Brisbane's New Queen's Wharf Precinct Will Soon Be Home to the City's First Riverside Bikeway Cafe
Cyclists will be able to stop for a bite, drink and shower at new waterside bikeway cafe Velo — which'll also boast impressive views.
UPDATE, February 22, 2024: The Queen's Wharf precinct is now due to start opening from August 2024.
Brisbane's Queen's Wharf precinct has been in the works for years — at least seven now — but it's slowly inching closer to becoming a new inner-city riverside destination that you can actually visit. Now targeting a mid-2023 opening date, it'll sprawl between Alice, George, Queen and William streets in the CBD, and feature everything from restaurants and bars, a sky deck and a riverfront moonlight cinema through to hotels, shops and a heap of public space. And, as just announced, it'll also be home to the city's first riverside bikeway cafe.
That spot: Velo Cafe, which'll be a two-in-one, two-storey venue. Perched near the Bicentennial Bikeway that runs along the Brisbane River — and also near the North Quay City Cat terminal, plus the Queen's Wharf foreshore — it'll operate as a cafe and a bar, and sport purpose-built bike facilities and a workshop. Given its location, river views are also set to be a big drawcard.
So, in addition to stopping by pre-, mid- or post-ride for a drink and a bite to eat, you'll be able to use the cafe's lockers, change facilities, toilets and showers. And, with its two-level setup, you'll also be able to get up to Queens Wharf Road via a lift and stairs, and back into the CBD.
Velo Cafe won't open until sometime in 2023, like the rest of the Queen's Wharf, but cyclists will notice some changes in the area in the interim. Due to upgrades to the space beneath the Riverside Expressway, and to connect over-river landing areas to the foreshore, the Bicentennial Bikeway route has been diverted since Tuesday, May 24 — and will remain that way for around the next 12 months.
"Bikeway users will be the first people to use the new landing areas, which have created around 6000 square metres of new public space and push out over the river by up to 40 metres beyond the Riverside Expressway," said Destination Brisbane Consortium Project Director Simon Crooks.
"The bikeway diversion, which will take bikeway users out along the edge of the landing, is quite straightforward compared to the diversion we implemented in 2018 behind QUT when the Consortium built the mangrove walk and upgraded the first 500-metres of Bicentennial Bikeway," he continued.
"Plenty of signage is in place to ensure the safety of all bikeway users and make sure there are no surprises for those that travel along this popular riverside route."
Queen's Wharf and Velo Cafe are slated to start opening in mid-2023. We'll update you when a specific date is announced — and you can find out further details in the interim via the development's website.
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