Fitzroyalty

Hyperlocal news about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065

optimism: the business plan

What makes a business operator decide to open in a location that has housed numerous previous failures? In the case of 350 Nicholson Street Fitzroy, three businesses have failed there since 2009. The Italian Corner lasted only a few months in 2012, and before that there was L’Angolo Italiano and Vessarios.

It’s now another pizza place called Feldman’s. I don’t like seeing businesses fail. I don’t celebrate it. But I do wonder how much research new business tenants do about the history of their new premises.…

dinner at Bramble and Vine, Nicholson St North Carlton

Late last year I noticed that a new restaurant had opened on the North Carlton side of Nicholson St in the cafe strip north of Pigdon / Scotchmer streets. It’s mostly a daytime scene, with A Treat of France and Natural Tucker bakeries and Figs and Birdie Num Nums cafes all being popular.

Night time is different. Bar Fred can be packed and draws a younger crowd for beer and excellent pizza, but the strip is not known for good food.…

L’Angolo Italiano on Nicholson St has closed

Thanks to a reader, who informed me that L’Angolo Italiano restaurant on Nicholson St has closed) its website confirms it). It opened less than two years ago (as shown in the photo below) and, while I kept meaning to try it, I kept forgetting it was there. I suspect that many other locals think the same – when you discuss where to eat out, Nicholson St gets overlooked.

nicholson st fitzroy business

The FRA, the Hub and the City of Yarra

The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens gained World Heritage listing in 2004 and the state government is currently seeking submissions on a draft management proposal.

The redevelopment proposal for the Hub on Nicholson St, across the road from the Royal Exhibition Building, has been contested for more than a year.

The building is within the World Heritage Environs Area buffer zone – see the World Heritage Environs Area Strategy Plan Part 1 (1958kb pdf).…

Fitzroy history – from slipper factory to vacant office

In earlier days Fitzroy was a centre of garment production, and there was once a slipper factory on Nicholson St. The record for this 1948 photo talks about 294 Nicholson St, but the building is numbered 304 (now as it was then if you look at the full scale original). The building to the far left, around the corner in Rose St, also has ‘Easy Phit’ Slipper Company on the wall, so perhaps the factory covered several buildings.…