Standing proudly at the entrance of Kempsey when one crosses the Macleay River, the Hotel Kempsey has stood on Belgrave St for almost 130 years.   

The pub had been in the Gavrilis family for about 30 years after they acquired it in 1987.

In 2016, the family made the decision to sell, with Peter Gavrilis citing illness in the family, favourable marketing conditions, and not having the time required to run it anymore as the reasons behind the move. 

Earlier this year, Mr Gavrilis said that the sale of the pub was “the end of an era”. 

“We’re indebted to the Kempsey people,” Mr Gavrilis told the Argus.

He said that the pub, renowned for it’s collection of Macleay historical memorabilia, owed a lot to the Kempsey community. 

“There’s definitely a big sentimental attachment there, the people of Kempsey have been good to us over the years and we thank them for that,” he said. 

Mr Gavrilis said that the hotel’s Macleay memorabilia from the past 100 years had been saved, and he predicts that it’ll be on display at a home-museum set-up within 12-18 months. 

“There’s a lot of old stories about Kempsey and the floods, it’ll be good to get those items on display.” 

The pub has changed hands twice since its sale. 

Initially it was sold to a Kempsey hotelier group with its poker machine licences and liquor licence. 

The business was then sold to a Sydney businessman, minus the poker machine licences. 

The adjoining hotel is still operating as a separate entity to the pub, which has been momentarily shut down as the new owner considers a development application which could see the old pub transformed into a restaurant or office space.