High life: Where are Perth’s best high streets, and why do we still love them?

Shopping malls are now so vast, so all-encompassing, so goddamned comfortable (especially on those midsummer days when Perth feels like South Sahara) it’s no wonder our high streets increasingly have an olden-days vibe.

Why make your way to Rokeby Road in Subiaco, Oxford Street in Leederville, George Street in East Fremantle or Angove Street in North Perth when so much more is on offer in mega-malls such as the Karrinyup Shopping Centre, Galleria in Morley, or Westfield Carousel in Cannington?

Unsurprisingly, cafes feature heavily in our list of Perth’s favourite high streets.Credit: Miles Noel

Indeed, these suburban retail and entertainment meccas now draw so many customers it has damaged shopping in the city, where the vacancy rate is the highest of any capital in the country (25 per cent in the Perth CBD compared with 7.4 per cent for Sydney and 6.9 per cent for Melbourne, according to a report released in August).

Yet, the old-school retail and entertainment precincts are hanging in there.

Some areas are even experiencing revivals, with an influx of hipsters boosting the Eighth Avenue/Whatley Crescent cluster in Maylands; high-density development fuelling the bar and restaurant revival around Subiaco’s Rokeby Road; alternative lifestylers and travellers transforming South Terrace in South Fremantle; and overseas students studying at Curtin University contributing to the explosion of affordable and exotic eateries along Albany Highway in Victoria Park.

While suburban shopping centres now claim they’re the new high streets, as one of the bosses of Karrinyup told me last year on the centre’s 50th anniversary, there’s still something wonderful about being able to look up at the sky as you drink a coffee and look around at familiar faces.

Most importantly, high streets are often within walking or riding distance from where most of their customers live, or a short drive with plenty of parking.

Sadly, our high streets don’t really fit the definition of the term as it is used in the United Kingdom, whose urban centres offer such a complete range of services that residents are not as compelled to head into the city.

There are few high streets in the Perth metropolitan area where you can do your banking, go to the post office, visit a GP, get your eyes checked, go to a hardware store (remember those handyman havens?) or get your shoes repaired and a key cut.

But the drive toward higher density in our inner city means that old-school urban hubs seem to be experiencing a renaissance, with people continuing to move into areas where they don’t need to get into a car to shop, see a movie or to catch a train.

It’s never going to be New York, Paris or Copenhagen, but at least you can have a little of what they’ve got.

Subi’s back, baby!Credit: City of Subiaco

Rokeby Road, Subiaco

Even as Subi slipped into hibernation after the AFL’s departure, Rokeby Road remained one of the city’s prettiest precincts, with the plane trees down the middle of the main drag giving the place a European feel.

Thankfully, Subiaco has fought its way back since the end of the pandemic, luring a slew of new eateries and bars and welcoming some classy high-density development. There’s still some decent shopping, there’s a post office, and at the Kings Park end there are some great coffee shops and a fantastic French bakery.

And on Friday and Saturday the place is starting to recapture something of its former glory, especially when there’s a show at the Regal. Subi’s back, baby!

Oxford Street in Leedervill remains consistently busy.Credit: Danica Zuks

Oxford Street, Leederville

While Northbridge and Fremantle are the historic rivals for the title of Perth’s entertainment capital, the relatively small strip at the city end of Oxford Street continues to punch above its weight, with thousands pouring into the area on Friday and Saturday nights.

What has kept Oxford Street alive as other areas have dipped is the presence of two entertainment industry icons: The Leederville Hotel and the Luna Cinemas.

It’s a great lesson for other high streets looking to boost business: build stuff (or keep it alive) and they will come. And if you wander further up Oxford Street toward Scarborough Beach Road you get some diversity, with a well-known camera shop and a famous Italian fresh food store. There’s also a new indie bookshop opening soon on Oxford Street near Urban Records.

Scarborough Beach Road in Mount Hawthorn.Credit: Luke Riley

Scarborough Beach Road, Mount Hawthorn

Even though the clusters of shops and the popular pub at the top end of Oxford Street are located on one the busiest roads in the metro area, it does feel like a genuine high street.

It has some great shops, there is a community meeting place in the Mezz (albeit one inside a shopping centre), and it boasts that rarest of creatures in modern-day retail: a bookshop.

Indeed, the vitality of this area has long-ensured Mount Hawthorn as one of Perth’s most desirable suburbs, which is why real estate agents love when these kinds of areas retain their vitality.

Angove Street, North Perth. Credit: City of Vincent

Angove/Fitzgerald Streets, North Perth

There is much going on visually in the cluster of cafes, clothing stores, hairdressing salons and other businesses around the Rosemount Hotel but damn, it’s busy!

No doubt the Coles North Perth smack in the middle of the precinct is a major help, but there is something about this area that keeps locals sticking around instead of rushing off to the mega-malls.

Maybe because it has a genuine inner-city feel, with the Rosemount — one of the city’s premier live music venues — injecting extra street cred.

While it’s not an area to stroll around in as you would Rokeby Road or Oxford Street, there is so much happening in this area your mind is taken elsewhere.

Beaufort Street in Mt Lawley might have its ups and downs, but it will always be one of Perth’s best high streets.Credit: Miles Noel

Beaufort Street, Highgate/Mount Lawley

The long stretch of Beaufort Street that begins in Highgate and crosses Walcott Street into Mount Lawley is arguably Perth’s most volatile precinct, with businesses opening and shutting as the strip falls in and out of fashion.

The place has felt subdued on my last few daytime visits, but there always seems to be something happening. Indeed, it boasts not one but two bookshops, a remarkable achievement in the age of the screen, with Beaufort Street Books recently upgrading to a larger storefront.

