You still think Melbourne is better than Perth? Things are tough over there no thanks to the authorities. Check this out.

“BRUNSWICK BLUES

Food writer Richard Cornish explains why high rents and changing fashions have left Melbourne’s once-thriving Brunswick Street taking a backseat to ‘gritty’ Smith Street.
The restaurant slump has hit hard in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, the strip that kickstarted Melbourne’s cafe and bar scene back in the 1980s.
At least 13 Brunswick Street venues have closed in the past three years, and at least six more hospitality businesses on the strip are listed for sale. Low consumer confidence, licence fees and high rents have been blamed for the flurry of exits.
Mana Bar, which opened two years ago as a video game-themed venue, has just announced its ”debilitating licence restrictions” would force it to close in late September.

Video game-themed Mana Bar, closing in September, is the latest in a series of Brunswick Street bars to go under. A last-ditch effort to save the business, a ”Save Your Mana” event, will be held from August 27 to 31, but the owners are already searching for a new home. Bar brand manager Skaidris Gunsmith said the state government’s extension of a freeze on the allocation of late-night liquor licences to June 30, 2015, played a significant role in the bar’s fate. The freeze applies to any venue applying to trade past 1am in Yarra, Melbourne, Port Phillip and Stonnington.

”No one’s looking for cocktails during the day. People only want to come here at 9pm and then we have to stop everything and kick everyone out at 11pm. So we only have two hours to make money,” he said. ”If that [freeze] hadn’t been in place, we would have been thriving by now.”

Many Brunswick Street bars and restaurants have shut since 2010, including St Jude’s Cellars, the Cue Club, Sala Thai, Cherry Lounge, Kazen, The Tenth Muse, Cruzao Arepa Bar, Gypsy Bar, Mirrors Lounge Bar, Filter Cafe, Oppo Cafe, Max’s Cafe and Retro Cafe.
Restaurant and Catering Australia chief executive John Hart said because Brunswick Street is known as a hospitality district, there was a rent premium on venues that makes it hard for many businesses to make a profit.

The hospitality sector across Melbourne is under increasing pressure.
The average spend per person in the nation’s restaurants has dropped from $61 to $54 in the past year, according to national hospitality booking agency Dimmi. Victoria was the only state where the agency noted a decrease in bookings.”

Not good news for Melbourne. Whereas we have a new entertainment center, we are about to have the railway line sunk, a bit of Sydney still riverfront coming into the city soon and some 20 to 30 new small bar either open or about to open in the city. Perth is on the up and up!