One of Windsor’s most recognisable properties has been placed on the market, offering a new owner the opportunity to revive or reshape the historic former Jolly Frog Hotel.
The prominent site at 25 Bridge Street is being offered for sale by expressions of interest through CBRE, under instructions from Newpoint Advisory as Receiver and Manager.
The property is advertised as a receiver sale rather than a mortgagee sale. Expressions of interest close at 3pm on October 13, 2026, and no asking price has been disclosed.
The offering comprises approximately 4,037 square metres at the corner of Bridge and Macquarie streets, close to Fitzroy Bridge and South Creek. It has about 147 metres of combined road frontage and occupies a highly visible position at a major entrance to Windsor.
The sale includes the former hotel structure, an existing NSW hotel licence and gaming-machine entitlements. The agent says offers may be considered for the property and entitlements together or separately, subject to approvals and sale conditions.
The land is zoned partly E2 Commercial Centre and partly RE2 Private Recreation under the Hawkesbury Local Environmental Plan 2012. The listing identifies potential hospitality, retail, commercial and recreational uses, subject to Council approval.
A purchaser would acquire more than a development site. The property occupies an important place in Windsor’s social and architectural history.
Hotel use at the site dates to 1833, when the Currency Lass inn began operating. The premises subsequently carried several names before reopening as the Carrington Hotel in 1886 following extensive renovations by publican Robert Huggins.
It became Podesta’s Hotel in 1956 and adopted the Jolly Frog name in 1973. The hotel survived repeated Hawkesbury floods and became a popular meeting place and live-music venue, particularly during the height of Australia’s suburban pub-rock era.
The site was acquired by Hawkesbury Valley Holden in 2001. Following a major refurbishment, it reopened as the Jolly Frog Family Hotel in 2006, but later closed.
A devastating fire in January 2014 destroyed the roof and first floor and extensively damaged later additions. Surviving elements of the building remain locally heritage-listed.
The property also carries an important planning asset. A redevelopment valued at approximately $7.8 million was approved following proceedings in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
The approved proposal provides for a new two-storey hotel incorporating surviving heritage fabric, with dining and gaming areas, an upper-level bar and veranda, a function room, beer garden, landscaping and on-site parking.
Development consent generally runs with the land, but any purchaser would need to undertake due diligence concerning its currency, conditions, construction approvals and heritage requirements.
The property’s future is therefore not limited to its damaged appearance today. It presents the possibility of restoring a much-loved Windsor venue, implementing the approved hotel redevelopment or investigating an alternative proposal consistent with its zoning and heritage obligations.
For generations of Hawkesbury residents, the Jolly Frog was more than a pub. It was a local landmark, music venue, flood survivor and familiar sight at Windsor’s gateway.
The receiver sale now opens another chapter in a story extending across almost two centuries.
The current property listing contains sale particulars. The Gazette’s earlier feature provides the Jolly Frog’s detailed history.
