Going for a wander around Mackay’s City Heart will tell you a few things, some good and some not so good.
On the down-side you will see plenty of vacant shops and commercial spaces, some with boarded up facades.
It is disappointing, in a city as active, vibrant and successful as Mackay to see empty spaces in the City Heart.
We’ve all seen dead city hearts in regional areas. They reflect the changing demographic of a particular town; people leaving because they can’t find work, young people escaping because there is no future, commercial operators closing up shop because there is no business to be done.
None of this reflects the situation in Mackay, where the economy is pumping, real estate is thriving, unemployment is virtually non-existent and businesses are crying out for staff.
Yet if you walked around the City Heart and saw the vacant and boarded up shop-fronts you’d think Mackay was going down the gurgler, that businesses couldn’t make a go of it and no one was spending money in this town.
None of which is true; Mackay is thriving. Anyone who gets stuck in traffic in the City Heart and tries to find a parking spot during business hours can vouch for the activity and energy in this city.
And yes, there are vibrant pockets of the City Heart. Witness the cafes, bars and restaurants of Wood St, the buzz around Victoria St on a Friday and Saturday night as people step out to the restaurants.
A French patisserie opened up a while ago near where I work in Victoria St and it has added a new dynamic to the strip, with a massive increase in activity that tells you their product is good and Mackay people are happy to spend money on quality.
I know it’s not all bad but those empty commercial spaces dotted throughout the CBD do drag the place down.
One of the good things about the CBD is the architecture, those art deco buildings that reflect the thriving city that Mackay has been and continues to be.
A lot of those buildings have been kept and are an important part of the fabric of this town.
Although I have been in Mackay for a long time now, I wasn’t born here so I enjoy hearing friends talking about features of the city from when they were young.
Sometimes they reminisce about the pubs that used to ply their trade down by the river, back in the days of busy commercial fishing activity.
They talk about the Leichhardt Hotel, the Crown and the Prince of Wales and recall the hub of activity that was created around those venues.
Those buildings have gone now, sadly obliterated by the passage of time.
While I would have loved to move around the City Heart when those pubs, along with big department stores and other businesses, thrived prior to the opening of Caneland Central, time does move on and there’s no point in focusing on what was.
If you observe the Queenslanders and beautiful cottages in the CBD, South Mackay, West Mackay and parts of the suburb of Mackay such as Hinton St, the architecture stands the test of time and has preserved something truly special about this city’s history.
And, in good news that helps create City Heart energy, makes use of a famous old building and pushes back against the tide of disappearing pubs, a couple of friends of mine are about to re-open the Mackay Hotel.
Mark “Laffo” Lafffin and Ben Phillips, along with their wives, have taken over the Mackay Hotel and will soon have it renovated and back in action as an important part of the City Heart.
It will be a local-owned, family-friendly venue that will add more of the vibrant energy the City Heart needs.
And, most importantly, I finally have friends who own a pub.