‘Privatising the park’: Dining hotspot’s al fresco plans nixed by neighbours, councillors

Last week, mod-Mexican diner Comedor was the new darling of Sydney’s restaurant scene, given a chef’s hat and declared a summer hotspot by the Herald’s Good Food team.

On a recent Thursday night, reviewer Callan Boys reported: “The place was pumping with a who’s who of the inner west: brewers, designers, musicians and artists. Butchers, bakers and at least one candlestick maker.”

The patch of dirt and grass in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park where Comedor restaurant would like to operate an outdoor deck.Credit: Michael Koziol

It would be even better, he predicted, when the restaurant opened a small deck and eight chairs on an adjoining patch of the Camperdown Memorial Rest Park in Newtown. But fast-forward a few days and those plans have been scotched after complaints from neighbours and a number of councillors.

They argue the deck – which would take up no more than 30 square metres of mostly dirt on the park’s edge – would privatise public space and contribute to the gentrification of the inner west suburb.

The works have now been halted by Inner West Council but will be the main topic of a community forum scheduled for Tuesday night, and an agenda item at next week’s council meeting.

Outgoing Greens councillor Dylan Griffiths, whose Facebook post about the matter kicked off the melee, said the outdoor furniture would commercialise a public space.

“Newtown is becoming more affluent and more gentrified,” he told the Herald. “For disadvantaged residents who don’t want to spend money by going to a pub, Camperdown Park is somewhere they can go. We should keep it as public space and definitely not look to privatise a segment of the park without any real form of community consultation.”

Comedor opened last month in a century-old warehouse that runs between the park’s western edge and Australia Street, serving up dishes such as pork belly tonkatsu with salsa verde and chayote, or mole coloradito with squash and zucchini flowers.

Comedor restaurant in Newtown is all the rage with inner westies, but it has irked neighbours and Greens councillors.Credit: Jennifer Soo

Its opening followed a legal battle with Inner West Council, which initially refused permission to change the warehouse’s use to a restaurant, but relented during a Land and Environment Court conciliation in 2021.

Later, the council entered a 12-month agreement with the restaurant allowing it to use 30 square metres of the park for outdoor service. The agreement included a security deposit of $5500 and an annual hiring fee. Serving alcohol is forbidden, music is limited to five decibels above background noise, and the area must close at 6pm (or 8pm during daylight savings).

By Tuesday morning, the council had backtracked and ordered the restaurant to stop any work on the deck. Deputy Mayor Chloe Smith, of Labor, said a formal community consultation would now take place, and “no installation or trading will occur until this process has been completed”.

“It’s clear there was a significant misstep in the process here, and I’m really pleased we’ve been able to rectify this quickly,” she said.

When the Herald visited on Tuesday, nobody was using the patch of park beside the restaurant, and it consisted of more dirt than grass. Comedor’s manager Kieran Took declined to comment on the record but said the restaurant would release a statement later.

Next door neighbour Tom Patterson, an environmental engineer, said he found out about the deck from a letter in the mail and immediately thought: “Oh, get stuffed.” He said there was no need for more vibrancy in Newtown.

“There’s this really big push to get Sydney more vibrant, and I’m absolutely for that. But Newtown doesn’t need to be more vibrant. It must be one of the most vibrant neighbourhoods in the world,” Patterson said. “What makes a great community is the contrast. You can have amazing nightlife, and you can have a wonderful park.”

Inner West Council’s Labor mayor, Darcy Byrne, agreed consultation should have occurred, but said the community had embraced hospitality businesses using public spaces since it was encouraged during COVID-19. “Describing this use of a very small section of the park as ‘privatisation’ is over the top,” he said.

The controversy comes as the state government prepares a second tranche of “vibrancy reforms” designed to cut red tape and facilitate outdoor dining and drinking in Sydney.

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