Wine bar Noble Rot appealing for council to help cover outdoor seating costs

The Borough of Queenscliffe is expecting a Point Lonsdale wine bar to pay almost $7000 for an outdoor seating area.

Trish Berry, owner of Noble Rot Wine Store and Bar, is appealing for council to financially support her outdoor seating space. Picture: Brad Fleet.

A Point Lonsdale wine bar owner has slammed her local council for charging more than $6000 for her business to set up an outdoor dining area.

Trish Berry has owned Noble Rot Wine Store and Bar in Point Lonsdale for more than eight years.

For the last two summers, the wine bar has set up an outdoor seating area in two car parks along Admans St, around the corner from their venue.

This allowed the business to serve more patrons during Covid restrictions and have visitors seated outside during the peak tourism period.

The outdoor area catered for about 30 additional customers.

The Borough of Queenscliffe covered the full cost of the outdoor area in 2020 and subsidised half of it in 2021 using Covid-safe funding from the state government.

This year council agreed to allow Noble Rot to use the car parks for $200 each, which is half price, but wouldn’t financially support the traffic-management plan, which costs up to $6000.

“It’s been a highly successful addition to our business,” Ms Berry said.

“The patrons love it and it’s very popular.”

Trish Berry at her Point Lonsdale business Noble Rot Wine Store and Bar. Picture: Brad Fleet

“Council have said they don’t have any more funding left to help us out this year,” Ms Berry said.

“I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of money but there are other costs associated with it such as hiring more staff to service the area.”

The business also applied for Victorian government funding 12 months ago to expand the outdoor seating area and bought $5000 worth of furniture for the space.

“We can’t afford to use the space, so the furniture is just sitting in storage,” Ms Berry said.

“The principle of the thing is that we think that council should be supporting local businesses.”

A Borough of Queenscliffe spokesman said council provided support to local businesses during the pandemic.

He said Noble Rot could use Admans St for outdoor dining at a reduced rate.

“As these grant funds have now been expended, it would be unfair to use ratepayer funds to continue to subsidise a single commercial business and unsustainable to provide the same financial benefit to all businesses to ensure equity,” the spokesman said.

Point Lonsdale resident Tim Fletcher, a regular Noble Rot patron, was angered when he heard the business was expected to pay thousands to council for the outdoor area.

“They (council) should be supporting our businesses, particularly those in hospitality that bring people to the area,” he said.

Mr Fletcher pays rates for his two properties in the borough and wants that money spent on helping local businesses.

“We certainly don’t want to see vacant shops here, we want to see our town grow and prosper,” he said.

Borough of Queenscliffe mayor Ross Ebbels said council had relaxed laws in previous years to encourage shop owners to extend their business footprint.

“If a cafe or restaurant is next door to a business that doesn’t use the space out front of their shop, we encourage those hospitality venues to put tables and chairs there,” he said.

Originally published as Wine bar Noble Rot appealing for council to help cover outdoor seating costs