{"id":611712,"date":"2026-04-16T23:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611712\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T23:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:17:20","slug":"former-hey-dad-star-sarah-monahans-new-life-as-a-sydney-bar-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/611712\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Hey Dad..! star Sarah Monahan’s new life as a Sydney bar owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Australian child star<\/a> who appeared on one of the country’s biggest TV shows of the ’80s and ’90s has started a new life as a Sydney bar owner.<\/p>\n

Sarah Monahan, 49, who appeared as Jennifer Kelly in the hit Aussie sitcom Hey Dad..!<\/a> from 1987 to 1993, is now the proud owner of the Honey Rider Bar in Neutral Bay.<\/p>\n

Monahan told nine.com.au she’s thrilled to start her new adventure, which comes two years after she returned to Australia after more than 20 years in the US.<\/p>\n

“It just felt like time,” Monahan said. “Robert was gone, he got sent back to England and I was coming home for trips, and it just felt good again.”<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Hey Dad..! star Sarah Monahan is the new owner of Sydney’s Honey Rider Bar. (Facebook\/@Honey Rider Bar)<\/p>\n

‘Robert’ is of course Robert Hughes, who played her on-air dad Martin Kelly in the show that made her a household name.<\/p>\n

In 2010, Monahan accused Hughes of abusing her on set in claims which aired on Nine’s A Current Affair.<\/p>\n

Hughes was arrested in London on August 9, 2012, and extradited to Australia.<\/p>\n

In April 2014, he was found guilty of 10 counts of indecent and sexual assault of four victims in the ’80s and ’90s.<\/p>\n

He was jailed for a maximum of 10 years but released on parole in 2022, having served eight years, and was immediately deported to the UK.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Kanye West postpones concert after authorities seek ban<\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"RobertMonahan found fame on the sitcom Hey Dad..! <\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Manahan later became an ambassador for a sexual assault advocacy group, Bravehearts.<\/p>\n

She now works with Blue Knot Foundation, which helps adults recovering from complex trauma, and is a sought-after public speaker on women’s safety and survivor empowerment.<\/p>\n

While her time on the show holds many terrible memories, there are also happy ones, and she is happy for fans to approach her for a chat.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“There was good stuff,” she said.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“This is a happy, safe place now\ufeff and we can all move on and show that we don’t have to linger in that spot forever.<\/p>\n

“Now I am just happy to be me.”<\/p>\n

Monahan now lives in Sydney’s North Shore, across the road from her brother.<\/p>\n

Her cousins were among those who showed up for Sunday’s official reopening of the bar on what happened to be her 49th birthday.<\/p>\n

\ufeffShe had spent the past month learning the ropes, including how to clean out the keg lines, from the bar’s previous owner, but already had decades of hospitality experience.<\/p>\n

“As someone once said to me, most people go from waitressing to acting and you went the other way,” she laughed.<\/p>\n

Sarah Monahan. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“Because it’s what every actor does, they work in restaurants. So from 16 I was in kitchens or behind the bar… so I have done that for years and years.”<\/p>\n

In between, she helped her US-born husband Matt run an IT company, and even had a stint in the military.<\/p>\n

They had toyed with the idea of running their own hotel\ufeff in the past but it never eventuated.<\/p>\n

Then earlier this year, she found out the bar she walked past on the way to work each day was for sale.<\/p>\n

They thought about putting in an offer for about a month before deciding to go ahead, with Matt buying the hotel for her.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,Monahan is pictured in 2022. (WireImage)<\/p>\n

After flying in for her birthday and opening, he has now jetted back to the US, where he has a fulltime job, and will continue to fly back and forth for now.<\/p>\n

While he is away, Monahan will be busy with her new venture.<\/p>\n

First up will be a lick of paint and a revamp, as well as a brand new menu of bar snacks. Tuesdays will become “Texas Tuesday” while Wednesdays will be “Wings Day”.<\/p>\n

The bar’s back room will become a creative space where Monahan can film her YouTube channel and do audition tapes. She will also rent out the space to others.<\/p>\n

“I looked at this and thought this is the perfect creative space. It won’t be \ufeffa $500-an-hour podcast studio… but it will be a place [where you can] come in, film your stuff and do your thing here and it will be a creative space for all the local artists.”<\/p>\n

And perhaps most importantly it will be dog-friendly. \ufeffMonahan is the proud owner of Teddy, her assistance dog, who helps control her PTSD symptoms.<\/p>\n

She also hopes fans of her TV show come in and say ‘hello’. She has already taken a selfie with a fan just this week.<\/p>\n

Sydney-born M\ufeffonahan was just six when she was plucked from obscurity to play the role of Jennifer Kelly in Hey Dad..!.<\/p>\n

She filmed 227 episodes of the show before leaving one year before the show ended its run.<\/p>\n

\"SarahSarah Monahan and her dog Teddy. (Instagram\/@ teddythetinycockapoo)<\/p>\n

She had previously appeared in eight episodes of the Aussie soap Sons and Daughters and in 1995 appeared in three episodes of Home and Away.<\/p>\n

The actress took to Facebook this week to announce she was the new owner of the venue, which is located at 230 Military Road in Neutral Bay.<\/p>\n

“Hey everyone, I’m Sarah Monahan, the new owner of Honey Rider Bar,” she began the post.<\/p>\n

“Rest assured, we’re not changing much… and we don’t see a reason to change a good thing. We’ll be doing some painting, a little redecorating, and soon there will be a new cocktail and food menu.<\/p>\n

“We will be swapping out the karaoke area into a new creative space for people to use during the daytime. Podcast, YouTube, Self Tape, UGC studio. We’ll make it a usable space for people to record in, or if you’re here at 4pm, a place to do your Zoom calls while pretending you’re still in an office somewhere.<\/p>\n

“We’re not closing down, so the changes will be gradual, but we’re excited to add some life back into the building. Come in, bring your dog, and say Hi!”<\/p>\n

The post has been welcomed by locals, many of whom said they were excited there would be a dog-friendly venue, while others offered their congratulations to the former child star.<\/p>\n

She concluded our nine.com.au interview with a message for other survivors of abuse.<\/p>\n

“You can be happy again, no matter what, you can find the joy in life again, you just need to look for it.”<\/p>\n

And it looks like Monahan found it in her little bar in Sydney’s North Shore.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffFOLLOW US ON WHA<\/a>TSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Australian child star who appeared on one of the country’s biggest TV shows of the ’80s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-611712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}