Golden Point can expect a new cafe driven by local produce to pop up on one of its most prominent corners.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 1970s Mobil fuel depot on the corner of Grant and Barkly streets had previous lives as a nursery and fire extinguisher centre, but has long sat dormant.
Locals Mick Staley and Sam Fraser will now transform the long-maligned Golden Point site with its iconic rotunda into a cafe called Drive.
Their children Jarrah and Ruby have broad hospitality experience.
The large rotunda will be painted charcoal, with large sign writing bearing the cafe’s name.
The existing building is proposed to be an open dining space, equipped with a small kitchen and bar, with outdoor dining in the warmer months.
The proposal was approved at an ordinary City of Ballarat council meeting on Wednesday night.
Mr Staley told the meeting he hoped the cafe would be able to “break down barriers” between residents and provide a place for the community to meet.
“While the block has fallen to ruin … it will lend itself to be transformed as local community space and become an icon for the area,” he said.
Councillor Mark Harris, who moved the proposal, said as a resident of the area, the cafe seemed like a “marvelous adjunct” to what was already available.
“What this does show is signs of Ballarat’s wider CBD growing up,” he said.
The cafe is expected to open in early 2019.
Councillor Belinda Coates said as that a cafe like Drive “focusing on local food and using local produce is something we would want to see and encourage from a cultural and economic development point of view.”
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.
