Brisbane Archives - Fortitude Valley News

Wintergarden Redevelopment Plans Submitted as Brisbane CBD Landmark Set for Major Overhaul

Photo Credit: IFM Investors/DA A007057493

A long-awaited redevelopment of Brisbane’s Wintergarden precinct has moved a step closer, with plans lodged to transform the ageing Queen Street Mall complex while removing one of its most recognisable architectural features.

A development application (DA A007057493) has been lodged with Brisbane City Council for the Wintergarden and adjoining InterContinental Brisbane precinct, outlining extensive upgrades to the retail areas beneath the hotel and improvements to pedestrian connections between Queen Street Mall and Elizabeth Street.

The proposal, designed by global architecture practice Woods Bagot, includes a redesigned retail gallery across two levels, new escalators and lifts, changes to internal layouts and upgraded public spaces. The retail wing between Tattersall’s Arcade and the Embassy Hotel is proposed to remain largely unchanged, while the InterContinental’s Elizabeth Street entrance and porte cochère would also be refurbished. The hotel tower itself is not included in the application.

Butterfly Façade Set To Disappear

One of the most noticeable changes would be the removal of Wintergarden’s distinctive butterfly façade.

Installed in 2012, the sculptural frontage stretches about 86 metres across Queen Street Mall and features approximately 24,000 LED lights. The artwork was created by Melbourne-based architecture firm Studio 505 in collaboration with Canadian lighting designer Bruce Ramus.

Under the redevelopment plans, the butterfly installation would be removed, with the underlying façade proposed to be restored.

*Photo Credit: IFM Investors*/*DA A007057493*

From Retail Destination To Underused Space

Wintergarden opened in 1982 ahead of the Brisbane Commonwealth Games with 92 specialty stores and one of Brisbane’s earliest enclosed food courts, quickly becoming a popular destination for shoppers, diners and city workers.

In recent years, however, large sections of the complex have become vacant as retail activity shifted across the CBD. Several major tenants remain, including Strike Bowling, Goodlife Health Clubs, Zara, M.J. Bale, Sheike and Mecca Maxima, but many shopfronts are no longer occupied.

The changing fortunes of the centre have stood in contrast to other busy retail and dining precincts across Brisbane’s CBD.

New Owners Driving Revitalisation

The redevelopment follows the acquisition of the precinct by IFM Investors from property funds manager ISPT.

The proposal continues work previously undertaken for the site by Woods Bagot under its former ownership. Earlier concepts for the precinct envisioned a broader mixed-use destination featuring revitalised retail, improved pedestrian links, landscaped public areas and expanded hospitality offerings.

While the current development application focuses on the existing retail podium and hotel arrival experience, it marks the first formal stage of a broader effort to revitalise one of Brisbane CBD’s best-known commercial addresses.

If approved, the project would modernise the ageing precinct while retaining key parts of the existing complex and strengthening its connection to the surrounding Queen Street Mall.

Published 10-July-2026

Fortitude Valley Goes Digital for Brisbane’s Massive Pokémon GO City Safari

Photo Credit: Pokemon Go

Thousands of local gamers and visiting Pokémon trainers are preparing to transform the bustling streets of Fortitude Valley into a massive digital hunting ground for the upcoming Pokémon GO City Safari.

A Citywide Community Adventure

pokemon go — *Photo Credit:* *Pokemon Go*

The event will run on Saturday, 26 September, and Sunday, 27 September, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. AEST. While players will explore vibrant neighbourhoods across the city, the official City Safari hub will be set up at the Queen Street Mall. This central spot is designed as a meeting place for the local community to connect, share tips, and collect free merchandise like Pikachu visors and exclusive sticker packs while supplies last.

Interactive Exploration and Rewards

The core of the weekend is the GO Stamp Rally, which encourages players to visit iconic locations around the city. By spinning specific PokéStops, participants collect digital stamps and earn chances to catch an Eevee wearing a special explorer hat. The design of the stamps will even change depending on how long a player presses their screen, making every collection unique. Gamers with tickets will also get access to special research tasks, helping the in-game character Professor Willow investigate the area.

Rare Creatures and Gameplay Boosts

Throughout the weekend, special creatures will appear across Brisbane, including Mudbray, known as the donkey Pokémon. Ticket holders will enjoy several gameplay boosts between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on their chosen day.

