City of Melbourne identifies 6 outdoor dining precincts and offers $10,000 grants for businesses

The City of Melbourne has identified six key dining precincts that will be transformed into outdoor eating areas this summer in a bid to help hospitality businesses recover from coronavirus shutdowns.

Melbourne hospitality businesses will be able to apply for $10,000 grants to help them extend their dining service onto footpaths, streets and laneways, as part of a new initiative by the City of Melbourne designed to get businesses trading again and attract diners back to the CBD. 

Under the plan announced on Thursday, Melbourne City Council has nominated six ‘dining precincts’ where cafes and restaurants will be allowed to take over sections of on-street parking, footpaths and street space.

The key dining precincts identified by the council are Russell Street, Bourke Street east, Lygon Street in Carlton, Errol Street in North Melbourne, Domain Road in South Yarra and Bellair Street in Kensington.

/Russel Street

/Bourke Street

/Errol Street

/Lygon Street

A further 10 areas will be made available for businesses that don’t have existing outdoor dining areas to operate pop-up cafes and restaurants. These areas will be in city laneways, the Queen Victoria Market car park, and in Chinatown. 

Businesses are now able to apply for temporary permits to operate in these precincts, or to set up tables and chairs on footpaths, in on-street parking spaces and car parks, and in laneways. 

The council has said it will be free for businesses to apply for these permits. Of the 2,390 cafes and restaurants in the City of Melbourne, only 800 currently have outdoor dining permits and space. 

Venues will also be permitted to team up with neighbouring businesses to use more public space, such as expanding into a laneway that is adjacent to their business.