 18 August 2026), so this is a mature market in which buyers price each venue on its own position rather than on growth in the sector.
The report records the purpose, the standard of value, the valuation date and the information we relied on, along with its gaps. It explains which approaches were considered, which method was used under each, every adjustment to earnings and the reason for it, and how the results were weighed against each other to reach a range, in words a non-specialist can follow.
Licensed venue valuations are tested hard because the sums are large and the asset mix is complicated. In a shareholder dispute in the Commercial Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria, or before a lender's credit committee, the first question is usually how much of the price is entitlements and how much is trade. Our reports follow APESB, APES 225 Valuation Services and are signed by a certified valuer who will explain that split and defend it.
How did you separate the gaming entitlements from the goodwill, and what evidence supports the figure for each? A valuer who quotes one number for both has not done the work.
An Indicative valuation suits a licensee testing an approach from a hotel group or deciding whether to put the lease on the market. It is for internal decision-making and is not written for third party reliance. A Summary report fits the sale or purchase of a leasehold or freehold going concern, a lease renewal or a refinance. A Detailed report is the level for a shareholder dispute, a family law matter, a club merger or an insurance claim, where another expert is likely to review the opinion.
Ask who else will read it. If a court, the ATO, a lender or an opposing valuer is going to test the figure, the report needs the depth to answer them.
For internal decision-making. Useful for testing an offer, setting an expectation before a negotiation, or deciding whether to go to market. It is not written for third party reliance.
Sets out the approaches applied, the normalisation adjustments made and the reasoning behind the conclusion. The usual choice for a sale, an ownership change or a finance application.
Applies and reconciles all relevant approaches in full. The level required where a court, the ATO, a lender or another expert will review the opinion.
Talk your situation through with a certified valuer before you commit to anything, at no cost.