Mr Neilson bought the 15-year lease to operate the Grand Hotel in February 2021, but is now concerned any potential new owners may be just looking to pay him to vacate, strip out the poker machine licences, then sell off the building and land.

"Based on the current New England pub climate and the operators that are in the market, I am really concerned about the future of the Grand," Mr Neilson said.

"Everyone has their opinion about poker machines, but the bottom line is they do keep the doors open.

"Not everyone has a billion dollars to invest in hotels, and for everyday operators, they keep the pub going so that restaurants and live entertainment and all that sort of stuff can happen.

"If that happened - can the incoming owner make it work without poker machines?

"It will be very difficult - let me tell you."

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The Grand Hotel is being marketed as a 'passive freehold interest' by Leonard Bongiovanni of MQ and Associates, in conjunction with Xavier Plunkett of HTL Property - both specialist realtors in the hospitality industry.

Owner Steve McEvoy holds a stable of 'freehold passive hotel investments' on the mid-north coast of NSW, but the Grand Hotel sits geographically out of his core portfolio, and revenue from the sale will be used to fund property development on the Coffs Harbour coast the agents say.

The prominent brick hotel sits on 1667m2 of prime land and features a public bar, bistro, gaming room, beer garden, and a car park with 22 car parks on title.

Since Mr Neilson took over the Grand Hotel he has redesigned the bistro menu, put 12 craft beers on tap, renovated the gaming room and upgraded the pokies.

"The previous lessee pretty much ran the business into the ground, and we just got it up to being open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch," Mr Neilson said.

A second generation publican, Mr Neilson also owns the operating lease for the New England Hotel in Armidale, which he bought in 2019.

It was his first venture into regional hotels, and he said business was booming until the pandemic hit.

Both the Grand and New England hotels were shut for nearly six weeks earlier this year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

"There was a full shutdown, and then a full reopen at both them, which was a lot of work," Mr Neilson said.

"I've been operating in Armidale now for 25 months, and 19 months of that has been during COVID-19," he said.

"Upstairs at the Newie has been shut for about six months, and it was a big part of our original business model, but we've got by somehow and hope to reopen that in the next few weeks."

My Neilson says he still fully intends to keep operating the Grand Hotel for at least a decade if he can.

"I signed that 15-year lease eight months ago, and I had a plan to be there for the majority of that time," he said.

"But in that time, the owner's priorities have changed, and here we are."

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HTL Property's Xavier Plunkett said he expects strong interest in the Grand Hotel 'given the severe lack of quality passive investments on the market over the previous year'.

"With the current low cost of finance and the strong capital appreciation in the gaming entitlement market, we are confident of a timely sale," he said.

Mr Plunkett estimated the value of the 'gaming machine entitlements' and the land and buildings to be worth at least $3 million.

"And our vendor has price expectations around this mark," he said.

"The asset will appeal to both private investors chasing passive income and capital appreciation with a tenant in place, as well as established hoteliers looking to secure future poker machine entitlement supply with a meaningful holding income," said MQ's Leonard Bongiovanni.

While Mr Nielson's fate at the Grand Hotel is not yet known, he said he has concerns for smaller regional hotels in general.

"New owners are coming in to remove assets and then shutting the pubs down, as opposed to buying them as an investment with an operator in them who cares about the community and what the hotel provides to the community," he said.

"Rather than because of how much the poker machine entitlements are worth."

A surge of interest in regional hospitality by metropolitan-based investors has seen a long list of country pubs change hands this year.

In Armidale, the Whitebull Hotel sold for $13.25 million, quickly followed by another of the city's pubs, The Royal Hotel, which sold for more than $5 million.

The Whitebull was bought by established hotelier Jim Knox, who also purchased another country pub a little further west in Moree.

The expressions of interest campaign for the Grand Hotel will close on Thursday, December 9.

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