Hatches X - April 2012

In the 3 months since the January edition a lot has changed on and around King Street; not a lot of it positive. Most of the dispatches over the last few months have been of much-loved local businesses - in their place more and more generic franchises have popped up. Following the migration of the many generic clothing shops from the also suffering Oxford Street, there's a risk we're losing what makes King St special. On the positive side this trend is mostly confined to King St north of the station and SoKi or South King Street is going from strength to strength.

Newtown Station April 2012

The Newtown Station renovations grind on towards their end 2012 finish, and we're starting to get an idea of what the finished product will look like. Here's my January update. Not much action on the AusGrid works lately, but there's been a container on Brown Street the last couple of months that is apparently going to support the introduction of Sydney Council Smartpoles between Wilson St and Missenden Road - more details on the council's website here.

New Openings
Not too much to get excited about this time round, most of the openings are the aforementioned chains:

• Mad Mex, MooCow, Gelatissimo have all opened up Newtown branches this year
• A new yoga venue, Yoga Union down on Union street - sorry I missed you last time :)
• Funky Mark V (or so it seems) opened up this weekend - fingers crossed that this incarnation will go the distance, it's a great venue and their support of live music deserves to be rewarded - hopefully that will continue. Update - now called Black Sheep
• A 'local supermarket' is replacing the furniture haven near Vanguard; apparently not a chain or known brand as had been rumoured. Looks like a couple of weeks away
• Young Henry's brewery opened up in the back streets near the flour mills

Going ...
Unfortunately most of the news is here this time:

• Quite spectacularly - Newtown Hotel collapsed last month (I mistakenly thought it was a fire) and remedial works are under way - Watkins Street still closed to cars.
• Many departures of much loved businesses: Books on King (cats and all), So Music (not Hum) a while ago now, Fish, Cinque - both due to the Dendy makeover, but no sign that they will return
• A Coffee and a Yarn have closed leaving cryptic messages about a potential rebirth
• Repressed Records will soon be vacating the beautiful St George's Hall
• The Asian supermarket Qmart near Burger Fuel disappeared without much notice; not sure if it was collateral damage from the short-lived Mr Cheng's up the road.
• Dendy Newtown closed for renovations - no re-opening date at this stage
• Gould's struggling according to their newsletter - but hanging in there. Drop down there and buy something, it's an institution we can't afford to lose. 
• The Ramen noodle bar in Berkelouw has been replaced by a mum and bub's style cafe; according to tipster and reviewer Detective Chow.

Development Applications

• Nothing much of interest. I had to laugh at the advertising for Newtown Village (next to Oporto) implying a nice quite lcoation with a leafy outlook rather than being squeezed between Enmore Road and the train line. Stand by for the noise complaints against Notes Live

Reviews

• There's a whole industry of food bloggers out there now, I've stored some Newtown specific links here for you to explore 
• Detective Chow continues to bring his unique take to food blogging to Newtown 
• Noted Newtown non-fan Terry Durack gave Spencer Guthrie a positive review in the SMH recently

Random 

• Short lived street art in the carpark next to Mitre 10 - already painted over sadly
• New online book review: Newtown Review of Books set up by locals Jean Bedford and Linda Funnell
• The 100 year old advertising uncovered by the burning down of the laundromat has now been painted over after being tagged. See more here.
  

You can see all the links that I have shared on Twitter via my bit.ly public timeline.

Hatches IX - Jan 2012

Hello and Happy New Year ! It's been a while since the last update here; as always lots has been going on up and down and just off King Street - below is just a summary of a few of the changes that have occurred in the last 6 months; hopefully it won't be 6 months to the next update !

Well it's January 2012 and now we're starting to understand why it's going to take until the end of this year to complete the Newtown Station upgrade. The progress is summarised in the notice below, see the detailed post for more information and photos.

Newtown Station Progress

Also still ongoing is the long running Energy Australia works; although Ausgrid, as they are now known have promised to repair the King St footpaths once all the shops connect to the beautiful black boxes on the footpaths, there's no news yet whether the road destruction on Wilson St, Angel St etc will be repaired. There are contact details below from their website:

If you have any questions, please contact our project team on the 24/7 project information line 1800 643 608 or email info-kingstreet@ausgrid.com.au.

