Melbourne coffee obsession sees cafe, restaurant boom in city

MELBOURNE’S obsession with coffee means there’s now an average of 10 coffee machines in every city block.

Coffee Art School in Melbourne. Picture: Mark Stewart

MELBOURNE averages 10 coffee machines in every block with the city’s craving for caffeine creating a surge in cafe numbers.

A new cafe or restaurant has opened on average every week during the past ten years.

It means that Melburnians are now never more than 50m from one of the venues in the city centre.

The number of cafes and restaurants has jumped from 1370 in 2005 to 2080 last year.

A boom in bars has led the jump in pubs and bars from 40 to 110, but publicans have warned that the city’s pubs are under threat.

Cafe Owners and Baristas Association of Australia president David Parnham said Melbourne had capitalised on coffee — the beverage consumed most out of the home.

“Five years ago there was a strong move away from formal restaurant dining to brunch at cafes,” he said.

Melbourne is an internationally renowned cafe hub and tourists are coming for our specialty cafe and coffee.”

Docklands has experienced the biggest boom with a 183 per cent increase in the number of cafes and restaurants.

More than 160 city eateries are mixed venues, classified as both a cafe and restaurant or bar and pub.

“The face of Melbourne cafes and restaurants is changing,” Mr Parnham said.

“At different times of the day any venue can go from being a cafe in the morning, to a restaurant at lunch and then a bar at night.

“Years ago it was Lygon Street, Chapel Street that were the cafe hot spots but now suburban Melbourne and the city centre is full of cafes.”

The Mitre Tavern is one of Melbourne’s oldest pubs, having opened the doors in 1868.

Manager John Davie said pubs had been hard hit by the wave of new cafes and bars that “almost borders on out of control”.

“Option is good for people but saturation mightn’t be for anybody,” he said.

“People are more mindful of their dollars and pubs can be a tough business because citywide beer sales are down.

“Luckily we buck that trend a little bit with the regulars but also with tourists because we are a destination spot.

“It is a shame that traditional pubs are struggling.

“For a city that has everything, that is one thing that it doesn’t have in abundance — a good pub.”

@moniquehore