West End's Boundary Street Might Be Getting a Revamp
And local traders aren't happy about it.
Every suburb has one: a street that encapsulates all that's great about the area. In Brisbane, Bulimba has Oxford Street, Paddington has Latrobe Terrace and New Farm has James Street. In West End, there's no doubt that Boundary Street gets the honours.
The iconic stretch of shops, cafes and bars — and bookstores, pubs, grocers, vintage outlets and markets, too — is the unofficial centre of the inner west, and the kind of place where everyone has had a great brekkie, picked up a bargain, enjoyed a delicious dinner and spent a wild night. And, it could be about to change, with a revamp on the cards.
Just what that will entail hasn't been publicly announced, though the word 'rebrand' has been bandied about and notably reported on by The Westender — and local traders aren't happy about it. A new, large-scale retail space at the in-construction West Village complex is already mooted, with an influx of big brands and chain stores — aka the antithesis of West End's current quirky character — feared to follow.
Of course, if you've lived in Brisbane long enough, you've seen all this before; new buildings and businesses pop up all the time, with much of the city looking like a construction site at any given moment. West End isn't alone in facing potential change, but here's hoping the suburb's unique vibe remains.
Via The Westender.
Image: Allan Henderson, Flickr.
