Old girl is glammed up
PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY FOR FOOD AND DRINKS THEY HAVEN’T PREPARED THEMSELVES
It’s official, I’m old.
Not just because I love the comfort of a nice knee-rug, or that I’ve fallen victim to the odd nanna nap in front of the TV.
It’s not because I’ve migrated from light to dark chocolate, or that I now prefer black jelly beans to coloured ones.
I know I’m old because I can remember when the upstairs nightclub at the Seaview Hotel was known as “Grab-a-granny”.
I’m pretty sure I qualified – it applied to most of us old Seaview groovers, despite our ability to navigate the packed restaurant and bars of the once-bustling Palmer Street, head over the bridge to the Brewery, then check out the bars and clubs in Flinders St before ending up at the
Seaview still upright and in high heels.
Sounds exhausting now!
But this trip down memory lane was prompted by the news that, unlike some of us who have let themselves go during the pandemic, one of the grand dames of our waterfront is getting a makeover.
The Seaview has always enjoyed primo frontage on The Strand but, like so many venues, the addition of poker machines meant that one by one, watering holes that were once alive with banter and brightened by daylight were darkened and shut off from view.
Thankfully, having this time without customers has allowed the Seaview, home of the classic “Sunday-sesh” to undergo a revamp, and restore the rarely used interior to a modern version of its former glory.
A cornerstone of our mostvisited streetscape, the drab, Federation-cream exterior is now nautical white, giving the old girl an instant facelift. And it’s not just the Seaview news: new restaurants are popping up around town, reclaiming vacant buildings for a third, fourth or fifth time; showing faith in a region that once boasted an astounding number of busy eateries that is almost unimaginable today.
The shift from restaurants to fancier pubs and a fascination with food trucks and pop-up events has now come full circle, to a landscape where all of these options can coexist. The council says they “might” allow venues to spread guests out onto nearby available spaces, and finally, after years of whingeing here, Red Tape Central is allowing a food truck on top of Castle Hill, albeit “temporarily”.
People are hungry for food and drinks they haven’t prepared themselves, with a two-week wait to get into new restaurant Matte Black reminding me that dining out in Townsville ranks right up there with fishing, camping and the Cowboys.
We are showered with plans and promises for developments that will “breathe new life into our region”, yet with overregulation cruelling progress, any improvement is worth celebrating.
So, forgive me for getting excited about a pub getting a coat of paint, but the Seaview renovation, along with the Watermark’s bar area, the Castle Hill food truck and the second city laneway, are all welcome signs from a town that’s been doing it tough.
And while it might take us a little while to emerge from these doldrums: As always, Townsville, the forecast is fabulous.