The shop at 315 Pleasant Street South, across from the Bunch of Grapes Hotel, has had an external wall taken down. A digger was photographed on site on Tuesday. 

Pleasant Street Takeaway closed on September 29 last year, with suggestions the site will in time become a medical or allied health practice. The block was sold in April 2018 for $935,000. 

The beloved fish and chip shop ranked third overall in The Courier’s Ballarat’s best fish and chips poll in 2017. 

City of Ballarat acting director of infrastructure and environment Natalie Robertson said no planning application has been lodged for the site’s redevelopment. 

"This land falls within the Heritage Overlay but the property itself is not of heritage significance so therefore doesn’t trigger a planning permit for demolition,” she said. 

Bunch of Grapes Hotel manager Bianca Sandford said having worked at the pub for more than five years, she was sentimental about shop, which she often visited for Friday night fish and chips and on breaks. 

“It’s been there for as long as I can remember, and my dad who has been a patron here since he was 18 had always gone there,” she said. 

“I think a (medical practice) would bring something different to the area, considering the masseuse across the road … because there’s not much on this side of town.

“But it’s disappointing it’s gone, for sure.”

In a public Facebook post, former Talbot St South resident Sally Westhorpe said she was a “strong regular” and would always think of the establishment “fondly”. 

“They had the best bacon & cheese potato cakes in the world,” she said. 

It follows the destruction of FairDinkum Fish and Chips in 2017, due to a suspicious fire gutting the shop. In September last year, the property owner assured The Courier that something similar would appear in its place, depending on sign off from Ballarat’s council. 

Just over a month later, the property was set to go under the hammer through Buxton Real Estate, but the October 27 auction failed to find a buyer. 

An active real estate listing for the fish and chip shop said the 400 square metre-site was zoned mixed use, and was priced at $300,000 to $320,000. 

In a public Facebook post, former Talbot St South resident Sally Westhorpe said she was a “strong regular” at the shop, and would always think of the establishment “fondly”.

“They had the best bacon & cheese potato cakes in the world,” she said.