Wilson St EnergyAustralia Repairs

New Openings

• Quite a few small bars popping up in King Street finally, including Bench, Jester Seeds (Newtown vibe and Darlinghurst prices), and Kuki Tanuki in Erskineville, finally emerging from interminable renovations.
• Sydney's Mexican food trend has spread to Newtown, with the opening of Beach Bistro next to the Hub, replacing the short lived (and Mayor-loved) Soprano's pizzeria; and the slow but promised opening of Mad Mex 
• A swanky looking Basque inspired Kingfish Bistro as SoKi continues its fashionable evolution
• A Korean barbecue restaurant has bravely opened above Tamana's North Indian diner; graveyard for Tamana's Upstairs, Posh Spice and most recently Top Level Pizza

Going ...

Old Advertising on King St

• The Laundromat near King Street Cyclery burnt down spectacularly - revealing some great old advertising on the wall of the bike shop. Will be ever be nostalgic about today's advertising ? Hard to imagine !
• Sadly Wilson St Gallery closed without much warning - apparently moved to Danks St, to be replaced (inexplicably) by a ballet shop Repertoire - that I give 6 months.
• King St Cyclery itself has closed for renovations, moving to their repair centre near Marrickville Metro. Cheeky Monkey are still going strong
• Taste Chicken surprisingly disappeared, not sure if anyone knows the story behind that.
• The much loved Freaky Tiki in the Newtown Hotel closed - will it reappear after the renovations ?

Development Applications

• A chain milk bar (above) to replace the suddenly closed African restaurant Kilimanjaro. I hope the mural is protected. 
• Yet another gelato shop to replace the camera shop next door to African feeling. I guess they've seen how popular Gelatomassi is
• The owners of the post office have applied to add some apartments out the back - across the road from the much loved Varga Bar.

Reviews

• There's a whole industry of food bloggers out there now, hard to keep track of them all ! A special mention though to Detective Chow who has quite an original take on the reviews; and has visited two Newtown locations recently.
• New Vietnamese joint Rice Paper got a write up in the SMH Jan 21; coincidentally the same day the Mayor dined there. Recommended !
  

Random 

• Whispers of The Hub coming back to life - what will this be ?
• Some very cool guerrilla knitting outside the Neighbourhood centre
  

You can see all the links that I have shared on Twitter via my bit.ly public timeline.

Hatches Batches and Dispatches VIII

A bit of scandal in SoKi (South King Street) after an apparent management coup at the popular Pastizzi cafe - leading to a boycott call taken up on Facebook and Twitter (and hopefully in the real world). There are some more details and photos on Street Food.

Meanwhile the interminable Energy Australia (now re-branded AusGrid - at least their info shop near the old Effies) works roll on.


New Openings

• Charming World grocer - in the distant and seldom visited upper reaches of King St - wins the award for best new name this edition.

• Ramen Bar adds some spice to the ground floor of Berkelouw in Newtown (which was opened by KRudd ex-PM - they forgot the Mayor). Already reviewed on Street Food.
• A new(ish) cafe Pickwick's on Enmore Road is getting good reviews.

Farewells

• Much loved North Newtown institution Rosalinas is for lease
• Crepe Kingdom on Enmore Road didn't last long; looks like some financial issues
• The Eatery opposite old Elizabeths site is boarded up - not sure if for renovations or replacement. Anyone ?
• Braintree Hemp and VietMaison north of Missenden Road both shut up shop recently

Development Applications

 

• A small bar to replace Pleasure Zone (above) ?
• A games Cafe on North King Street (details - while the DA is active)

Reviews

• Three Newtown bookstores in a recent Sydney Top 10
  

Random

• There is a DA with Marrickville Council to redevelop the TA Andrews funeral home on Enmore Road into apartments and shops (commenter on Hatches VII) 
• After 30 years, Edgeware Family Practice is moving to a practice in Church St Newtown (also from the comments)
• Sopranos near the Hub has started live music - as has Corridor, which is also hosting some Comedy Festival acts

You can see all the links that I have shared on Twitter via my bit.ly public timeline.

