Street-Side Dining project is Simple for Hobart business

Published on 28 February 2023

Simple Cider in Elizabeth Street will begin a new City of Hobart Street-Side Dining trial on Tuesday that will see an extended outdoor dining area used outside the business.

Street-side dining will bring colour, fun and excitement to the street and will also offer another opportunity to engage with the community says Patrick Meagher, Simple Cider owner, the trial’s first participant.

“We can see some increased vibrancy in midtown which we are lucky and proud to be part of and this trial is part of that,” said Mr Meagher (pictured).

“It gives businesses like us an additional hospitality space to utilise but it makes the town look so much more exciting, so much more fun.

“The benefits are not only us as a business, it’s a space for people to use and just have a good time.”

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the concept would be tested at three locations – Simple Cider in Elizabeth Street, Straight-Up Coffee + Food and later we hope Pilgrim Café (both in Liverpool Street) – until the end of autumn in late May.

“This project is part of the City’s post-COVID response to build the resilience of our local traders and business operators as they work their way through the ongoing impacts of the pandemic,” Cr Reynolds said.

“Providing more outdoor seating options broadly benefits local businesses and the city by adding greater vibrancy to our streets and increasing the number of visitors to an area.”

Cr Reynolds said the Simple Cider trial would see the repurposing of two parking spaces, but it was a worthy program for not only the immediate business, but neighbouring ones as well.

The conversion of a loading zone space would mean no net loss of ticketed parking spaces in this area.  

“Evidence in other cities shows that this type of public use increases the number of people visiting an area and broadly benefits businesses in the areas where these are installed,” Cr Reynolds said.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said Street-Side Dining would also limit the impact on pedestrians.

Mr Meagher agreed, saying “We are civic minded here and we want to coexist as best we can with our community and add to the colour and fun that is Hobart.”

“We have an outdoor dining permit that exists on the footpath at the moment and that is fantastic but at the same time when that gets quite busy it impedes the footpath a little bit which is something that really we don’t want to do,” he said.

Mr Meagher said it would not only be the hospitality industry that would benefit through Simple Cider’s Street-Side Dining test installation.

“We make wine, we make cider, but we are also true and genuine supporters of the creative industries in Hobart,” Mr Meagher said.

“We’ve got murals both internally and externally – in fact we’re just about to complete our fifth mural by local artist Holly Greaves – and we’ve held art exhibitions, life drawing classes, embroidery classes, we’ve had comedy nights, we do live music, we’ve done fundraisers for different organisations and foundations.