It’s almost lunch at Brisbane’s Stock Exchange Hotel and the pub, surrounded by skycrapers containing city offices, is almost empty.
This famous Brisbane pub opened in 1863 and weathered the impacts of the 6 o’clock swill, roadside breath testing, 1980s rock’n’roll, and pokies, but is badly struggling with COVID-19.
The legacy of COVID-19 is fewer city workers to keep inner-city business trading successfully.Credit:Tony Moore
Today, cheap lunches, televised sports and lunchtime trivia vie for the few Brisbane CBD office workers.
Further down Charlotte Street, the hole-in-the-wall coffee shop Henry’s Coffee Bar, offers $5 “all-day breakfast” to attract customers.
The Queensland Property Council on Thursday asked the Queensland government to introduce a “short, sharp shock” of free public transport to encourage workers back to a city where CBD office occupancy has slumped to 60 per cent.
The government said no, because public transport patronage is now 70 per cent.
In Brisbane’s Charlotte Street, the hole in the wall Henry’s Coffee Bar is offering $5 all-day brekkies to attract customers.Credit:Tony Moore
Traditionally, Brisbane’s CBD enjoyed an occupancy rate of more 85 per cent, Queensland’s Property Council’s deputy executive director Jen Williams said.
It is now stagnating at 60 per cent as some employees work from home on Mondays and Fridays.
“Brisbane’s CBD had 87 per cent occupancy pre-COVID and now we are sitting at 63 per cent at the moment,” Ms Williams said.
They launched a campaign of small incentives on Fridays to encourage people to work in the city once more.
But they want the Queensland government to offer free public transport for a short period “to break the habit” of working from home.
“We would like to see that here in Brisbane as well, because we know one of the biggest challenges is that people are choosing to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and they are driving in,” she said.
“We need to get people back onto public transport and flatten out the working week.”
The Stock Exchange’s new manager is Stephen O’Brien, who has arrived since the Brisbane Catholic Archdiocese took over the Stock Exchange and threw out its poker machines.
The pub’s lease has been bought by the Brisbane-based Raw Group.
The hotel is still trading at about 25 per cent of its pre-COVID-19 clientele, despite no community COVID transmission since December 2020.
“It has just dropped off a cliff, literally dropped off a cliff,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It is really reliant on the corporate base in the area here and businesses around here just don’t have as many staff.”
Stock Exchange Hotel manager Stephen O’Brien says free public transport is needed to lure workers back to the CBD.Credit:Tony Moore
The Stock Exchange Hotel closed in mid-December 2020 during the COVID-19 enforced shutdown made significant changes upstairs, changed its lunch menu and recently reopened.
Mr O’Brien also would like the Queensland government to offer a short period of free public transport.
“Free public transport, just for a short while. Just getting them in here would be very handy,” he said.
Tommy Mai opened the small Henry’s Coffee Bar in Charlotte Street about 18 months ago and his trade was almost immediately hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearby, the relatively new Elizabeth Street Arcade is virtually deserted at ground level.
Mr Mai only noticed office workers returning to the city last month.
Tommy Mai began Henry’s Coffee Bar in Charlotte Street in 2020 and immediately his trade sank to 40 per cent. Only last month he noticed city workers return.Credit:Tony Moore
“We have been dramatically impacted for more than a year,” he said.
“It was down under 40 per cent this time last year. But now it is about 75 per cent of what we were.”
Mr Mai laid off staff and worked at the cafe himself through COVID. Now, he thinks the city’s leaders need to help.
“Just provide some better, easier access to the city. Provide some incentives to small businesses to encourage workers back,” he said.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said new incentives would be announced in “coming weeks”.
“We announced last year that we will freeze public transport fares for 2021 to encourage more commuters back onto the network,” he said.
Tony Moore is a senior reporter at the Brisbane Times