Pubs and pokies baron Bruce Mathieson bought Paddington’s Captain Cook Hotel for more than $13m in 2022 — it’s just sold for half that, for a very good reason.

The Mathieson family put the impressive four-level Federation building at 162 Flinders St on the market four months ago, but the 15 poker machine entitlements that he bought the pub with weren’t included.

The pub, which has been a popular watering hole for punters on their way to the footy at Allianz Stadium or the SCG, sold for $6.6m last week via Bresic Whitney’s Shannan Whitney.

He said he was unable to name the purchaser. However, it’s understood the new owners will shut the pub and utilise the 22 backpacker-style rooms as a hostel.

The 110-year-old pub, which also features a rooftop terrace with sweeping views over Sydney, was controversially rebranded as The Captain Paddington in 2020.

Though the Mathiesons changed it back to the original name. The family’s hospitality empire includes a 15 per cent stake in the listed hotel, drinks and gaming giant Endeavour Group and ALH Group, which is Australia’s largest pub operator with more than 350 venues.

The move to strip the Captain Cook of its pokies and move them elsewhere is perhaps a sign that the pokies are a bigger money-spinner in areas other than salubrious Paddo.

And the price drop indicates the value of a pub with pokies versus one without.