Cr Dudley Maier, Mayor Alannah MacTiernan and Foam Coffee Bar owner Nick Vond at Leederville’s On Road Cafe.
Camera IconCr Dudley Maier, Mayor Alannah MacTiernan and Foam Coffee Bar owner Nick Vond at Leederville’s On Road Cafe. Credit: Supplied/Andrew Ritchie

Rise of the On Road Cafe

Staff ReporterEastern Reporter

Councillors voted unanimously last week to seek interest for new ORCs, which provide a temporary public seating area using on-road car parking spaces.

The City will target business owners, community members and groups from parts of Scarborough Beach Road, Chelmsford and Raglan Roads, and Angove, Brisbane, Bulwer and Oxford Streets.

Foam owner Nick Vond, also of Leederville eateries Kitsch Bar and Ria Authentic Malaysian Food, said he was overwhelmed at the popularity of the ORC set-up outside his venue in December.

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‘The council approached us with the idea and a couple of us in the street put up our hands. This spot was chosen because of the way our car park is situated,’ he said.

‘The council put it in at a cost of $3000 and it cost us about $6000 to furnish. We imported the umbrellas from Melbourne after seeing them at one of the bars there.

Vincent Mayor Alannah MacTiernan said the City had about $30,000 budgeted for the cafes and wanted to install about eight in Vincent.

‘We want to put them in various places, not just in front of cafes. They could even go in front of a laundromat,’ she said.

‘There is a bit of a challenge because some people will regret the loss of parking so we’re trying to make sure we don’t go overboard in any one area and manage the loss of parking with increased attraction of the street.

‘I think we’ll continue to get support as long as we don’t overdo it and gobble up too many bays.’

More than 400 consultation packs were distributed in and around Leederville in April to gauge responses to the ORC.

From the 38 replies, 35 were in favour and three against.