A landmark goes
23 Euston Road Alexandria has been a motorcycle workshop for more than half a century. Originally the two-storey building was the workshop for Tom Byrne to service the bikes sold through their showroom in Wentworth Avenue, Sydney, and was inhabited by the likes of Don Wilson and Tony Hatton, among many other mechanics who have passed through the place. As Brett Rosenthal wrote in a recent email, the present tenants, Sydney Motorcycle Wreckers, are closing the doors soon. “This is the last inner city wreckers/workshop in Sydney. This still has the creaky wooden floor along with lift that the mechanics at Byrnes used to take bikes up top to work on. The business used to be owned by Russell White who at one stage had 3 shops in Sydney. This was scaled back to one in Wentworth Ave for some years then it was sold 15 years ago and they moved to Euston Road. Russell was a bit of a character, he made some money out of the wrecking business, enough to park his Ferrari out the front of the shop in Wentworth Ave. I am still friends with Mick Lendrum who used to be manager at the shop, where I met first him. I would say the place may be torn down as it has white ant issues with the timber floors/beams and upstairs is supported by big timber posts. Jay, the owner, is scaling back and moving the business to the Hornsby area.”