Lure modules will last for four hours, and the party play feature will get an extended duration to keep friends connected. Players can complete up to five special trades each day at half the usual stardust cost. There is also a higher chance of finding shiny variants, and buddy Pokémon might dig up an exclusive tiny compass souvenir.

Customising the Safari Experience

Getting involved is a straightforward process through the game’s app. Players simply open the main menu, navigate to the events tab, and select the Brisbane City Safari to secure their spot. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and are generally non-refundable. Dedicated community members who have reached the “Great Friends” status or higher in the game can even purchase tickets as gifts for their local squad.

For those wanting to maximise their weekend, optional upgrades are available for purchase. The raid lover add-on grants up to 12 free raid passes daily, along with extra experience points and candy rewards. The egg-thusiast upgrade cuts egg hatch distances in half while boosting hatch rewards like stardust. Finally, players can buy an extra day pass to keep the adventure going across both Saturday and Sunday.

Published Date 29-June-2026

Historic Brisbane School of Arts Set for Private Sale After Revival Bid Falls Short

Wikipedia

The heritage-listed Brisbane School of Arts building at 166 Ann Street in the city is set to be sold to a private buyer after an expressions of interest process, which closed in May 2026, failed to produce a feasible proposal for the building’s revitalisation.

The Ann Street building, which has sat vacant in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD for some years, is one of the oldest surviving civic buildings in the city and one of the few remaining heritage landmarks with significant untapped renewal potential. Its sale marks the end of a publicly led revitalisation process and opens the door to private sector involvement in determining what the school of arts becomes next.

The expressions of interest process, which ran through early 2026, invited cultural organisations, education providers, industry bodies and investors to collaborate on a mixed-use concept combining cultural programming, adult learning and commercial uses such as boutique food and beverage outlets, all within a framework respecting the building’s heritage significance. No feasible proposals emerged.

Brisbane’s city authority has confirmed any future owner will be required to comply with full heritage protections and planning requirements, preserving the building’s historic character regardless of what use it transitions to.

A building that has served Brisbane since 1865

The Brisbane School of Arts building at 166 Ann Street carries more than 160 years of civic history. Erected in 1865-66 with a ground floor and two upper galleries, it was originally known as a Servants Home, providing accommodation for single adult women who had migrated to Queensland and were waiting to take up employment as domestic servants.

In 1873, the trustees of the North Brisbane School of Arts purchased the building for one thousand pounds. It was let to tenants before being formally converted to a school of arts in 1878.

The institution operated libraries and reading rooms oriented around “the advancement of reading and study by the delivery of lectures,” and promoted what its trustees described as “the recreation and entertainment of its members by games of skill, and generally the diffusion of knowledge and the promotion of intellectual amusement.”

A hall was added to the rear in 1884 to accommodate the Brisbane Technical College, which used the building until 1902, when responsibility for technical education transferred to the state. Brisbane’s city authority assumed trusteeship of the building in 1965-66 and operated a public library on site until 1981. Since then, the building has been let to various community groups, and more recently has sat vacant.

A new chapter for Brisbane’s heritage buildings

The sale of the Brisbane School of Arts building will place it alongside a growing cohort of Brisbane heritage properties that have found new life through private investment.

Customs House on Queen Street, the former Brisbane Dental Hospital and the former Treasury Building — currently being converted into a university campus — have all transitioned from public to private or institutional ownership while retaining their heritage character.

Brisbane’s city authority described opportunities like this as rare, noting its intent to “secure private sector investment to write the next chapter of this iconic Brisbane building.”

The building’s location on Ann Street places it within the CBD’s lower precinct, close to the boundary with Fortitude Valley and within easy walking distance of the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane Square and Central Station. For the inner-city community, what the building becomes matters — it is a prominent address in a part of the city that residents, workers and visitors pass through daily.

Heritage protections that bind any future owner

The Queensland Heritage Register records the building’s significance as a rare example of a purpose-built civic institution from the colonial period that retains much of its original fabric and form. Any purchaser takes on a building that cannot be substantially altered without heritage approval, a condition that tends to attract buyers with genuine interest in adaptive reuse rather than demolition and redevelopment.

