How many more Melbourne CBD pubs and cafes will close before we hit the new normal?
As the pandemic continues and people remain slow to return to the CBD, hospitality industry leaders fear that more of central Melbourne’s cafes, restaurants and bars will continue to close over the coming months.
Wes Lambert, Restaurant & Catering Association chief executive, said the slow rate in which the CBD is opening up will continue to harm hospitality businesses.
“It’s likely that there will be more casualties before we come to the new normal in Melbourne. If you piece it all together: isolation rules, the most locked-down city in the country, the most locked-down state in the country, the [shift to] hybrid work and businesses and people moving to the suburbs and the regions, it’s not hard to understand why some CBD restaurants have closed and won’t reopen.”
In worrying signs for the sector within the CBD, the state’s liquor regulator, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, released data that shows 3925 licence-holders did not pay their 2022 annual renewal fees, which were due on 31 December.
According to Lambert, it will take another year to see if these venues have closed their doors permanently or have not paid the fees as they waited to reopen.
Many high-profile restaurants, cafes and bars closed during the pandemic including: Lentil as Anything, Charcoal Lane, Dinner by Heston, Bar Saracen, Dandelion, 5 & Dime Bagels, Golda, Kinfolk, Ezard, Gertrude Street Enoteca, Annam, Elyros, French Saloon, Gontran Cherrier, Kirk’s Public Bar, Miss Ruben, Fatto, Mess Hall, Degraves Espresso, Cuckoo, Madame Brussels and Pacific BBQ House.
Last month, owner of 5 & Dime bagel store, Zev Forman appointed a liquidator and closed his two city stores and a Caulfield pop-up.
Even though his business is up to 40 per cent of what it was before the pandemic started, Forman was devastated when his accountant said it was not enough.
“They said, even if it gets to 100 per cent of pre-pandemic, it’s going to take you 10 years to trade out of the debt that you’ve collected over the past two years,” he said. “I just got very freaked out. I couldn’t figure out a way of keeping everything going.”
Irit Jackson, 27th April 2022
