Downer in Decay

poptop said :

In places like Newcastle, there has been support to revitalise the commercial centres by providing free accommodation to artist, cultural and other groups. The groups use and maintain these buildings until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped; the idea being that once you give people a reason to come to a place they will want a cup of coffee and maybe pick up a loaf of bread before heading home; it creates a toehold for commercial renewal, reducing vandalism and the stench of urban blight. The model has been so successful it has been exported to places like Parramatte and Copenhagen.

I believe it was tried in Queanbeyan recently, but I don’t think it was successful.

basketcase said :

When I got to Downer in 74, the shops were in full swing.

Wasn’t everything!

….and that surely is where the role of local government is supposed to provide balance, by upholding zoning laws which protect local areas from becoming suburban wastelands and stopping our corporate masters from having their way every time they think we need another giant shopping complex.

When I got to Downer in 74, the shops were in full swing.

The first shop was a chemist, it went when I think they rationalized the number of chemist shops.

The shop at the southern end changed hands many a time, there was even a doctors surgery there.

My wife informs me there was fruit shop, and I know for sure there was a chinese take away.

The petrol station (Frencham St and Frencham Pl) shut down say mid eighties. That was the start of the end.

A Post Office operated at the other side, it too was killed off in the great rationalization of Post Offices.

Next came the primary school closure, kids went to the renamed Majura primary in Watson. That was the final nail in the coffin.

There is a time capsule buried (circa 1987) on the community hall side. They opened it up a couple of years ago, but don’t know if they re-interred it.

Live in Latham now, the shops closed here, they were thriving also, but now is residential. The Latham servo is a bit of a mystery, last time I went there, it was still standing and used as a Post Office. No doubt the owners are just waiting for the moment to sell.

The only thing constant is change!

Actually there is an amended DA out on the Downer shops at present. Coffee shops should do well with the Soccer crowd.

I remember that Indian restaurant well. Great lunch boxes.

Great photos. I hope they keep the Bicentenary logo in the re-vamp.

A DA is in for the revitalisation of the Downer shops DA 201222663 and the plans can be viewed on the ACTPLA website.

The shops wont be pulled down, rather they are to remain in the existing building fabric and will reopen as small service businesses such as coffee shop, restaurant, bakery and I expect a corner store.

The biggest problem is the public spaces are really rundown and whether the government custodians will have the budget and the willingness to lift these spaces up to an equivalent level.

In places like Newcastle, there has been support to revitalise the commercial centres by providing free accommodation to artist, cultural and other groups. The groups use and maintain these buildings until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped; the idea being that once you give people a reason to come to a place they will want a cup of coffee and maybe pick up a loaf of bread before heading home; it creates a toehold for commercial renewal, reducing vandalism and the stench of urban blight. The model has been so successful it has been exported to places like Parramatte and Copenhagen.

While probably all at commercial rates, the arrival of Reptiles Inc at the little shops in Mannaheim St in Kambah has breathed new life into a previously precarious small shopping centre. We know organisations like Make Hack Void are looking for space (and hackers love coffee and take away).

Seems silly that no-one is prepared to even trial a similar sort of solution on these derelict spaces in Canberra.

Lordy! Downer shops have declined. Way back in the late 90s I lived in Watson and cycled past the Downer shops on the way to and from work. The supermarket was dingy and dark then, but did have food on the shelves, drinks in the fridges and ice cream – so a good stop on the way home on a hot summer’s evening.

There was a takeaway for a while which then became the (dire) Italian restaurant. Then there was this weird kind of French bistro – I went there once and the lady was very startled to have a customer, but the food was surprisingly good. That disappeared and was replaced by the “India Hut” which was a marvellously comical place. The owner had lost his original restaurant, the “India House” in a divorce settlement and was starting out from scratch. One time I was there the dishwasher had broken down and the owner’s two under 10yos were washing the dishes by hand in tubs in the hall next to the toilets – the dessert plates arrived with suds on them! Food was great, but yeah, the general Downer decline seemed to infect it and it disappeared after a while too.

I moved out of the area in 2001 so don’t know what happened after that.