The expressions of interest process had envisioned exactly that kind of outcome: a vibrant, mixed-use activation that brought people back into the building while preserving its layered history. Whether the sale process produces a buyer with that vision, or someone with a more commercial intent operating within the heritage constraints, remains to be seen.

Information on the Queensland Heritage Register listing for the Brisbane School of Arts can be found here.

Published 29-June-2026

QPS Members Join Brisbane Run to Stand Against Domestic Violence

Photo Credit: QPS

More than 150 Queensland Police Service members joined thousands of Queenslanders at Brisbane’s annual Darkness to Daylight event, taking part in an overnight challenge dedicated to remembrance, raising awareness and preventing domestic and family violence, while standing in solidarity with those affected.

The event, hosted by Challenge DV, was held overnight and into the morning after being rescheduled from 28–29 May due to weather. It had originally been planned during Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month.

At the centre of the event was a team-based 110km relay-style run, representing the 110 lives lost to domestic and family violence in Australia each year. Participants were also able to join the final 10km or 3km sections, while QPS members also took part across 5km, 10km and 110km events.

For QPS, the event was both a public show of support and a reminder of the daily reality of domestic and family violence across Queensland. Police respond to an average of 500 DFV-related call-outs each day, equal to about one every three minutes.

Last year, 20 Queenslanders lost their lives to domestic and family violence.

QPS members at Darkness to Daylight — *Photo Credit: QPS*

Running Through the Night for Lives Lost

The overnight format gave the challenge a clear symbolic focus, moving from darkness into daylight while participants raised funds and awareness for prevention and early intervention work.

QPS members took part as police and as members of the wider community, joining an event built around remembrance, survivor support and prevention. Office of the Commissioner General Manager Cathy Ford spoke at the closing ceremony, where she acknowledged the community response and the shared responsibility to reject domestic and family violence.

Superintendent Michael Ede completed the 110km overnight run and described participation as a meaningful way to recognise the impact of domestic and family violence, remember those who have died and support efforts to prevent further harm.

The event also drew public support online after QPS congratulated participants on social media. Community responses thanked those who took part and recognised the work of police who respond to domestic and family violence incidents.

Brisbane runners supporting DFV prevention — *Photo Credit: QPS*

Funds Support Challenge DV Programs

Funds raised through Darkness to Daylight support Challenge DV’s work in domestic and family violence prevention. That work includes workplace education, respectful relationships programs, strategic partnerships and advocacy.

Challenge DV works across schools, workplaces, sporting clubs, local businesses and community groups, with programs aimed at giving people the knowledge and confidence to recognise abuse and help prevent violence.

A QPS fundraising page connected to Darkness to Daylight described the team’s participation as a way to stand with survivors, honour lives lost and support programs focused on education, resources and prevention. The page had exceeded its fundraising target and was no longer accepting donations.

Community event for DFV prevention — *Photo Credit: QPS*

Help Remains Available

People experiencing domestic and family violence can contact police and support services.

If domestic violence is occurring and someone is in immediate danger, call Triple Zero on 000. For other domestic and family violence matters, police can be contacted on 131 444 at any time.

Support and counselling services include DVConnect Womensline on 1800 811 811, DVConnect Mensline on 1800 600 636, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, 13YARN on 13 92 76, Diverse Voices on 1800 184 527 and the Elder Abuse Helpline on 1300 651 192.

Published 19-June-2026

Bowen Hills Man Finds Hope After 33-Year Struggle

After a 33-year struggle, four periods in prison and the loss of his job, long-term relationship and freedom, Bowen Hills man Travis has rebuilt his life with support from Carinity’s prison chaplaincy ministry and his Christian faith.

A Long Struggle

For more than three decades, Travis lived with a gambling compulsion he could not overcome on his own.

The Bowen Hills man had reached a point where he had stopped trying to stop, even as the harmful pattern cost him his long-term girlfriend, his job and his freedom.

Travis has described committing white-collar fraud to fund the behaviour, leading to four periods in prison across 11 years.

Support Behind Prison Walls

During his time in prison, Travis came into contact with volunteer chaplains from Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy, a Carinity ministry supporting people in Queensland correctional centres.

