Captain Cook Hotel to close after 110 years - as it emerges what the new owners intend to do with it

A legendary watering hole, famous for before and after drinks on any game night at the Sydney Football Stadium or Sydney Cricket Ground, is closing after 110 years. 

The Captain Cook Hotel in Paddington was bought by pubs and pokies baron Bruce Mathieson for more than $13millon in 2022, but has now sold for around half of that. 

There is a very simple reason for the huge drop in value to $6.6million - the pub has a licence for 15 poker machines, but they were not part of the property sale. 

With the new owners set to shut the pub and use the 22 backpacker-style rooms above it as a hostel, there was not going to be a need for pokies. 

The Mathieson family owns a 15 per cent stake in the hotel, drinks and gaming company Endeavour Group and ALH Group, which is Australia's biggest pub operator with more than 350 venues.

Moving the 15 poker machine entitlements to one of its other venues - or possibly spread between several of them - also makes more economic sense than leaving them in Paddington, which is a well-to-do area, with fewer pokie players. 

The hotel made headlines in 2020 when it changed its name to The Captain Paddington, which at the time was called a 'ridiculous nod to the madness' of cancel culture.

It had been named after Captain James Cook, who charted the east coast of Australia in 1770. 

But then-owner Robby Moroney said in July 2020 that the name change was not an attempt to politically distance themselves from the British explorer, but a 'rebranding' to create a new name that 'sounds cooler'.

'We've decided to give the place a fresh face,' he said. 

The name changed back to the Captain Cook Hotel when the Mathiesons bought it.

The new owners - who have not yet been named - of the impressive four-level Federation building have not indicated if they will change the name again.

With a rooftop terrace featuring sweeping views over Sydney, and a great location close to the CBD, time will tell if buying pub with no pokies was a smart move.