The Thousands

Gertrude Street is great. For reasons both contemporary and historical. But it’s the transition that seems most interesting. Or problematic -depends on how you look at it.

Try throwing together Squizzy Taylor (Australia’s best named villain), dispossessed indigenous folk (Gertrude Street was a meeting point for people stolen from their families), clumsy ‘60s social engineering and… high-end fashion, specialist bookstores and gourmet eateries. See if you don’t get a little tension in the air.

But if Southpaw is an indication of the way that Gertrude Street is going, then all bodes well in Fitzroy’s most conflicted and schizophrenic street. With a crisp and unpretentious fit out that happily incorporates a previously boarded up hundred-odd-year-old decorative window facing the neighbour’s wall, Southpaw is somewhere that you can sit comfortably and enjoy the past and the present without feeling like a bourgie squatter.

They’ve also got a fine selection of local microbrewery beers, a solid wine list, DJs Friday and Saturday and friendly staff.