The head lease of Archive Beer Boutique, a pioneer in the craft beer market in Brisbane, has been put up for sale. Aushotel Group has appointed CBRE to steer the deal of this landmark West End pub.
This is an opportunity for a new operator to make a mark in the ever-evolving craft beer market for the long term. The sale comes with a full, commercial late-trading liquor licence and the chance to build three bottle shops within 10 kilometres of the site.
Archive Beer Boutique is on Boundary Street and has thrived in this premier location for more than a decade. CBRE’s Paul Fraser said that the pub’s location, size and scale, and long tenure could easily generate interest from investors. The pub sits opposite West Village, which is undergoing urban renewal.
Photo Credit: Ezi Digital Australia/Google Maps
The pub also enjoys a loyal following, even amidst a global crisis, and the hospitality industry has to adjust and adapt to the new normal. Fraser said that the vendor of the property has been looking to enjoy semi-retirement and offload his assets as the hospitality sector bounces back from COVID-19.
Aushotel Group’s managing director, Jim Davies, said that Archive continues to be a “volume driver for many craft brands” even as different craft brews have been setting shop in Brisbane.
Archive Beer Boutique spans 1,419 square metres and was recently renovated with a main restaurant on the ground floor and a Loft Bar for functions and evens on the second floor.
For the last eight years, Wandering Cooks has been a comfortable hangout for foodies frequenting the open-air location on Fish Lane and Cordelia Streets in West End. It has also been instrumental in launching and supporting local food businesses in Brisbane. Since February 2021, however, the food and markets hive has been slowly transitioning into a new space nearby.
In the middle of the year, Wandering Cooks will be permanently settled at the Farm Gate on 63 Vulture Street. In fact, its weekly Urban Produce Market has already been taking place at the new site every Saturday between 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. More events and surprises will be revealed about this new location in the coming months.
Whilst the transition is ongoing, the food and bar corner at its old West End location will continue to trade and accept walk-ins. Large groups beyond 11 people will have to book a reservation in advance. As per usual, the restaurant will still deliver its sustainable food choices with a changing menu every week to highlight local growers and producers.
In June 2020, Wandering Cooks director Angela Hicks hinted about the transition amid the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Incubation will still be at the heart of what we do, and so will other food businesses, but stronger still will be our focus on making products ourselves,” she wrote.
“This will allow us to act directly on the opportunities for small farms we want to see proliferate in this post Covid world. Their successes will be our successes. We’ll employ chefs, we’ll partner with others, and we’ll nurture new food business dreamers, like Thilakshi Munasingha, by employing them, so that their food becomes our food. Together, the farmers and this team of Cooks, will bind our stories together.”
In line with its transition, the restaurant is also hiring more staff and team players. Interested individuals may email el@wanderingcooks.com.au about the job openings.
Harris Farm Markets, the popular family-owned enterprise operating for more than 40 years, is set to open its West End flagship store at the former Peters Ice Cream Factory with heaps of job vacancies for over 150 workers.
To prepare for the opening, the management has announced the hiring of temporary, permanent and part-time workers who could fill in roles like customer service staff, bakers, butchers, dairy experts, deli and cheese specialists, fruiterers and florists, as well as backend employees who will be streamlining the operations.
Interested locals who would like to grow with the Harris Farm Markets family may apply online. Co-CEO Luke Harris said that they are keen on giving jobs to “passionate, hard-working food enthusiasts,” who will immediately be entitled to staff discounts at the store.
“Authenticity is everything to us, in the way we buy and present our produce through to the people we employ,” Mr Harris said.
Mr Harris is also happy to reveal that the West End flagship store will be based at the former building of the historic Peters Ice Cream Factory, which was built and established long before the development of refrigeration technology.
Once a thriving hub for innovation, Peters Ice Cream Factory employed food technologists who developed many of the brand’s iconic ice cream flavours using the crudest of technology to lower the water temperature that would keep the ice cream frozen.
The West End factory shut down in 1995 and the building is now part of the $800 million development of West Village.
“The space is nothing short of extraordinary and will allow us to build the flagship Queensland Harris Farm Markets, with great local fruit, veg and gourmet grocery, as well as some local concession partnerships we’re really excited about,” the CEO said. “Opening in West Village, one of the most exciting urban developments we have ever seen, is a fantastic opportunity, particularly given the history of fresh fruit and veg markets in the area.”
