{"id":10641,"date":"2026-05-13T18:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10641\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:52:11","slug":"bendigos-hargreaves-mall-could-reopen-to-cars-under-plan-to-revitalise-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/10641\/","title":{"rendered":"Bendigo’s Hargreaves Mall could reopen to cars under plan to revitalise area"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City of Greater Bendigo Council is planning to reopen Hargreaves Mall to vehicles in an attempt to breathe new life into the struggling retail centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The council has proposed building a new road through the pedestrian-only mall at a cost of $500,000, with works to be potentially completed by August. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If approved at next week’s meeting, the city will join Ballarat and Shepparton as towns that have reopened pedestrian shopping malls<\/a> and opened the sites back up to vehicles<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Playspace<\/p>\n

Play space equipment will be moved to another area of Hargreaves Mall to make way for the roadway. (Supplied: City of Greater Bendigo)<\/p>\n

Thirty-one per cent of the mall’s shops are currently empty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City of Greater Bendigo CEO, Andrew Cooney, said the council was in talks with national brands that were “hot” to move into the mall’s vacant shopfronts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We think once the retailers are in there, then the hospitality will come,” he said.<\/p>\n

The proposed road would be one-way, with a speed limit of 10km\/h and bollards and plantar boxes to separate vehicles from pedestrians.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hargreaves Mall has struggled with low foot traffic and attracting shoppers and retailers to the pedestrian-only precinct. (ABC News: Anna McGuiness)<\/p>\n

The mall has been closed to vehicles since 1982.<\/p>\n

The council will vote on whether to approve the proposal on May 18.<\/p>\n

Mixed opinions on mall proposal<\/p>\n

The proposed change was greeted with mixed reactions from Bendigo residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Michelle Lilley is against the proposal to reopen Hargreaves Mall to traffic. (ABC News: Anna McGuinness)<\/p>\n

Long-time Bendigo resident Michelle Lilley said she liked the pedestrian mall.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to have a community space in the centre of town close to shops and we can just walk around visit any shop we like,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I believe less cars on the road would be better. Less space for cars and more space for people walking and riding bikes.”<\/p>\n

\"Dianne<\/p>\n

Dianne Bolitho wants Hargreaves Mall to reopen to traffic. (ABC News: Anna McGuinness)<\/p>\n

But Dianne Bolitho was in favour of the change.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is just dead space here, I hardly ever come down here because the parking is terrible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There are so many empty shops. I can remember when it was a road and it worked well when it was a road before.”<\/p>\n

Karen Gloster ran Black Pepper clothing store in the mall for 10 years, and said she was not convinced the new development would be viable.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s going to make it more of a thoroughfare than it’s going to make it good for businesses,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Retailers Wendy McLachlan, Shane Donnithorne and Tracy Govan walk through Bridge Mall. (Supplied: Ballarat City Council)<\/p>\n

Ballarat retailers said reopening its pedestrian mall to traffic had turned the area around.<\/p>\n

A year on from officially opening to traffic, Bridge Mall Traders Association manager Shane Donnithorne said there was a noticeable difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went down to six vacant shops. So from around 30, at its peak. It’s quite amazing, really,” she said.<\/p>\n

“In terms of the vehicles, it’s allowing people to drive through the space, grab a car park, run into the pharmacy, run into Specsavers, or do a click and collect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“There are also two sorts of parking bays where taxis can pull in and drop elderly people off and pick them up as well. So it’s become more user-friendly for people who don’t walk too far.”<\/p>\n

If passed, the Bendigo council said it would review the new-look Hargreaves Mall in 12 months’ time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Greater Bendigo Council is planning to reopen Hargreaves Mall to vehicles in an attempt to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11714,22,21,249,11713,11710,311,11712,11711,4303,248,1002,3908,2223],"class_list":["post-10641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-andrew-cooney","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bars","tag-city-of-greater-bendigo-council","tag-hargreaves-mall","tag-hospitality","tag-pedestrian-only","tag-pedestrians","tag-pub","tag-restaurants","tag-retail","tag-shopping","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}