UDIA’s annual awards
READ MORE
17 August 2023
Source: Perth Now
Subiaco’s once popular Dome Cafe could be alive again by summer with a fresh new look as boss Nigel Oakey says the time is right to rejoin the Rokeby Road revival.
Subiaco Dome had been a mainstay on the corner of Seddon Street and Rokeby Road for nearly 24 years but shut its doors in mid-2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Oakey, chief executive of Dome Cafe Group, told the Subiaco council later that year he would reopen his popular haunt if the council committed to upgrading the adjoining Seddon Street which he said had been “left to rot”.
And a lot has changed at the northern end of Rokeby Road in the years since, with Blackburne’s landmark apartment development One Subiaco filled and the new Subiaco Continental bistro in full swing on its ground floor.
The City of Subiaco has also held up its end of the bargain, putting $2 million into overhauling Seddon Street.
Mr Oakey has officially submitted plans with the city for an inside-out refresh of the cafe, including extending the dining area and adding more alfresco dining down Seddon Street.
Speaking exclusively to PerthNow, Mr Oakey said once council approval was secured the team hoped to have the “community icon” back in business this summer.
Mr Oakey said the Seddon Street upgrades had enabled the team to reframe the site and open more frontage on to Seddon Street, as well as its existing Rokeby Road entrance.
“A very positive impetus to us making a formal re-commitment to the site in terms of another long-term lease has been the rejuvenation of Seddon Street, which is nearing completion and starting to look fantastic,” he said.
Mr Oakey said he opened Dome cafes with the expectation they were “going to be there forever” but forces outside of their control had made it look like they could not stay in Subiaco.
“That was certainly the way things were headed where Rokeby Road and Subiaco had been only a few years ago, very much in decline with COVID on top and then all the disruptive construction activity,” he said.
“That had us facing the realisation that actually could be the end of the road.
“So it’s really particularly delightful that with the partnership with our landlord, who has been fantastic, we have been able to have the patience to see it through and combine with the conviction of the council to get the Seddon Street precinct done.
“All of those things have sort of come positively together in reversing what was a pretty dour outlook.
“I think you can feel that same sentiment, slowly but increasingly, more quickly and surely is starting to pervade much of Subiaco now, which is fantastic.”
Mr Oakey said Subiaco’s resurgence had been a “long time coming” after the departure of football from Subiaco oval in 2018 but it was great to see new businesses adding vibrancy to the area.
“If we look back at our numbers over the last 22 years, the first 12 were fantastic and the second half not so,” he said.
“Really the second half was a story of phases of decline and I think the worm has definitely turned.”