The Grounds of Alexandria to Open New Magical Venue in North Sydney

It'll have a cafe, a restaurant, a coffee roastery and an on-site nursery.
Imogen Baker
September 20, 2016

The team behind beloved Sydney icon The Grounds of Alexandria have (finally) announced another development in their quest to take over the everyone in the city's Instagram accounts. Next year they'll be opening a second venue — in North Sydney.

According to Grounds co-founder Ramzey Choker, the new venue is been pencilled in to open in late 2017, but the development is currently still subject to final council approval (fingers crossed). Choker says the new venue will fall under the Grounds brand, but will have a new persona — so don't expect a carbon copy of the Alexandria venue.

The site, on the Lower North Shore, is being modelled after the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (just one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, no biggie), and will have an "Ancient Rome" feel to it, says Choker.

"The new site is a 4000-metre-squared blank canvas and it gives us the opportunity to create what we believe the world is missing. We love creating beautiful venues that are totally unique and different," Choker told us. "I believe we've been lost in the commercial world of concrete and we want to bring meaning back in a beautiful, green city".

It'll feature a huge coffee roastery (when we say huge, we mean 900 square metres kinda huge) in the capable hands of Jack Hanna and an on-site nursery selling unique plants (thank you for answering our prayers, oh merciful gods!), so prepare to spend long, rambling mornings getting lost in a sea of plants and coffee.

"The new site will have a cafe and restaurant but it will be so much more than that," he says. "With the roastery and nursery on-site, the site will be about escapism, transporting you into another world of incredibly lush greenery."

Take. Us. There. At the moment the new venue has a rough opening date of late 2017 — but we'll keep you updated on any further details and developments as they're announced.

Published on September 20, 2016 by Imogen Baker
Tap and select Add to Home Screen to access Concrete Playground easily next time. x