Ettamogah Pub at Table Top, Albury, in liquidation sale
Complete with its sloping walls, balconies and staircases, the famous Ettamogah Pub at Table Top has been listed for liquidation sale about a year after its closure.
The iconic original pub has been listed through Angus Macleod of Ray White Rural Wagga in conjunction with Ray White Hotels, acting under instructions from Andrew Bowcher, the official liquidator at RSM Bird Cameron.
It's been listed, along with the Ettamogah concept licence, after entertainment industry entrepreneur Leigh O'Brien, its owner, encountered financial difficulties.
It was reported in 2011 that O'Brien owed creditors about $9 million.
The pub dates back to 1987 when built by Albury businessman Lindsay Cooper, based around the famous cartoons published by Ken Maynard.
The cartoons were published in the now defunct Australian Post magazine.
Maynard, who passed away in 1998, created the comic strip featuring the Ettamogah Pub and a motley bunch of characters, including koalas, kangaroos, kids and Struth, the boots-wearing cockatoo.
The original pub in Table Top was a faithful re-creation of the distinctive lopsided architecture and has since become an iconic tourist attraction.
It is 15 kilometres out of Albury.
The timber watering hole, a replica of Ken Maynard's long-running Ettamogah Mob cartoon in the Australasian Post magazine, is set on 10 hectares.
The complex attracted about 1 million people a year at its peak when owned by a De Bortoli Wines subsidiary.
Another Ettamogah Pub was opened in 1989 in Queensland and then a further two pubs constructed, most recently in 2003, in Rouse Hill, Sydney and in 2001 in the town of Cunderdin, Western Australia, 156 kilometres east of Perth.
In 1992, both the original pub in Table Top and the one on the Sunshine Coast were put up for sale, with the buyer acquiring worldwide trademark and licence rights to the Ettamogah Pub “intellectual property”. It was bought in 1994 by current owner Leigh O'Brien.
Offers close on October 26.