West End’s Harris Farm Markets is the second store in Brisbane. The company opened an outlet in Clayfield in November 2020. Incidentally, the Clayfield site on Sandgate Road was the original site of Harris Farm Markets 30 years ago, before Carlo and Susan Lorenti took over.
“We were incredibly excited to open at this site because Harris Farm used to own it 30 years ago before selling it to Carlo and Susan. It’s a full-circle story and we are thrilled that Carlo and Susan have stayed on as our managers, along with as many staff as possible,” Mr Harris said.
Young Henrys’ Brisbane debut, Best Served Loud, a free event of wild and raucous live music and dancing, will be held at The Bearded Lady in West End on the 16th and 30th of April 2021.
The Bearded Lady, or ‘The Beardo’, is set to become the venue of Best Served Loud — an event hosted by Young Henrys’ to commemorate its debut in West End, Brisbane. Throughout the night, attendants can expect hours of music and dancing, drinking nothing but Young Henrys’ amazing brews.
On the 16th of April, people can expect a lineup of live music from local bands such as Seaside, which will head the event with supports from Full Flower Moon Band, CNT EVN, and Guppy.
The roster switches up on the event’s second run which will be held on the 30th of April, with a lineup headed by VOIID alongside Fangz, with supports from WALKEN, Jollee, JUNE, Sammm., Loiter, and Sunbleached.
Due to the restrictions brought about by COVID-19, space for the event will be limited, closely following a first-come, first-served basis. Entry will be free, with doors open from 8pm till late on both nights.
For more information, check out the Best Served Loud event page. Visit The Bearded Lady’s website for a sneak peek at their food and beverage menus, and follow their social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates on deals, dates, and other special announcements concerning the event.
Residents are rallying together to take an active stance against a West End development that will impact Montague Road and the green spaces in Davies Park.
Henroth Investments and Manly Properties submitted a revision to its development application (DA A005608649) detailing changes in the height of the residential towers and the site cover, or the areas with buildings and structures, on 281-297 Montague Road.
The details of the changes are as follows:
OLD Development Proposal
NEW Development Proposal
two 12-storey buildings three six-storey buildings food and drink outlets 602 car parks Site Cover: 56 percent
two 26-storey towers 741 car parks 730 bike spaces food and drink outlets Site Cover: 38 percent
The current tallest building height in West End is 16 storeys, prompting the residents to lodge their opposition to the proposal.
“It’s proposed height will also set a precedence on Montague Rd, with future developers likely to point to it as a reason to raise current building height restrictions on Montague,” one unnamed resident wrote to Council. “This will have a real impact on unit prices in streets parallel to Montague, not to mention destroy the inner city village feel that attracts people here in the first place.”
Residents also said that the height of this development will encroach on Davies Park, where community and sports activities are usually underway, especially on weekends. However, the developer said that they will provide 0.4 hectares of green space if they will be allowed to increase the building’s height.
Photo Credit: Amy MacMahon-Greens MP for South Brisbane/Facebook
“To put this into context, the BCC City Plan says that for every 1,000 residents, there should be at least 1.4 hectares of public green space in the local area. 0.4 hectares isn’t even enough green space for the residents who will live in these new buildings. It won’t do anything to address the existing shortage of green space in the Kurilpa Peninsula,” Greens MP for South Brisbane Amy MacMahon shared on Facebook. “I really don’t think we should have to choose between more traffic congestion and more crowded schools, or no new public parkland.”
The community has been meeting regularly to discuss actions to ensure that this West End development application will not be approved. They also agreed to come up with options that will prevent future developments from going the same route.
West End food bank Community Friends is experiencing an increased demand for food but they have started turning away other beneficiaries due to lack of supplies.
Community Friends founder, Mark McDonnell, said that people missing out on their rations of food has become more common in recent months.
Pre-COVID, the food bank distributed goods and food supplies to an average of 100 people every Wednesday. When the pandemic struck, they had to increase their distribution to 200 a week, not including the 100 students that expect their food at TAFE Queensland.
