More than bread and water will be on offer when the former police station is turned into a restaurant and bar called  The Old Cop Shop and while diners are free to come and go, the "o" in Cop and Shop are shaped like handcuffs.

Building designer Bill Balakis from BB Design Group, a Coburg resident, is restoring the brick building, which was built in 1928 and opened in 1929 to maintain law and order.

When the 120-seat restaurant opens in May, the order refers to the Mediterranean menu from breakfast until dinner that chef Stefanos Potamianos will keep seasonal. And no, it was never going to be the "Cop Chop" specialising in juicy lamb and pork chops.

After processing baddies for 76 years, the station with on-site residence closed in 2005 when it was replaced by the new 24-hour station in Fawkner that's nicknamed "Hollywood on the Hume".

Situated on Crown land, the Coburg building has since been unused, and Moreland City Council invited expressions of interest to lease the building in 2013.

In the rough and tumble of police life, offenders may have screamed when thrown into the outdoor cells and Mr Balakis believes the suburb is "screaming" for an all-day restaurant for families and business lunches.

The cells, with their imposing crimson bars, will be converted into private dining rooms and there will be a beer garden. An old interview room with a bolt on the door, peephole and smashed-in walls has inspired Mr Balakis further, saying: "If these walls could talk, there would be 1000 stories." Some of them reside in files in the Victoria Police Museum in Flinders Street.

While multicultural Brunswick has a quorum of hipsters and anti-hipsters, the groove tram up Sydney Road has gradually infiltrated Coburg. There's the Post Office Hotel, the Coburg Drive-in, and the Batman Market with food trucks.

To the relief of traditionalists, Mr Balakis has ruled out serving drinks from jam jars or using milk crates as seats. And he has never heard of kale. But chef Potamianos has and will offer a superfood salad with the green vegetable that has reached global fame without a PR company.

For trivia buffs, Mr Balakis believes Coburg's is the only former stand-alone police station in Australia to be turned into a restaurant. The Radisson hotel in William Street is on the site of the former police headquarters in the 1970s and the City West Police Station was on the ground floor. The hotel's restaurant, HQ's on William, used to be the CIB offices.

Elsewhere, the heritage-listed art deco Russell Street headquarters, the target of the deadly bombing in 1986, was vacated in 1995 and is now the "Concept Blue" apartments. The heritage-listed Carlton station was sold in 2013 for $3.6 million but remains dormant and the Brighton station, a double-storey Italianate building, sold in 2013 for more than $2.4 million, was converted into a luxurious mansion.

Former constable Vicki Key worked at Coburg in the 1980s and had this recollection: "You had all the colourful characters who ran the cafes and restaurants."

Ms Key, the vice-president of the Retired Police Association of Victoria, used to go to Pentridge to execute summons and warrants on the prisoners. "If you were wanting to look for a good crook, Sydney Road and Bell Street were your main thoroughfares."

The suburb still has its charm but over-excited real estate agents have said that Coburg is on the "CBD fringe" and that is really dipping into the adjective bucket because it is 10 kilometres north of the city.

It is a scenic journey in the car, the number 19 tram, the Upfield line train, or the hipster-friendly Merri Creek Trail for bike-riders.