Manly’s famous Corso in need of rejuvenation after another restaurant closure
Manly’s famous Corso continues to see lease signs along with boarded-up shop fronts as the tourist destination cries out to be rejuvenated.
Corso attracts around eight million tourists a year and has more than 200 retailers and hospitality venues.
However, the closure of another restaurant has raised a red flag in the area, which is in danger of losing its iconic position in Sydney’s landscape if more shops continue to close.
Asian fusion restaurant Lantern Fish is the latest to close its doors.
“Sadly Lantern Fish has closed its doors after continuously slow trade forced its hand,” the Manly Observer wrote.
“It had beautiful decor, high-quality food and cocktails and even got a respectable 13.5/20 from the tough judges at Good Food last year.”
One local blamed the closure on rents.
“Manly is like a revolving door. I can only imagine the newbies don’t do their homework. The rents are so ludicrous, and it is a tough market. Manly used to be so fabulous and exciting.”
Parking fees were also blamed.
Local businesses said conditions were tough and two lockdowns during COVID have been hard to come back from.
“It was a real kick on the butt for a lot of businesses, especially over summer,” Liberal state MP for Manly James Griffin said.
“Typically, a lot of food and beverage hospitality businesses and indeed the retail ones, particularly through the Corso, really depend on about a seven-week trading period over summer through to Australia Day. If they don’t do well through that it really hurts. There was the bushfires one summer then two Covid summers, really three compounding challenges.
“So your hunch is not wrong – there has been a vacancy rate that’s been stable over the last couple of years, we want to get as many shops and retail spots opening [as possible] and a good mix.”
Griffin tasked the Manly Tourism and Economic Recovery task force to come up with solutions.
“We got together all of the local operators and worked backwards from what do we need to do to create a more sustainable visitor economy, not reliant on those seven weeks,” he said.
“Because Manly can say we get eight million tourists a year getting straight off the ferry, walking up the Corso and not turning left or right – that’s where we see a lot of the vacancies. On the side strips off the Corso and nearby there’s some great gems there.”
Griffin wants tourists to stay longer and spend more.
Pine Property owner Kyla Kelleher said of Lantern Fish, “Businesses close for certain reasons. Lantern Fish had great food and they did a good fit-out but there’s much more to it, especially in a place like Manly where there’s so much competition. There’s so many elements to running a great hospitality business. The market’s improving. We are on the other side of the hardest retailing trading period [Covid] we’ve ever seen.”
Cost of living pressures are also biting Manly businesses. However, some businesses are thriving.
“There’s lots of businesses that have been around Manly pre-Covid still running and thriving,” Kelleher said.
“Again, hospitality’s competitive. Ones that do well have a really great offering and have thought about it, not just ‘I’m going to open a cafe’, because there’s a trillion cafes. It’s not a revolving door, it’s just about making sure you’ve got your model and concept right.”
Kelleher said the Corso was in a state of transition.
“A lot of people think of Manly and immediately think of the beach and that’s great, but what’s happening is pretty organic, some great restaurants and hospitality options are popping up,” he said. “The offering is there, it’s just Manly’s changed a lot from people’s perception of it 20 years ago.”
Northern Beaches Deputy Mayor Georgia Ryburn called for a rejuvenation.
“More outdoor dining, vibrant events, and better meeting places on the Corso is a start,” she said.
Jonathan Jackson, 25th March 2024