For Travis, their presence became part of his path towards recovery. The chaplains offered a steady, non-judgemental form of support as he dealt with regret, fear, grief and the consequences of his past.

That support helped him begin rebuilding his self-confidence, self-respect and sense of identity beyond the struggle that had shaped much of his life.

Travis gambling recovery — *Caption: Travis enjoying fishing.*
*Photo Credit: Supplied*

A Turning Point Through Faith

At one of his lowest points, Travis turned to God while feeling he could no longer carry the struggle alone.

He came to see trust in God as central to the change he had been seeking for years. While the desire to return to old behaviour did not immediately disappear, that moment became part of the journey that led him towards a different life.

The Final Bet

Travis’s last bet was on 16 November 2023.

The date came one day before his birthday on 17 November 2023. After 33 years of daily urges, he had come to believe he had two choices: stop completely or continue for the rest of his life.

Since 16 November 2023, Travis has said he has not felt the urge or desire to place another bet. He also links 17 November 2023 with becoming born again in his Christian faith.

A Chaplain Who Stayed

One Inside Out Prison Chaplaincy volunteer chaplain became especially important in Travis’s recovery.

The two first met in a correctional centre in 2015. Years after Travis was released, they reconnected, and the chaplain became his mentor, life coach and close friend.

That relationship continued beyond prison, giving Travis ongoing support as he rebuilt his life and future.

Today, Travis is living in Brisbane free from the compulsion that once controlled his life. His story is one of recovery, faith and the lasting support of chaplaincy at a time when he needed it most.

Published 18-June-2026

Disney Fans, Get Ready: Australia’s Biggest Disney Pop-Up Is Coming to Brisbane

@disneystoreau/Instagram

An official Disney Store pop-up is opening at Wintergarden on Queen Street Mall, bringing what the brand describes as its biggest pop-up experience in Australia to date.

The store will operate from 4 July to 27 September at Shop QSM 103, 209 Queen Street Mall, stocking collectibles, toys and apparel inspired by a wide range of Disney and Pixar characters. It arrives during Pixar’s 40th anniversary year, with the studio having been founded in 1986, and the range will include dedicated anniversary product lines alongside the broader Disney offering.

The first 50 people through the door when the store opens at 9am on 4 July will receive a free gift.

What’s on the shelves

The range goes well beyond the standard souvenir fare. Brisbane-exclusive collective cards, designed specifically for this city and not available anywhere else, are one of the headline offerings. Disney Store Japan ranges will also be stocked, bringing product lines that rarely surface in Australian retail.

*Photo Credit: @disneystoreau/Instagram*

Christmas in July will be represented through ornaments of beloved characters, and a dedicated pin collector event runs on 8 July, focused on Disney’s beloved animals and featuring exclusive pins available only in London, Dublin and Brisbane. Tickets for the pin event are sold separately.

Stock refreshes weekly throughout the run, which means a visit in July and another in September are likely to turn up very different shelves.

Planning your visit

Those who visited Brisbane’s previous Disney Store pop-up will remember the queues. This one is described as the largest iteration yet, and the Queen Street Mall location gives it one of the highest foot traffic spots in Queensland retail. Weekday visits are the practical choice for anyone who wants to browse without pressure.

Weekend mornings, especially in the school holiday period around early July, are likely to be a different experience entirely.

The store is open Monday to Thursday from 9am to 6pm, Friday from 9am-9pm, Saturday from 9am-6pm, and Sunday from 10am-5pm. The Disney Store pop-up at Wintergarden, Shop QSM 103, 209 Queen Street Mall runs 4 July to 27 September. Further details are available at here.

Published 4-June-2026

Brisbane Gets a Blooming Good Surprise as CJ Hendry’s Flower Shop Arrives

@cj_hendry/Instagram

CJ Hendry’s Flower Shop, the travelling pop-up that drew hour-long queues at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden last month, is heading to Fortitude Valley as the only other Australian stop on its 2026 tour.

The pop-up will run at 1 Arthur Street from 25 June to 12 July. Every fabric flower costs $5, and every visitor receives one free on entry. There is no limit on how many you can buy. If Sydney’s response is any guide, Fortitude Valley could be in for some serious foot traffic.

Hendry quietly announced the Brisbane dates through her online calendar, and locals were quick to take notice.

