\n<\/p>\n
Z<\/span>ink & Sons has made bespoke suits on Sydney\u2019s Oxford Street for 130 years. For most of that time, the family-owned men\u2019s tailoring business has resided at number 56, halfway between Hyde Park and the street\u2019s LGBTQI heart at Taylor Square. Today its director, Daniel Jones, is looking for a new base after a rent increase he says is unaffordable.<\/p>\n His shop is located in a development project that has been almost six years in the making. Oxford and Foley, a commercial strip of renovated heritage buildings, has been touted as key to revitalising the storied and colourful street, bringing new retail, hospitality and creative spaces, upmarket tenants and an injection of fresh energy. Three weeks ago, Golf Wang, the much-hyped fashion store of the musician Tyler, The Creator, was the first shop to open in the refurbished section of the commercial strip.<\/p>\n <\/span>Shops have begun to move into the new Oxford and Foley development on Oxford Street.<\/span> Photograph: AsheMorgan<\/p>\n But the development has casualties, with its hoardings dominating the street for years and decimating foot traffic, according to one local operator. Then came construction of the City of Sydney\u2019s $18.5m bike path running from Hyde Park to Taylor Square, further putting off customers.<\/p>\n A block away from Zink & Sons, Terry Daly is celebrating 40 years at the helm of Daly Male, a sequin-filled menswear store and stalwart of the gay scene. Despite regular customers and massive sales each Mardi Gras, he has asked for a rent reduction for the first time in four decades. Daly says \u201cno one\u201d wanted the bike path. \u201cWe\u2019re watching it daily and looking at how empty it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Stretching from the city to Bondi Junction, Oxford Street has long weathered change, but some locals are concerned high prices and the influx of international brands will change the character of their neighbourhood for the worse.<\/p>\n <\/span>Tailor Zink & Sons has traded on Oxford Street for 130 years. Its director, Daniel Jones, says the store will have to relocate.<\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cThe new shops will be good for business eventually \u2013 but we don\u2019t need Louis Vuitton, we want little designers, we want independents,\u201d Daly says.<\/p>\n Stephan Gyory from the Darlinghurst Business Partnership says the street\u2019s western strip has seen disruption after disruption in recent decades, beginning with 2005 road upgrades, then the arrival of two Westfield malls close to each end, one in Pitt Street and one in Bondi Junction. In 2014, lockout laws delivered a blow to its colourful nightlife. Then came Covid and the cost-of-living doldrums.<\/p>\n AsheMorgan in partnership with The Toga Group leased the strip from the City of Sydney in 2019 on a 99-year basis. Approved in May 2022, the $200m project has overshot initial timeline forecasts by two years, with the first fully restored block due to open by November and the final block next June.<\/p>\n Among its challenges were the pandemic, a review into development control plans and a change of builder that led to legal action.<\/p>\n Today, though, Gyory is cautiously positive.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a palpable sense that it\u2019s turned. It\u2019s cool,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels like something is happening \u2013 but people have less money, so they\u2019re spending it more carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Ken Holmes has operated the Aussie Boys shop on Oxford Street for 41 years.<\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n There are also fewer shoppers, says Ken Holmes. The owner-operator of 41-year-old men\u2019s swimwear purveyor Aussie Boys says he vacated at short notice to new premises in April 2020 after the City of Sydney leased his old building to Oxford and Foley. It took more than two years for any work to begin, he says.<\/p>\n He once sold $999,900 worth of swimwear and underwear in Mardi Gras season. For three days last week, he did not make a single sale.<\/p>\n City of Sydney council minutes indicate Oxford and Foley was originally slated to be completed by 2023, and Holmes says he understood it would definitely be open by the time Sydney hosted World Pride in February of that year.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last six months, it\u2019s probably been the worst it\u2019s ever been,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that I don\u2019t have the stock \u2013 I don\u2019t have the customers. This should be gay Disneyland but the City of Sydney has killed it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Across the road from the restored 25 Hours Hotel The Olympia is a strip of vacant and graffitied stores.<\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n AsheMorgan, the leaseholder and investment company behind the project, says Oxford and Foley \u201cis set to become a flagship of urban renewal with a bold vision for adaptive reuse \u2013 honouring the past while shaping a lively, creative future for Sydney\u201d.<\/p>\n Among the tenants preparing to move in are Sony Australia, the luxury cycling brand MAAP, late-night eatery Big Poppa\u2019s, gelato bar Mapo, Mecca Coffee and Paulie\u2019s Pizzas.<\/p>\n AsheMorgan says Jones\u2019s claims about an unaffordable rent rise are \u201ccompletely incorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n Further up the street towards Paddington, a tired, once-thriving strip now sports a row of empty, graffitied shopfronts.<\/p>\n Jim\u2019s Butchery, which operated nearby for almost 100 years, closed its doors this month. The Bookshop Darlinghurst, an independent queer bookshop operating since 1982, has announced it will close at Christmas because repeated delays for the full opening of Oxford and Foley had postponed its planned move to larger premises in the new development, imposing unsustainable costs.<\/p>\n But there is a more hopeful sign in the arrival of a new 109-room hotel, due to open on 9 October on the former site of the Grand Pacific Blue Room nightclub and Academy Twin Cinemas, which has sat empty for a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited,\u201d says Simon Fowler, owner of Simon Says Juice, across the road from the hotel. \u201cIt\u2019s nice for someone to see potential in the area and invest in it. It could be the first domino, leading to much bigger things.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s been discouraging is a lack of interest to fill empty spaces. It\u2019s not an attractive option to do so because rent is astronomical.