Richmond, Surry Hills named among world's coolest neigbourhoods in Time Out ranking

Melbourne’s Richmond and Sydney’s Surry Hills have been named among the coolest neighbourhoods in the world, outranking pockets of Barcelona, Oslo and Tokyo.

Richmond was named the coolest suburb in Australia and the 10th coolest in the world, while Surry Hills took out the 19th spot, in Time Out’s latest annual ranking of the coolest neighbourhoods around the globe.

It comes after Melbourne’s Yarraville took 5th place in last year’s list, and Sydney’s Marrickville ranked 10th.

Nørrebro, Copenhagen, took out the title of the coolest neighbourhood worldwide in this year’s rankings, with New York’s Chelsea neighbourhood, Dalston in London and Sai Kung in Hong Kong also among the top 20.

The rankings are based on a survey of 27,000 city-dwellers and input from Time Out editors and contributors, who vetted the public vote against criteria like nightlife, culture and restaurants, but also factors like community spirit, resilience and sustainability that have come into focus in the pandemic.

Richmond, in Melbourne’s inner east, has an eclectic mix of both the hipster north and wealthier south-east of Melbourne, and has transformed over the years into a coveted inner-city enclave.

House prices there climbed more than 30 per cent over the five years to June to a median of $1.35 million, with the former home of Hamish Blake and Zoe Foster Blake setting a suburb record of $7.435 million when it sold earlier this year.

But the neighbourhood’s challenges have also been in the spotlight, after Melbourne’s first medically supervised injecting room opened in North Richmond in 2019.

Richmond is home to one of Melbourne’s most beloved live music institutions, The Corner Hotel, and has three distinct vibes, Time Out noted in the rankings. There’s Victoria Street, Melbourne’s go-to destination for Vietnamese food, Bridge Road which is known for its factory outlets, and Swan Street with some of the suburb’s best restaurants and cafes.

Richmond’s ranking was no surprise to local businesses, including the uber-trendy cafe Pillar of Salt on Church Street.

Venue manager Paul Denovan, who has worked in the cafe for seven years and has also lived in Richmond, said the area had the “best elements of its surrounding suburbs”.

“It’s got the best of the north side and the south side in one suburb,” Mr Denovan said. “I love Richmond personally.”

Pillar of Salt has had to shift to takeaway through Melbourne’s long lockdowns, which have seen many other businesses close.

“We’ve been pretty OK. Where we are located, we have a big residential area behind us where there are lots of young families and we have a lot of loyal regulars,” Mr Denovan said.

Of course, no-one could mention Richmond, without mentioning AFL team the Richmond Tigers, who’ve called the suburb home for more than 130 years.

“Richmond is not only the name of our Club but the suburb has also our home since 1885. We are proud of our history and connection with the postcode of 3121,” Richmond Football Club President Peggy O’Neal said in an email.

“The world has discovered what we have known all along.”

In Sydney, where lockdown restrictions will ease from Monday, the many cafes, restaurants and bars in trendy Surry Hills are preparing to reopen their doors.

At Single O, one of the several cafes mentioned in the TimeOut list, cafe supervisor Amy Ruse and general manager Mike Brabant were looking forward to welcoming back staff and the community when they open their doors on Thursday. Neither was surprised to see Surry Hills, where house prices are up 24 per cent in five years to a median $1.875 million, make the list.

“We really enjoy the community of Surry Hills, how inclusive and diverse it is … and we work on a collaborative basis with a lot of other businesses in the community,”  said Ms Ruse, who has also called the suburb home since relocating to Sydney from London three years ago.

While the area has changed since the cafe first opened its doors in 2003, it had still retained its creative hub and heart, Mr Brabant said. Small businesses were still doing creative and interesting things, and many were focused on giving back to the community, the pair added.

“It will be good to see people sitting down in here again, everyone’s smiling faces, and people enjoying the new menu,” Mr Brabant said.

Dove & Olive publican Chris Deale had kegs of beer dropped off on Friday morning, in preparation for the bar’s reopening on Wednesday, but expected business would be slower than usual until more office workers return to the city.

“We’re definitely looking forward to opening and just getting back to normal,” he said.

Mr Deale said the suburb had many great bar and dining venues to choose from, many of which had undergone renovations in recent years – particularly during the construction of the light rail line from Central to Randwick and Kingsford, which cuts through the suburb.

“One of the advantages that came out of the three-year light rail construction, three years of very painful construction, was that it forced everyone to look at themselves, and literally every pub in the area, and a lot of the restaurants as well, all did renovations,” he said.