Despite doubling the rations, Community Friends is seeing longer queues at their West End site on Bunyapa Park in Vulture Street.
Photo Credit: Community Friends/FacebookPhoto Credit: Community Friends/Facebook
Foodbank Queensland chief executive Sara Harrup said that the situation is not isolated. She acknowledged that 10 percent of charities like Community Friends are fast becoming under-resourced because there are more people struggling to make ends meet.
COVID-19 brought on job cuts and income loss even as the government established JobKeeper, an assistance package for the pandemic. Ms Harrup feared that food banks will see more demands by as much as 66 percent once JobKeeper will be rolled back.
Meanwhile, Mr McDonnel is appealing to the community to help with their supplies and donate non-perishables like spaghetti, baked beans and noodles at their location on Vulture Street. His group is also hoping to acquire a van, preferably via donation, so they could facilitate faster deliveries.
Did you know that it’s dangerous to just throw batteries away? In fact, wrongly binned batteries can cause a fire. In Brisbane, eight City Council garbage bins have caught fire since July and the alleged causes are improperly disposed batteries. Here’s how and where to do that in West End.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner revealed 225 tonnes of batteries were wrongly sent to landfill last year, risking fire danger to homes, rubbish collection trucks and waste and recycling facilities. Because of this, he warned Brisbane residents to check their bins before disposal.
If you’re wondering where and how to dispose of your old batteries, read on for our battery trash safety guide:
Bring your batteries to a recycling center
Photo credit: aldiunpacked.com.au
In West End, the nearest battery recycling facility is in ALDI, located at 335 Montague Road. They accept both rechargeable and single-use batteries. All you need to do is remove any packaging from used household batteries, drop them into the recycling bin, and you’re done.
The batteries are collected by ALDI’s specialist recycling partner, sorted into chemical types and returned to recycling plants who extract relevant materials for reuse.
Do note that only AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries are accepted at ALDI West End. If you wish to dispose of other battery sizes including coincell, lantern batteries and mobile phone batteries, visit Battery Recycling – Planet Ark Recycling Near You.
Never disassemble or crush batteries
Residual charge from batteries can heat up and eventually cause chemical leaks, explosions, or fires. Not only that, but the chemicals in batteries may be toxic to the environment and potentially harm wildlife and affect surrounding soil or waterways.
City Standards, Community Health and Safety Chair Kim Marx said: “Disposing batteries responsibly is easy and you can start by safely storing them in a box or container at home and bringing them with you next time you visit your local resource recovery centre.”
Know Your Battery Types
Photo credit: wir_sind_klein/Pixabay
Lastly, it helps to know about the different battery types because each of them comes with different handling instructions. When you’re aware of your battery type, it will be easier to determine the appropriate disposal method.
Gavin Fox, State Operations Manager of Visy Recycling Queensland said lithium batteries are the main cause of fires in their processing machines and lead acid batteries expose their workers to potential acid burns and injuries.Gavin Fox, State Operations Manager of Visy Recycling Queensland said lithium batteries are the main cause of fires in their processing machines and lead acid batteries expose their workers to potential acid burns and injuries.
Lithium-ion batteries are among the different types of rechargeable batteries and they are found in most portable devices such as cellphones and laptops. Lead acid batteries, on the other hand, are like the ones found in cars. They are considered hazardous waste and must be taken to recycling centers.
“All kinds of batteries end up recycle bins and end up at Visy’s Gibson Island recycling facility, but lithium batteries and lead acid car batteries in particular pose the most risk to staff and operations,” Mr Fox said.
On the hunt for a new nook with good coffee? If you’re a West End Saturday market regular for years, you might have tried Coffee Mentality. They’re now opening a fit-out on Stanley Street, where customers can try 32 kinds of specialty-grade single-origin coffee.
Coffee Mentality‘s Ian Abadiano has been serving coffee lovers from his mobile coffee van at various markets across Brisbane or his shop on Montague Road in South Brisbane since 2012. But this new store, which will have its soft opening on March 2021, has its very own “tasting room” where coffee lovers can savour the flavours of premium quality coffee as they’ve never tried before.
“I believe this will be a first for Brisbane – a place where locals can access up to 32 specialty grade single-origin coffee and brew them the way they like it,” Ian said.