\u201d<\/p>\n Fowler\u2019s rent is almost $90,000 a year, an amount that has doubled in six years, he says. He believes some shops lie empty because owners can claim a tax write-off against untenanted property losses.<\/p>\n On this section of the street the cycleway is a hot topic.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Five Great Reads<\/span><\/p>\n Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n It\u2019s early days for traffic on the Darlinghurst section, which opened in July.<\/p>\n Clover Moore, lord mayor of the City of Sydney, says she expects businesses will start seeing the benefits, \u201cbecause more people walking and riding along a calmer street will encourage visits and money spent with those hard-working owners along Oxford Street\u201d.<\/p>\n But the middle section of the cycleway, connecting Taylor Square with Centennial Park, remains to be built.<\/p>\n Peter McLean from Bicycle NSW says the missing section is a \u201cgaping gap\u201d in the east-west corridor. The path\u2019s eventual completion is a question of when, not if, he says.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018It\u2019s nice for someone to see potential in the area and invest in it. It could be the first domino, leading to much bigger things,\u2019 says cafe owner Simon Fowler.<\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Fowler hopes the next section of the bike path will run along his cafe front, bringing with it a buffer from buses and possible alfresco dining.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be a positive to my business I can\u2019t quantify \u2013 but it\u2019s going to cost a bunch and people will fight it the whole way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n One of those is the former City of Sydney councillor Kathryn Greiner. She is one of three Paddington locals who is taking the City of Sydney and Transport for NSW on in federal court over the path\u2019s \u201cfloating\u201d bus stops \u2013 on islands between the bike path and bus lane.<\/p>\n <\/span>The City of Sydney\u2019s $18.5m bike path. <\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Greiner claims they contravene the Disability Discrimination Act\u2019s design guidelines and public transport standards, given the speed of cyclists and how pedestrians need to cross their path at zebra crossings.<\/p>\n \u201cOur argument is against the design, which does not give equity of access to people who are ageing, or have a visual impairment, or who are deaf,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice idea, but it\u2019s not well thought-out.\u201d<\/p>\n A Transport for NSW spokesperson said the department was developing a design that \u201cbalances the needs of all users\u201d and that no decision had been made about the future of the project.<\/p>\n Beyond the bike path, Greiner says the Paddington part of the street is \u201cjust starting to come back\u201d after a tough decade or so, while Paddington Town Hall is to be revamped, with community consultation now open.<\/p>\n <\/span>25 Hours Hotel The Olympia, which is on the former site of the Grand Pacific Blue Room nightclub and Academy Twin Cinemas, has been restored. <\/span> Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Moore acknowledges the \u201csignificant challenges\u201d the street has faced in the recent past, but says the \u201cstars are really aligning to see Oxford Street reach its full potential\u201d, with investment guided by the council\u2019s Australian-first LGBTIQA+ Social and Cultural Place Strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no silver bullet to ensuring our high streets thrive in the face of changing consumer behaviour and demographics, but the City does all it can to protect and enhance these important commercial spines. Oxford Street\u2019s success depends on all of us, from state and local government through to community groups, businesses and landlords,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe love Oxford Street. It\u2019s one of our greatest and most-loved streets and we\u2019re committed to building on its reputation as an iconic LGBTIQA+ and creative precinct, buzzing with activity day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the obvious positives of the street\u2019s revitalisation, Gyory still worries about the area\u2019s diverse soul.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more pragmatic people are saying if richer queer people want to come here, that\u2019s good, but we also don\u2019t want them to displace the people who are here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Marc Kuzma, AKA drag queen Claire de Lune, will serve his last souffle to a dinner and cabaret audience on New Year\u2019s Eve at Claire\u2019s Kitchen. Last week, the owner of the restaurant at number 35 Oxford Street announced the venue would close after 14 years and 950 dinner shows. The entire block, which includes the heritage-listed site of NSW MP Alex Greenwich\u2019s HQ, is to be redeveloped. In a sense, the timing is good, Kuzma says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been a dreadful, dreadful winter. Since we opened I don\u2019t think we had a worse time than this winter,\u201d he says, noting the wet weather and reduced spending habits of even his most faithful clientele.<\/p>\n \u201cOxford Street has lost a little bit of shine because of the development across the road and the bike path took a long time, too, but now that it\u2019s open, it\u2019s quite pleasant.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot always blame the street. You need to make your own luck and we had 14 wonderful years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zink & Sons has made bespoke suits on Sydney\u2019s Oxford Street for 130 years. For most of that time, the family-owned men\u2019s tailoring business has resided at number 56, halfway between Hyde Park and the street\u2019s LGBTQI heart at Taylor Square. Today its director, Daniel Jones, is looking for a new base after a rent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[13876,825,4315,14827,2026,6814,1276,6734,4234,11893],"class_list":{"0":"post-25134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-disneyland","9":"tag-gay","10":"tag-oxford","11":"tag-revitalise","12":"tag-selling","13":"tag-soul","14":"tag-street","15":"tag-struggle","16":"tag-sydney","17":"tag-sydneys"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A series of setbacks<\/h2>\n
Bike path disputes<\/h2>\n
Preserving a diverse soul<\/h2>\n