Melbourne’s iconic Hopetoun Tea Rooms set for a new home on Bourke St
The popular Hopetoun Tea Rooms has left Block Arcade amid a bitter legal stoush. This is where it’ll reopen.
Victoria
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Melbourne culinary icon Hopetoun Tea Rooms will have a new home in the CBD.
The 128-year-old institution has left Block Arcade and will reopen in the Kozminsky building on Bourke Street next year.
Built in 1859, the three-storey building on the corner of McKillop Street was originally a stock agency, then a Commonwealth bank and finally home to Kozminsky jewellers for over 40 years.
Director of property agency Fitzroys, Rick Berry, said the deal with Hopetoun was among the most notable CBD retail leasings of 2020.
“This is an unprecedented pairing of Melbourne CBD icons, and of the city’s past and future,” he said.
“People are looking forward to authentic Melbourne experiences after being away from the
CBD for an extended period.”
Established in 1892, the popular Hopetoun was sold after the business went into administration, but new owner Vikram Singh was unable to keep trading in the Block Arcade.
Block managing director Grant Cohen has set up a new business in the space called The Tea Rooms 1892 amid a continuing legal stoush over heritage and trade mark issues.
Old Hopetoun Tea Rooms signage on the front of the Block shop is in dispute, with Mr Singh saying it must be removed while Mr Cohen claims it has heritage protection.
Mr Cohen said Heritage Victoria officers recently inspected the shop.
“From what I understand they were comfortable with what they saw and now it’s up to Heritage Victoria, and in any event, it’s got nothing to do with the Block Arcade, it’s got to do with Mr Singh and the liquidators,” he said.
“We are just innocent bystanders in all this, watching it from the side.”
Mr Cohen said it was “business as usual” for the tea rooms in the arcade.
The tea rooms was named after Lady Hopetoun, wife of the Victorian governor and later Australia’s first governor-general.
Mr Singh said Lady Hopetoun had been a patron of Kozminsky’s, which was located in Collins Street at the time.
“This connection led us to Kozminsky building which, as luck would have it, was available for lease,” he said.
“We fell in love with the beautiful Victorian era building the moment we saw it, and decided to make it the new home of Hopetoun Tea Rooms.”
The new venue is due to open by Easter.
john.masanauskas@news.com.au
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