It also has the Astor Theatre, a music venue that still attracts an array of interesting acts (the Hoodoo Gurus recently played to an enraptured audience). While the area will continue to go up and down — the lack of a train station may be hampering it — it is an iconic Perth high street that will continue to draw locals and visitors from other areas.

Whatley Crescent in Maylands.Credit: Mark Naglazas

Whatley Crescent/Eighth Avenue, Maylands

Not surprisingly, many of the high streets that are still thriving are located near train stations, with the stop in Maylands sitting beautifully on Whatley Crescent and pointing into Eighth Avenue.

It all feels part of a lovely package and a reminder of how transportation, shopping, services and housing could and should be integrated.

What makes Whatley Crescent such a joy to visit is its lived-in quality, an authenticity that has been lost by many of the other high streets.

You get the feeling the area has grown up around its regulars, instead of undergoing forced gentrification. And there is plenty going on in the Maylands town centre, with Lyric Underground evolving into one of Perth’s leading live music venues, and a very good bookstore, Rabble Books, on Eighth Avenue.

Angelo Street in South Perth feels like it belongs in the Western Suburbs.Credit: City of South Perth

Angelo Street, South Perth

Despite its proximity to the CBD, South Perth feels like it belongs in the heartland of the Western suburbs in between Dalkeith and Peppermint Grove.

Which means its hubs — Angelo Street, Mends Street and, in Como, Preston Street — have never had any of the charm of more down-to-earth strips.

Ironically, the best of the three, Angelo Street, has more of a feel of the traditional high street than many of its cooler cousins on the other side of the river, with enough services to keep locals away from the shopping malls.

It dies at night because of the lack of restaurants and the absence of a pub or a cultural drawcard, such as the recently revitalised Cygnet in nearby Preston Street. But for the older crowd, Angelo Street has a low-key charm.

Albany Highway, Victoria Park

For decades, Perth people went to Albany Highway for two reasons: to buy a car or get a tattoo.

While John Hughes’ automotive empire still straddles its entrance, and you can get into fresh ink as readily as a new SUV, Victoria Park has evolved rapidly into a wonderfully diverse retail zone and a major foodie destination.

Lower rents than more fashionable inner-city areas and a big overseas student population has transformed Albany Highway into a mixed area that feels akin to an inner-city suburb in Sydney or Melbourne.

All up and down the long stretch from the Causeway to Hillview Terrace in East Victoria Park are restaurants and cafes serving food from across the globe. And the area has it all – gyms, hairdressers, shopping centres and a bookshop. Live in Victoria Park and you will hardly even have to venture to a mega-mall.

Percy Flint on South Terrace in South Fremantle, where a vibrant hub is just a few minutes’ walk from the beach.Credit: City of Fremantle

South Terrace, South Fremantle

The road leading out of Fremantle and ending at South Beach is unique in the Perth metropolitan area because the large collection of restaurants and cafes and other businesses (hairdressers, bars, real estate agents, bakeries) is just a five-minute walk from the ocean.

It gives the whole place the vibe of a beachside holiday destination, relaxed and warm and bursting with young people from all over the world (South Beach itself feels like a shadow United Nations replete with fire-eaters, jugglers and acrobats).

It’s not a high street proper — don’t expect a post office or a bank — but there’s always so many people eating, drinking and partying it provides one of Perth’s best strolls or bike rides.

George Street in East Fremantle has periods of high foot traffic.

George Street, East Fremantle

This tucked-away strip of East Freo is one of the prettiest high streets in the metro area, with the beautifully renovated Duke of George Hotel at one end and Glasson Park at the other.

Not surprisingly, since it’s smack in the middle of an expensive “old-money” suburb, it has several first-rate cafes and restaurants, including La Lune, Young George and Ethos Deli, along with some upscale fashion shops and businesses.

While it reeks of class, I’ve always found George Street emptier than such an attractive area should be. It simply does not have the strolling/lingering thing that nearby South Terrace has.

On the other hand it does have, once a year, an almighty summertime street festival that draws thousands.

Applecross’ Ardross Street strip oozes ooh-la-la.Credit: Miles Noel

Ardross Street, Applecross

High streets don’t get much higher on the luxe scale than this verdant corner of the idyllic southern riverside suburb of Applecross, where the cluster of coffee shops are surrounded by so many expensive food and fashion shops you half expect Nicole Kidman to arrive to film her next streaming series here.

But if you can afford to live in the southern suburbs’ answer to Peppie Grove and don’t bat an eyelid at paying Paris prices, the Ardross Street precinct is a very pleasant change of pace from the more frenetic inner-city areas.

A more down-to-earth high street that seems to get busier and more interesting every year is nearby Riseley Street, Booragoon.

While it tends to be more about convenience than lifestyle, there is enough variety around this intersection of Riseley Street and Canning Highway to keep a few folks from reaching the nearby Garden City shopping centre, though we’re not supposed to call it that anymore. And it is surprisingly busy at night because of a busy bar and several restaurants.

The restored Guildford Hotel on James Street, Guildford.Credit: Tourism WA

James Street, Guildford

While Guildford tends to remain the place visitors pass through to get to Swan Valley, it does have a high street, albeit one now dominated by heritage-related businesses.

The Guildford Hotel has been restored after being gutted by fire in 2008, the second-hand furniture stores are a major draw for the antique crowd, and the tea rooms have an old-word charm.

Indeed, the whole of Guildford has been heritage-listed, so it is more of a tourist destination for those interested in history than hipsters looking for a cool new destination.

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