Hatches Batches and Dispatches VII

It's time for the first issue of Hatches for 2011. The big news in town has been the long awaited commencement of work on Newtown Station, with the roof of the platform removed one weekend in February, and the remaining structure now being surrounded in hoardings and slowly removed. Sadly after waiting so long it's still not until the end of 2012 that we will get the new station.

Another issue that has been generating a lot of concern is the long running Energy Australia works; especially given the quality of streets (Wilson St for example) that apparently are considered finished. While the King Street footpath will be repaired it seems we're stuck with the little black boxes outside all the shops - the price we have to pay to get the overhead wires removed.

Wilson St EnergyAustralia Repairs

New Openings

Pie Tin on Brown St

• Pie Tin opened in the location of the old Pretty Dog on Brown Street. In a nice touch they also added a plaque giving some history of the building - hopefully this will be a trend that is continued.

 

• There's a new(ish) Turkish restaurant Matee in the location of the old Bhan Thai restaurant next to Moose. Finally checked it out recently - recommended.
• The Newtown Hotel has reopened as Freaky Tiki Bar - apparently for a 'while' until renovations get under way. Given the popularity of Freaky Tiki I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of Tiki theme survived the renovations - here's hoping.
• Funky Cafe re-opened with new owners after being closed for a while.
• Elizabeth's Bookshops moved down the road into the old Newtown Deli (which moved further down King Street to avoid the mad rents). At the moment there are two Elizabeth's on King St, with some pretty cheap good books on sale while they move.
  

Development Applications

• Sydney Uni snuck out a master plan for Abercrombie Street while no-one was looking. 
• The Townie applied for later trading hours for their smoking areas.
• A plan for an art-gallery on Brown Street

Reviews

• Cafe Newtown got a review in the lateral eating blog, and the whole of South King Street got a write up on InnerWest Lifestyle, reminding me I really should finish my post on the same topic I started a year ago - before all the businesses mentioned close !
  

Random

• A Newtown local nominated himself for a minor Darwin award after tagging a police car - outside the Newtown Police Station. 
• Quartly's Mitre Ten is consolidating into the back shop (on the Whately Street carpark) after 95 years pn the same site - and 125 in Newtown. The main store apparently will be replaced by a bloody chemist - just what Newtown needs. There's a photo from the 70s here on the excellent Newtown Project site.
• In better news, Marrickville council are voting soon to implement a smoking ban in pubic places - that could lead to the incongruous situation of no smoking on just one half of King St
• Finally, a call to arms in the Inner West Courier to re-unite Newtown in one council - although they neglected the bit about me being reinstated on the Mayoral Throne.

You can see all the links that I have shared on Twitter via my bit.ly public timeline.

Hatches Batches and Dispatches VI

So it's time for another edition of the semi-regular round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so. Hoardings have gone up at Newtown Station, there are rumours of movement at Newtown Hotel, whose proposed renovations were recently approved - with 98 conditions ! As well, Newtown was in the news when local sculptor painted an anti-Burqa mural on his wall, challenging the usual local support for free speech and tolerance, and unsurprisingly pleasing Daily Telegraph readers.

The most read link shared by the mayor in the last couple of months though related to the $3.2M Newtown house sale. Not sure what that says !

See below for more:

New Openings

• Sabbaba is close to opening up next door to Max Brenner
  
• The Imperial Hotel re-opened after 3 years and many false re-openings
• The Watershed started a bike-hire scheme that got wide publicity
• @Newtown re-launched as Shush
  

Going ...

• Much loved Funky Cafe closed for nearly a week - not looking good. It's been on the market for a while now
• The much loved but short lived Newtown Gazebo finally fell foul of council safety regs

• Dresser to the mayor, Crazy Horse, is on the market:
  

Development Applications

• Dendy applied to add 10 screens to their Newtown mega-plex; including a tacky mural facing Camperdown Park
  
• Nothing else too exciting this month - click here for all current Newtown DAs from Sydney Council website.
  

