Di Bella Coffee Bowen Hills: Brisbane’s first coffee drive through closing this Friday

WHAT’S believed to be Brisbane’s first coffee drive through will be closing for good this Friday, with the company behind the business calling the impending shut down “a big loss for the team”.

IT’S the end of an era in Bowen Hills.

What’s believed to be Brisbane’s first coffee drive through will be closing for good this Friday.

The Di Bella coffee drive through is closing its doors.

Yes, coffee baron Phillip Di Bella opened the popular venue on Abbotsford Rd about 10 years ago and it’s grown to become a morning fixture for plenty of commuters in need of that caffeine hit.

But Di Bella is no longer in the picture, having sold his empire three years ago to now-embattled Retail Food Group for $47 million.

An RFG spokeswoman confirmed plans yesterday to close the drive through, although she noted that the cafe and roasting operation on site will remain.

She described the impending shut down as “disappointing’’ and “a big loss for the team’’ after landlord Johnny Serafini decided not to renew the lease.

But Serafini told City Beat yesterday that the lease ran out a few years ago and he had a better offer for the space from a group planning a Mexican eatery.

Look for the new restaurant to open its doors in March or April.

Meanwhile, RFG is on the hunt for other locations around the city where a drive through might work.

Di Bella declined to comment yesterday.

UNTIMELY DEATH

Abbot Point, through which coal from the Carmichael megamine will pass.

BUSINESS and government types in Brisbane yesterday were still mourning the untimely passing of Ron Watson, who acted as Adani’s mouthpiece for the mother of all controversial planned coal mines.

It’s understood the 63-year-old former journo and longtime PR executive succumbed to a suspected heart attack on Friday night after enjoying an anniversary dinner with his wife, Tania.

Watson spent a decade with AAP, including a stint in London, before crossing over to the dark side for 15 years as a media adviser for the Goss and Beattie governments.

He later spent 11 years at Energex before jumping ship to Adani in mid-2016.

Colleagues remembered him as someone who loved soccer and knew how to tell a cracking yarn over a beer.

An Adani spokesman said Watson had “brought a wealth of knowledge’’ to the group stretching back more than 40 years. “Ron’s much-loved personality and professionalism touched everyone in our team,’’ he said.

Former treasurer Keith De Lacy recalled Watson fondly yesterday as his press secretary for six years.

“We went through a lot together, good times and bad,’’ De Lacy told us.

“He was very professional, very committed to his job. He was a good bloke and it’s very, very sad to see him go.’’

Watson’s funeral will be held at the Albany Creek Crematorium at 11am on Wednesday, 20th December.

HOPEFUL NOTE

WITH its shares suspended from trade since August and auditors still warning about its potential to crash, Brisbane energy mob LWP Technologies continues to haemorrhage vast amounts of money.

But chairman Dan Lanskey sounded a surprisingly hopeful note as he lobbed the company’s annual report yesterday.

He is planning a restructure and an additional capital raising in the new year to revive the firm, which has been unable to commercialise its fracking technology since listing in 2006.

The report showed LWP suffered a net loss of nearly $10 million in the last financial year after enduring a $6 million loss in 2016.

Buried in the fine print was a curious acknowledgment that the daughter of co-founder and former chairman Siegfried Konig “had control of a LWP corporate credit card’’.

But, frustratingly, there were no details about why she had the card in the first place, how she used it or how much she spent.