Lights, action, on Paddo high street

After revelations 30 per cent of shops on one 200m stretch are vacant, a Paddington business group has hit back at claims the strip is in trouble.

Empty shops and for lease signs on Given Tce, Paddington, last year. Eleven out of 35 premises on a 200m stretch of the road are currently vacant, but the local business lobby says there is always turnover and the strip is vibrant. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Almost 30 trees along the Paddington “high street’’ have been identified for lighting in what will be the first stage of a program to rejuvenate the retail strip.

A $250,000 Federal Government grant to revitalise the “terraces’’, revealed in Westside News in January, is expected to be handed over to Brisbane City Council soon after delays partly caused by the election.

The first project to be funded from the grant would be decorative lighting on 27 trees, Paddington 4064 traders group head Karen Harley said.

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Ms Harley also downplayed media reports about vacancy rates on the strip, where 11 out of 35 Given Tce premises along a 200m strip are currently empty.

“It’s a very long strip with a lot of businesses — there is always going to be turnover,’’ Ms Harley said.

“The reality is we have many businesses who have been here for 10, 20 years.’’

Some high-profile businesses have moved out in the past two months, including a Thai restaurant and upmarket bakery franchise Le Bon Choix which chose not to renew its lease.

General manager Karen Basset-Rouge said the decision had nothing to do with financial hardship or trading conditions in the area, but was due to her business and the building owner not being able to negotiate a mutually acceptable new lease arrangement.

Merilin Karpats with some of Le Bon Choix's hot cross buns. The upmarket bakery franchise is closing its Paddington shop but opening at North Lakes. File picture: Jeff Camden

Ms Harley said such movements were to be expected on a lengthy high street.

Many other high-profile traders — such as Anouk cafe and boutiques Petrol, Maiocchi, Blake & Taylor, Miss Henry and Sacha Drake — had been there for many years.

Her own shop, Living Silk, started on the strip 19 years ago.

“A lot of the traders are throwing their support behind this (federal) grant,’’ she said.

They hoped to use some of the money as part of next year’s Street Art Festival, with some buildings already identified.

They also planned to work on eye-catching ‘welcome’’ signage at either end of the strip, and perhaps several other points such as outside the old Ithaca Fire Station, to create a stronger sense of destination.

Fashion designer Masyo Yasuki of the label Dogstar. The high-end boutique is one of half a dozen boutiques that have operated along the Paddington “terraces’’ for many years. Picture: Sarah Marshall

Ms Harley said claims high rents were driving away businesses were incorrect and she was paying only about 25 per cent more than she did 20 years ago.

“Online shopping is having far more impact, but that is not restricted to this area,’’ she said.

Councillor Peter Matic (Paddington) has been driving the grant process along with federal LNP MP for Brisbane, Trevor Evans.

Cr Matic was on leave and could not be contacted, nor could Mr Evans.

Labor candidate for Paddington, Jeff Eelkema, said commuters parking out the area had been a problem some years ago when the boundary for zone one buses ended near Suncorp Stadium, but was less of a problem now the boundary was nearer Ashgrove.

He said the steep side streets deterred shoppers from parking there and off-street parking on the high street was not obvious to many people.

But Ms Harley said parking was no longer such an issue after changes to Suncorp game-day signage, despite complaints from Park Rd, Milton, traders.

Mary Ryan bookshop owner Bill Concannon said the new wording on the signs still gave passing motorists the impression that they could not easily park in the Suncorp restricted area.

Ms Harley said the strip was coming into a popular time of the year, including the fourth annual Lights of Paddington fashion parade in October which was expected to attract hundreds of people.