How pub baron Arthur Laundy turned his family business into a billion-dollar empire
Publican Arthur Laundy with his two sons and grandson.
Pub baron Arthur Laundy often wishes he could have his late father back for a day so he could show him what he’s done with the family business.
Since his dad was killed in a tragic accident in 1969, Sydney-based Mr Laundy has grown the business from four pubs to more than 90 to create the largest privately-owned pub group in Australia.
He reckons his dad would be shocked.
Arthur Laundy with his daughter Danielle and husband Shane Richardson. Picture: Jane Dempster.
“I had a pretty good time as a young guy; I didn’t marry until I was 28,” Mr Laundy says.
“He would have been concerned that if anything happened to him, I wouldn’t be capable. If I could show him where we are now, he’d be very surprised and very proud.”
Mr Laundy, now 82, says his dad, Arthur Snr, was keen for him to learn the pub trade even as a boy.
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“Before school, I’d have to take the ice off the front step and put it in the box we hired because there was no refrigeration,” He says.
Arthur Laundy, Mark Dalton and Philip Tudor sold Orange’s historic Canobolas Hotel after nearly two decades of ownership.
“Back then the hotels used to close at 6 o’clock and I had to sweep the bars. I also learned to tap kegs.”
Arthur Snr had a brutal start in life, which made him tough and determined to create a successful family business, Mr Laundy says.
“His mother and father separated and both decided they didn’t want the children, so at the age of three he was put into an orphanage with his five siblings.”
Arthur Snr lived at Burnside Presbyterian Orphan Homes in Sydney’s northwest for 13 years.
When he left, he was determined to make money and worked behind the bar at the Crecy Hotel on Sydney’s Oxford Street, which “whet his appetite” for the trade, Mr Laundy says. Soon he’d worked enough jobs to secure the leasehold of his first pub, the Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, with his wife Veronica in 1945.
Laundy is passionate about NRL and is the main sponsor of the Canterbury bulldogs. Picture: Nick Bloukos.
With breweries owning most Sydney pubs back then, Arthur Snr gradually scaled up to larger pubs by selling and buying leaseholds, before purchasing nine acres of land at Bass Hill in Sydney’s west where he built the Twin Willows Hotel, which opened in 1964.
The Twin Willows remains the headquarters of the family empire and is where, at 82, Mr Laundy still has his office.
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Keen to give his son a kickstart in the trade, Arthur Snr acquired the leasehold for the Crossroads Hotel in Liverpool for him when he was just 21, and later the Royal Exhibition Hotel in Surry Hills.
With three leaseholds and one freehold, the family business was booming when Arthur Snr, then 56, was killed along with three staff members after his light plane plunged into Burrendong Dam in Wellington in 1969. The Laundy family was forever changed.
Arthur Laundy with his son Craig at the Marsden Brewhouse. Picture: Tim Hunter.
From tragedy to triumph
Overnight, Mr Laundy at 28 was catapulted to the head of the family business.
“I was the only one involved in the hotel trade. I’d run two pubs by then and he’d taught me well, but it was very tough, financially and emotionally.”
For starters, there were death duties to pay in the 1960s, and Arthur Snr’s weren’t cheap at more than $340,000.
“My family was distraught, but I had to get into work,” he says.
With his new wife Margaret by his side, Mr Laundy traded pub leaseholds throughout the 1970s, paying down one before refinancing and buying another. That decade he purchased his first freehold, the Hume Hotel at Yagoona, for around $825,000. One day in the mid-1980s, he bought two freeholds in one day.
Laundy owns The Bells Hotel on the Woolloomooloo waterfront in Sydney.
In 2023 his empire boasts more than 90 pubs, some of which he has built.
He’s also diversified into other assets alongside his partner, property investor Theo Karedis, into bottle shops and large hotels; the pair now own the Manly Pacific, Sofitel Noosa and the Crowne Plaza Terrigal.
They’re also building a shopping centre in Umina on the NSW Central Coast.
Passionate about sport, Mr Laundy is also the main sponsor of the Canterbury Bulldogs rugby league club.
The Laundy family’s net wealth is now reported to be around $1.4 billion, but Mr Laundy says he “wouldn’t have a clue” what he’s worth.
Arthur Laundy (middle) with Stuart Laundy, Danielle Richardson, Justine Laundy and Craig Laundy. Picture: Richard Dobson.
Growing the business as a family
Mr Laundy and Margaret had four children, Craig, Stuart (famed for his appearance on The Bachelorette in 2017), Danielle and Justine. They’re all involved in the business, live in Sydney and meet regularly.
Mr Laundy says he’s “very grateful” to have his kids on board and also spends time with his 13 grandchildren; he recently took 21 of his children and grandchildren to Malaysia for a week.
Danielle Richardson, 48, says she loves working with her dad.
“I grew up running around the bars on a Saturday morning and earned my keep through uni working behind the bar. I haven’t known a lot else in my life other than pubs, family and business.”
Arthur Laundy pictured with his wife and their family of four children and 13 grandchildren.
After their dad is gone, Ms Richardson says they will “absolutely continue to grow” the business with a family board in place to make decisions.
She says the focus will be on the food and beverage side of the business and growing the portfolio with local community pubs as well as destination-style pubs, pubs with accommodation and larger hotels.
‘My life, my style’
For now, Mr Laundy has no plans to slow down. He still works six and a half days per week, just taking Wednesday afternoons off to play golf and sink some beers with old friends.
Arthur and Stuart Laundy bought the Bayview Hotel on the Brisbane Waters harbourfront in Woy Woy.
“I’m still hands on. Pubs are my life, my style. I go to the pubs, talk to management and then I wander around saying hello to customers.”
He no longer drinks in his pubs though.
“When I get home I have two scotch and dries, and apart from my beers after golf, that’s my drinking for the week.”
Mr Laundy says pubs are very different now to the drinking holes of his early career that pretty much sold beer along with pies and sausage rolls. Food has now become a huge part of his business.
Arthur Laundy turns the sod on the new Lone Pine Plaza in Umina Beach.
As has pokies, to which he says his hotels keep an eye out for gamblers who may have a problem and exclude them where necessary.
The pubs in the Laundy empire vary from the swanky Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, which offers a Mediterranean share menu, cocktails and a rooftop terrace, to Bells Hotel across the road, a locals’ favourite that’s barely changed since the 1950s.
Mr Laundy says while today’s customer expects a lot more in some ways, in other ways they’re very similar.
“They want ambience, good beer and friendly staff. And then they come in and they meet each other,” he says.
“That’s what makes a pub.”
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