Ten years ago High Street Northcote was just another retail strip. As gentrification swept through Fitzroy, transforming Brunswick Street from a seedy avenue into a thriving commercial boulevard, High Street remained dominated by the Mditerranean shops that had dominated Northcote’s retail scene for the past thirty years.
Ten years ago High Street Northcote was just another retail strip. As gentrification swept through Fitzroy, transforming Brunswick Street from a seedy avenue into a thriving commercial boulevard, High Street remained dominated by the Mditerranean shops that had dominated Northcote’s retail scene for the past thirty years.
In early 2005 the Commercial Hotel was made over and re-badged as the Northcote Social Club; within a short time, cafes and boutique retailers sprang up along High Street. “I think we’ve been in the midst of a second coming for the past three to four years,” says Ben Mastwyk, retailer and president of the Northcote Traders’ Association. “It’s the kids of the original shop owners who are re-discovering High Street.”
Mastwyk has a vision for High Street, Northcote. “Our ultimate goal is to turn High Street into another destination,” Mastwyk says. “When people come to Melbourne from interstate or overseas the guide books tell them to go to Brunswick Street or Acland Street. We’d like people to want to come to High Street like any other iconic street,” Mastwyk says.
Mastwyk grew up in the local area, and now runs his own boutique jewellery and clothing store on High Street. Along with other shop owners, Mastwyk has seen High Street emerge as a significant retail strip, the cultural and commercial epicentre of what Trevor Block once labelled The People’s Republic of Darebin. “For a while High Street offered cheaper prices. For a while the street lay dormant – it was a bit in between times and cultures. Now I prefer to think of it as a second coming, not gentrification.”
The difference, Mastwyk says, is that High Street hasn’t had the opportunities for consolidation that Brunswick and Acland streets have had. “We watch the way different streets evolve,” Mastwyk says. “For a while people have been saying that High Street is the new Brunswick Street. But Brunswick Street and Smith Street spent a long time being cheap, and you had artists, students, bohemians move in. The culture starts blooming – and then other people come in and start exploiting it. But High Street is different – it’s never had that cheap era,” he says.
With local property prices continuing to rise, Mastwyk recognises it’s an ongoing battle to preserve Northcote’s “boutique and bohemian edge”. “I don’t think you can stop the real estate agents trying to cash in on it,” Mastwyk says. “But I don’t think they realise they’re stifling it. What we have to do is to keep the local businesses vibrant.”
Mastwyk notes that a few art galleries have been forced out of High Street in recent times, unable to meet the increasing rents (Mastwyk refers to a recent rumour of a Hungry Jacks being opened on High Street, which is unlikely to be received well by local residents). “It’s a bad time in history to sell music, but it would be great to have a good old fashioned, dirty vinyl record store,” Mastwyk says. “And we’d welcome more clothing stores, and music venues. And I think the street can sustain more cafes. The more we’ve got, the more it sustains.”
Mastwyk points to the emergence of the Northcote Social Club as critical in High Street’s evolution. “The Northcote Social Club has really turned Northcote around – now you’ve got the NSC, 303 and Wesley Anne,” he says. And if to underscore the point at the heart of this year’s Save Live Australia’s Music protests, High Street remains a safe nocturnal destination. “The Northcote Social Club is a rock venue, but it’s also still got some of the original old men coming in for a beer at 4pm. I think that’s genius – I’m not sure how they managed to do that,” Mastwyk says. “I think Northcote is very up front – but it doesn’t have the showiness of Chapel Street, or the loudness or ego of Brunswick Street.”
Mastwyk says discussions are being held with VicRoads to address traffic flow issues along High Street. “We’ve been picked as a place of cultural significance,” Mastwyk says. “We’re going to get a streetscape that’s consistent with the cultural character of the area. It’s about recognising High Street as not a thoroughfare through to the northern suburbs, but as a place to come to in its own right.”
High St, Northcote is open all the time, waiting for you to explore it. The Northcote Social Club is hosting The East Brunswick All Girls Choir, The Little Stevies, Darren Hanlon, The Bedroom Philosopher, Otouto, The Born Ruffians and more in the next few months. Get yourself to Northcote to find out more.