Reviews

• The Inner-West focussed Sydney Fringe Festival opened and closed to mixed reviews
• Changing Lanes in Eliza Street was a sell-out success
• Plans for the renovation of Marrickville Metro are attracting much criticism
• Corridor gets a gushing review in the Gold Coast's local rag
  

Random

• There's not much life on King Street, Newtown in Queensland
  
• A For Sale sign appeared and quickly disappeared outside the old Erskineville PYCC

Hatches Batches and Dispatches V

It's been a while since the last round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown. It's getting harder to keep track of the goings on but thankfully I have all of your tips from last month's update and Twitter. The most reported Newtown related news in the last month or so is the possible resumption of houses in Leamington Avenue for RailCorp's proposed Western Express line. The story got a second wind once some discovered the linkage to the famous 'Three Proud People' mural; now unfortunately blocked from view from Macdonaldtown Station by the sound barrier.

New Openings

• Cucina Sopranos on the site of the old Wedgetail
• The Polish restauarant in the old Choclate Dog has a name - New in Town - and gets the mayoral thumbs up - tasty and generous portions.
• A new Vietnamese noodle place called "Pho Sure" opened in the old service station on the corner of Stamore Rd and Liberty St Enmore (nice break from the terrible Thai/Tie puns)
• Dolce and Gelato has had a name change, now called gelato blue. Apart from that all looks the same. 
• Moo Gourmet burgers the latest to take on the site of Mickey's
• King St deli has moved to south king, where there used to be a business centre
• The Bank Hotel has re-opened after the fire 
• A new design shop (cute !) called Lillypad Designs hidden at the back of the newsagent near the Dendy
• Not so new now but not yet mentioned is the nursery next to the controversial car-wash on South King Street;

Development Applications

• The proposed bottlo shop in Newtown Central has a name - Cellarbrations. A chain, of course.
• Speaking of chains, Dominos Pizza coming to (far north) Newtown. Signage looks really garish
• Mostly residential otherwise.

Reviews

• Funky Cafe gets a mention in an SMH article about live music
• Not quite a review, but both Pentimento and Newtown resident and ex-Mr Varga Bar Ben Soutter got quoted in an article about Cafe mobile phone etiquette.
  

Random

• Most visited story the mayor shared in the last month was about ATM skimming on skim street; while Fairfax were too scared to name the bank involved, they did point out that NAB, CBA and ANZ denied it was them and the Pac declined to comment. Go figure.
• A broader inner city story getting too much airtime is the bike lane backlash, led by such likables as former Newtownian (sadly) Alan Jones and the Tele. Sad to say even a Wilson Street local is complaining about the lanes
• Once again, The Imperial is 'opening soon'. Sadly the plans of Sydney Fringe to use the Hub as a venue have come to nothing
• A filtered water fountain has been installed outside the Town Hall (real one, not the pub)
  

Hatches Batches and Dispatches IV

Yarn

The fourth round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so. Thanks to reader Alison for some of the observations, and those who commented on Hatches III.

New Openings

• Famous Surry Hills Thai Prasits has taken over the not very succesful Thai restaurant next to the high school
• New Asian restaurant – and it’s not Thai! - Asian King, on the site of old Shaiza’s Curry House
• A Coffee and a Yarn at 413 King St - hugely popular knitting and mini-cafe
  
• The Granny Square – looks like a cute crafts store, site of old Champion Textiles – 47 King St (a theme here)
• Chocolate Dog is now a Polish restaurant, according to Twitter !

Prasits arrives in Newtown

Development Applications

• Yet another bottle shop proposed for Newtown Central (next to Townie)
• Check out the excellent Planning Alerts site to track D.A.s near you
  

Reviews

• Moose in the SMH (Facebook link)
  
• Darley St Bistro in the Botany View Hotel makes the Tele's Top 10 Pub Bistros
• Street Food blog has a few Newtown reviews
• Blog review of A Coffee and a Yarn
  

Random

• Pretty Dog has moved down the road in Brown Street; it's great to see some action off King Street.
• Popular cafe Anise has closed due to renovations upstairs
• Funky Cafe is on the market. Whoever buys it must maintain the music ! And death to the nimby who raised a noise complaint; on King St FFS.
• A new Festival proposed for Eliza St in September

Pretty Dog slides down Brown St

Hatches Batches and Dispatches III

The third round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so ...

