Several bars and clubs have closed since the NSW government last year introduced measures to counteract alcohol-fuelled violence - including 1.30am lockouts and 3am last drinks - across a designated Sydney CBD entertainment precinct, which stretches from parts of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst to The Rocks, and from Kings Cross to Cockle Bay.

The lockout laws, low interest rate environment and investor appetite for higher-yielding assets have boosted demand for pubs outside the exclusion zone.

One of the latest sales is of Paddington institution, the Grand National Hotel, known as the Nash, which sold for $7.25 million to an Eastern suburbs-based private investor who is likely to join the craze to add apartments upstairs.

The private vendor group had undertaken a significant renovation of the Grand National and is now looking for fresh investment opportunities.

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The incumbent tenant, LJB Hotels, will remain running the pub, while the new owner can redevelop the 24 rooms upstairs into a boutique hotel, boarding house or apartments.

Colliers International's Miron Solomons and CBRE's Daniel Dragicevich handled the sale of the property at 161 Underwood Street, Paddington.

Mr Dragicevich said the sale underlined that appetite from private buyers for investment hotels was not just for blue-chip covenants such as Woolworths' Australian Leisure Holdings and Coles, but also extended to smaller, well-regarded hotel operators, of assets with good underlying property attributes.

"We have seen numerous similar results being achieved by our Melbourne office and, following on from last year's sale of the freehold investment of the Golden Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay, it is encouraging to see another positive result in the Sydney market," Mr Dragicevich said.

Bruce Solomon's Solotel Group will remain as the tenant of the Golden Sheaf hotel but there is development potential.

"The buyer was ultimately a private investor looking to unlock the cashflow potential from the top two floors, but we had interest from multiple buyer profiles over the five-week campaign," Mr Solomons said.

The well-known sporting pub of the Eastern suburbs, the Light Brigade Hotel in Paddington, is also on the market as the owners take advantage of the demand for neighbourhood-based, higher-yielding investments.

This follows the sale of the Centennial Hotel to Anthony Medich, and the arrival of pub tsar  Justin Hemmes to the area through his purchase of the Paddington Arms.

In another deal, hospitality group W. Short Hotel Group has bought the Tudor Hall Hotel in Redfern through CBRE.

The hotel was purchased in partnership with the Anderson family, who are also part-owners of The Glenmore, with W. Short Hotel Group in charge of the day-to-day operations at both venues.

Mr Hemmes also recently took over the operations of the former Palace at Coogee and paid $50 million for the Newport Arms. The Laundy family and Fraser Short also own and operate the Watson's Bay hotel in the eastern suburbs.

The Bayfield family also  has been gradually reshuffling its pub portfolio, with the sale last year of the Caringbah Hotel for a then-record price of $44 million, through Ray White Hotels' Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe.

The family also raised $56 million from the combined benchmark sales of the Mona Vale and North Cronulla hotels (Northies), through Mr Jolliffe and Ray White director Joel Fisher.

Other recent sales also show the strong demand for A-grade pubs throughout Sydney.

One was the well-known Palisades Hotel at Millers Point which was sold to a private investor for about $20 million and will be re-opened after seven years in late August, combining boutique accommodation with a ground-floor bar and eatery.

The Golden Sheaf hotel at Double Bay has been sold to a private investor in a lease-back agreement. No price was disclosed, but market suggestions were that a price of about $40 million was paid.

Agents to the deal, John Musca, director, investment sales, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, and Daniel Dragicevich, said investors were scouring the suburbs for pubs away from the lockout laws.

Mr Dragicevich recently sold the Grand Hotel, Bondi Junction for a rumoured $25 million, while Mr Musca and JLL director James Aroney, sold the Bourbon Hotel for $25 million, reportedly due to the lockout laws' impact on visitor numbers at Kings Cross, to pub operator Iris Capital. It is expected the pub will be converted to apartments.

Mr Musca is also selling the Keystone Group's Sugarmills Hotel and Office Complex, at 33-37 Darlinghurst Road, Potts Point, on a 20-year leaseback basis, with Colliers International and also the Macquarie Hotel, at Liverpool.

Recently Le Pub Balmain, formerly the Monkey Bar, was sold by well-known operator Pat Gallagher for about $6 million to local identity Tim Condon, who operates the East Village Hotel, Balmain and recently sold the Newington Inn in Stanmore Road. The Iris Group recently acquired Napoleon's Hotel, Riverwood, from industry stalwarts the Stanford family.

CBRE's Mr Dragicevich, who negotiated the off market transaction, said the price of about $14 million reflected the continued demand for quality pubs.