Enlivening Sydney’s laneways

Long-held plans to bring more of a Melbournian atmosphere to Sydney’s inner city were approved this week, as City of Sydney Council gave the green light to three new projects to enliven CBD laneways. The projects involve a new small bar called ‘Grasshopper’, as well as a new gallery and coffee shop.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the initiative to liven up laneways was helping to create a “more vibrant city centre” and enhancing a host of disused, forgotten spaces. “Sydneysiders are embracing Sydney’s new small bar culture with 22 new bars now operating in the City, but we also want other small-scale businesses to consider reactivating our laneways as interesting new spaces in the city centre,” she said.

The move is intended to provide an alternative to larger existing venues, which Cr Moore said were noisy and dominated by poker machines.

The first approved grant allows Moran Arts Foundation to establish a new shopfront opening onto Bridge Lane, housing an art gallery and coffee shop. The also-approved Grasshopper Bar, meanwhile, will be built using reused and recycled materials, fitting out a vacant building on Temperance Lane. Part of the initiative is the intention to create a new space for emerging artists to display their work.

The owner of Grasshopper, Martin O’Sullivan, previously set up the Seven Metre Bar which proved popular with punters during the City’s By George! temporary art project. He has recently formed the Small Bar Association, to encourage the development of similar venues.

This week’s developments are the latest in a long line of amendments aimed at increasing the vibrancy and intimacy of the inner city, but progress has been slow. Councillor John McInerney admitted in July last year that Melbourne’s layout gave it a head-start in terms of fostering such a feel: “Many of our shopping strips butt up against older suburbs and this of course goes back to the fact that Sydney is a lot older,” he said. “Melbourne had a bit of a front running because many of the parts of the city, into which the small bars went, were not adjacent to residential developments or buildings.”