New Openings

• Wine and Dine, which opened only a month ago where Mickey's was, has already closed. 
• A new book shop Plato opened this weekend just down the road from Newtown institution Goulds.
• Inner West Live launches. Check it out !
• Mayor of Newtown turned one (148 in the real world, only two years until the sesquicentenary)
  

Development Applications

• All quiet this month. Some minor mods to the Hive D.A.
• Mostly residential applications on the council website

Reviews

• Another Iiza review
• The Bloodwood buzz continues, with reviews in Barzine, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Restaurant Review, Time Out, and several blogs amongst others

Bloodwood

Random

• Midnight Thai, behind the 7-11, is closed until problems with their exhaust fan are fixed to the satisfaction of council. Their neighbours at the coffee shop are still going strong
• Some publicity for the excellent Newtown history site
• Popular newcomer Luxe Bakery gets named for dodgy soy milk
• Stay tuned for some news regarding the Hub ...
  

Hatches Batches and Dispatches II

The second round up of some of the comings and goings on and around King St Newtown in the last month or so ...

New Openings

• Kick Lounge has opened on Erskineville Road near the still closed Imperial Hotel
  
• Metrobus 30 - Newtown to Enmore, started March 28, garnering surpising support from the Mayor's followers ;)
• Red Cross vintage boutique opened at 359 King St
• Old Aboriginal art gallery on Mary Street is for lease
  

Development Applications

• Newtown RSL to be replaced by 63 room boutique hotel
• The Sando applies to maintain extended trading hours

God drinks here

Reviews

• Bloodwood in the SMH
  
• Iiza in the Tele
• Corridor in the SMH (cliche alert) and TimeOut
• Soffrito in the SMH (5.4 on the Mossop cliche scale)
  

Bloodwood

Random

• Rumour has it that Funky cafe is on the market
• The Vanguard is for sale; with current owner John Cass looking for a new owner who will maintain the vibe
  
• Mickeys (next to Daniel Motsyn) has closed and has been replaced by Wine and Dine, a slightly sterile looking cafe/bar (but welcome nevertheless !)
• The old Allan's Cakes in Erko will re-open as a dessert bar (pending licence approval)
• The same owner has plans for a shared plates style bar next door. Finger's crossed ! Take time to do his Erko survery
  

Hatches Batches and Dispatches

The Mayor's collection of comings (mostly) and goings in Newtown. The first in a possible regular series ...

New Openings

• An Asian supermarket called Qmart across the road from the Marly
• A highly regarded and well reviewed bar/restaurant called Bloodwood at 416 King St
  
• Another highly regarded bar called Corridor, on the site of the old Sabor de Espana
• A deli/cafe/bar called 2042 Cafe and Deli, reviewed in the SMH
• A fancy looking Izakaya Japanese restaurant Iiza on site of the much lamented Lucky's Pizza and a less lamented Indian restaurant.
• A fancy and tasty Mexican restaurant Izote at the far far end of Newtown (6 King St)

Upstairs at Corridor

Development Applications

• Popular sort-of Irish pub Kelly's has applied to expand with a lounge over Janet's pies
• Trinity Church on Erskineville Rd has applied for some internal reconfiguration and a carpark upgrade
• Wilson Street cafe Ism (opposite Hollis Park) has applied for outdoor seating (Nimby opposition alert)
  

Random

• Rumour has it that Satellite is about to change hands, and the new owner maybe contemplating night openings
• Popular Flower shop The Flower Room is up for sale
• Random Thai joint (and former purveyor of Duck) Midnight Thai appears to have closed, although the coffee bar and pastry shop attached is still going strong (behind the 7-11 on Brown St)
• Vinnies and the 7-11 are rebuilding their awnings
• The much-loved and sadly vandalised steeple sculpture in Camperdown Park has gone AWOL
  

Gone ...