King Street, Bowen Hills precinct battles ghost town label after popular bakery closure

Business owners in one of Brisbane’s biggest developing dining precincts are crying out for support saying many are “not making enough money to stay above water” with the industry in crisis.

King Street business owners are calling for support amid a burgeoning hospitality crisis.

Following the closure of award-winning chef Shannon Kellam’s King Street Bakery, King Street business owners are battling claims the precinct is failing despite drawing large crowds, with several vacancies and closures along the street.

One King Street business owner believed the beloved bakery’s downfall signalled a bigger problem across the hospitality industry, unrelated to its location.

“With everything that’s been happening (in hospitality) I don’t think anyone’s in a good street in this industry,” he said.

“You can pick any street in Australia and it doesn’t matter about the street because at the moment the cost of doing business has just gone ridiculous.

“A place can look extremely busy, but it doesn’t mean that they’re making enough money to get themselves above water.

“The government, instead of incentivising us for employing people that are actually paying taxes, they keep hitting us over to the stick.”

King St Bakery in Bowen Hills has gone into receivership. Picture: Liam Kidston

Nearby office worker Melet Opena said King Street was a lunchtime favourite for many of her colleagues.

“It’s definitely not a ghost town,” Ms Opena said.

“Lunchtime, around 12 to 1pm, it’s always going to be queuing up around a lot of the restaurants.

“We were surprised the bakery shut down because it was always full.”

A fellow office worker and local resident agreed, stating she had seen huge growth in the precinct since it’s opening in 2015.

“On Sunday, it’s quiet but I wouldn’t call it a ghost town, that wouldn’t be correct,” she said.

“They’re doing like, big street parties and things like that, so I think it’s getting a lot more exposure than it did before.

“I think it needs to be something like Southbank, I guess, so we get together with the Showgrounds, Rydges, Lendlease (developer and landlord) and some of the other businesses to promote all the events and let people know about it more.”

Xin Chao manager Elva Le claimed many businesses had moved on from the strip.

“We’ve had some shops come and go really quick, we don’t know if it is because the street is not busy enough or people are not really open to that type of cuisine,” Ms Le said.

Neighbouring King Street bakery, Ms Le said she had noticed the loss of the store.

“They made the area more vibrant and after they left it was a bit more sad,” she said.

Ms Le said she was positive planned new development, including luxury apartments, commercial buildings and hotel accommodation, would enliven the precinct further but more needed to be done to advance the area.

“I must say it’s still growing, we hope to see more but at the moment, it’s still not like James Street – it’s not that vibe yet.”