“One of the 32 varieties will be our own “Panama coffee” – referring to Melbourne’s latest offering of $198 a cup of Panama Geisha, priced for its rarity.
“It may not be a geisha, but this will be as rare as you can get¬– Brisbane’s first single origin coffee.”
Since 2016, Ian has been working hard with community gardens in Brisbane, through the Urban Coffee Project initiative, to cultivate coffee trees and grow the best coffee beans in Brisbane.
Some of these beans, which were grown from his own backyard at his Sunnybank Hills home, have won awards at the annual Golden Bean Roasting Competition in Australia and New Zealand.
“It has been my goal to dispel the myth that specialty coffee doesn’t have to grow thousands of kilometres away in high altitude – that we do have the potential to grow quality beans in an urban setting,” he said.
“We need to do our bit in promoting sustainably led coffee. My goal is to grow 100 coffee trees around Brisbane to produce a decent supply of locally grown coffee.”
“I want to help people everywhere gain fresh perspectives on how coffee is grown, processed, distributed and brewed. So that every step of the way, it’s better for people, and better for the world. It’s a different mentality,” Ian said.
Coffee Mentality in East Brisbane will be fully operational by March-end.
Harris Farm Markets has plans to recruit new staff as they open a newer flagship Queensland market — one that might possibly be the greatest market they’ve built yet — at West Village in West End.
Following the success of their first Brisbane branch in Clayfield, Harris Farm Markets intends to set up in West End. To seek out the best potential employees, a recruitment pop-up will be set up on The Common at West Village, Boundary Street from March 5-6 and March 12-13. Interested locals are encouraged to meet with members of the company face-to-face and discuss job opportunities.
With a grand total of 150 spots available, West End locals interested in applying can find windows across senior and junior levels for permanent, temporary, and part-time jobs in the upcoming West End market. “We particularly want to welcome passionate, hard-working food enthusiasts to join the team,” says Harris Farm Markets co-CEO Luke Harris.
Employees are also entitled to a 25% discount on some of the grocery’s products such as fruit and vegetables, among other things. Mr. Harris adds, “Supporting local is key for us. We source from local farmers and suppliers, create job opportunities for locals, and we really want to become part of the Brisbane community by employing Brisbane’s best”.
Harris Farm Markets’ West End branch is set to take over part of the Peters Ice Cream building. “If Clayfield is our historic family home in Brisbane, then West End will be the greatest urban market we have built yet.” says Mr. Harris.
Those interested in applying can visit the Careers page of their website. Further details on job opportunities and Harris Farm Markets in general can be found by visiting their recruitment pop-up at The Common at West Village, West End.
Venue The Common at West Village, Boundary Street, West End
Times Friday March 5: 1:00PM to 6:00PM Saturday March 6: 10:00AM to 3:00PM Friday March 12: 1:00PM to 6:00PM Saturday March 13: 10:00AM to 3:00PM
Litoria Caerulea — or the Common Green Treefrog — has lived alongside the people of West End for generations, and given the recent levels of rainfall all across the country, their numbers are swiftly rising.
Treefrogs get their name from their arboreal nature, settling under bark or inside hollowed-out trees during drier seasons. Despite this, these brightly-colored critters are, curiously enough, absent in rainforests. Instead, they’d rather move next door, preferring to dwell near within civilized areas where their calls can be heard all throughout the night.
Although it’s arguable the tree frog population has been on the decline given the industrial developments all throughout West End, many locals within the suburb have reported a recent jump in their population. Like most amphibians, treefrogs can often be found in downpipes, toilets, drains, and other wet places.
Photo credit: CC-BY/Stephen Michael Barnett/Flickr
Under most circumstances, frog breeding would peak during the wet season between December and February, but after experiencing a wet summer in 2020, Australian treefrog numbers have skyrocketed. It becomes clear that increased levels of rainfall is responsible for the spike in frog activity.
Though they might seem a nuisance given the volume of their croaks, there are a multitude of benefits that come with their rising numbers. The presence of such creatures could be a good thing, for they’re also a good indicator that the environment is healthy and balanced. They also serve as a valuable alternative to insecticides, eating insects in your garden and around your house.
