New Sturt Street deck to add to outdoor dining experience

Business owners on the 400s-block of the city's main street say they are looking forward people eating outside this summer, with the City of Ballarat revealing new outdoor dining upgrades on Tuesday morning.

The state government will again fund street seating options on Sturt Street, this time outside of L'espresso, Higher Society Eatery and Europa.

L'espresso owner Greg Wood said he was looking forward to feeding more of his customers outdoors.

"We are just trying to bring a nice experience for people from out of town so that they enjoy coming to Ballarat," he said.

"It is good that the council and state government are supporting businesses like us, because we employ a lot of people locally."

The state government has given the council $975,000, with some of that money to be used to build a boardwalk-style deck outside of the cafes in the current car parking spaces.

The loading area will be moved to increase other car parking options, meaning two car parks will be lost to the project.

Construction is scheduled to start in a few weeks and should be completed by mid-spring, council says.

Breakfast bar style benches will be included in the space, as well garden beds and small trees.

Mayor Daniel Moloney said he hoped to build upon the success of Armstrong Street.

"Who would have thought that a place that is supposedly so cold would really embrace outdoor dining in such a way," he said.

"It is probably no major surprise...when we look at other places like Melbourne's Lygon Street, it has always been a big bustling hub."

After the first two rounds of seating projects the council sought public feedback on the projects.

It was found 71 per cent of survey respondents were happy or very happy with the outdoor spaces.

Their findings also indicated "diners would be willing to walk five minutes from their parked car for a vibrant destination".

The project falls under the state governments 2021 Outdoor Activation Fund which aims to provide COVID-19 safe spaces to dine.

"This funding has come about because we know that people still want to be out and about and we know that ventilation matters," Wendouree MP Juliana Addison said.

"We want to further support our local small businesses who bring so much life and culture to Ballarat, and make sure that they can continue to thrive and prosper in a COVID safe way."

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