From Brisbane to Brooklyn

Hendry was born in South Africa and raised in Brisbane, studying architecture at QUT and also finance, before walking away from both to pursue art full-time in 2013.

She sold her designer wardrobe on eBay to fund the transition, drew from early morning until late at night seven days a week, and built a following entirely through Instagram before galleries or representation entered the picture.

View this post on Instagram

By 2015 she had relocated to New York, where she is now based in Brooklyn. Her hyperrealistic large-scale drawings of luxury objects, rendered in her signature layered scribbling technique, command five to six-figure prices from collectors internationally. Her right hand is insured for $10 million.

She has described Brisbane as the place where she can simply switch off. “Brisbane is very calming for me,” she has said. The Flower Shop returning here is not an accident.

Inside the Flower Shop

The Flower Shop is an in-person-only travelling market built entirely around Hendry’s fabric flowers, each one handcrafted from felt and fabric in different shapes, sizes, colours and textures.

Buckets overflow with blooms of every variety imaginable: classic roses and tulips alongside more surrealist forms, and Australian-exclusive designs including native florals such as wattle and gum nuts, which sold out in Sydney.

The concept draws on the same sense of play that runs through all of Hendry’s work: ordinary objects transformed into something slightly unreal, where the pleasure is in noticing the craftsmanship up close. At $5 a stem with a free flower on entry, it is also one of the more accessible encounters with a genuinely world-famous artist’s practice.

The Flower Shop has visited Singapore, Melbourne, Hong Kong and New York, where a permanent retail store now operates. Sydney and Hong Kong permanent stores are to follow. The Brisbane pop-up is a two-and-a-half week window only.

Getting there and what to bring

1 Arthur Street sits in Fortitude Valley, close to Brunswick Street and accessible from the Valley train station. Street parking is limited on weekday evenings and weekends, so public transport or rideshare is the practical choice.

Tips from the Sydney crowd: arrive early, check the Flower Shop’s Instagram before you go to shortlist your favourites, and bring something to carry your stems home in.

The CJ Hendry Flower Shop runs 25 June to 12 July at 1 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley. Entry is free. Follow @cj_hendry for updates as opening day approaches.

Published 4-June-2026

Brisbane’s Night at The Parkland Returns Bigger Than Ever for 2026

Tourism & Events Queensland

Night at The Parkland returns to Roma Street Parkland for its second season in September, bringing nine open-air concerts across three weekends as part of Brisbane Festival’s 2026 program.

The concert series, presented by Toyota in association with Brisbane Festival, runs from 4 to 20 September 2026. Organisers expanded the program following strong attendance during last year’s debut season. General public tickets go on sale from 9am on 2 June.

Promoters Second Sunday have built the 2026 lineup around a mix of Australian ARIA winners and one international headliner: Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, making his first Australian live appearance in seven years.

The full September schedule

The series opens on Friday 4 September with The Cruel Sea, joined by special guests Magic Dirt, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the double-platinum, number-one album Three Legged Dog. Katie Noonan brings her critically acclaimed Jeff Buckley’s Grace show to the parkland the following evening, fresh from a national tour of more than 25 sold-out performances.

Sunday 6 September features Yesterday’s Gone: The Fleetwood Mac Legacy, with Fanny Lumsden, Charlie Collins and Karen-Lee Andrews sharing the stage for the tribute show.

Aloe Blacc headlines Friday 11 September as part of his Wake Me Up tour. The Temper Trap follow on Saturday 12, and Human Nature bring their All The Hits Live show to the parkland on Sunday 13 September.

The final weekend opens with Icehouse on Friday 18 September, returning after a sold-out appearance in the 2025 season. PNAU take Saturday 19, performing an unseated, dancing-encouraged set of hits alongside tracks from their forthcoming album AHHCade, due in late July. Missy Higgins closes the series on Sunday 20 September.

Support acts across the series include Vandalism Angel, Jo Davie, Georgia Fields, Birren, Wilsn, Clea, Lastlings, Jaymon Bob, Ally Row, Kyla Belle, Alice Ivy, Hazel Mei, Jem Cassar-Daley and more.

An outdoor setting that suits the music

Roma Street Parkland sits at the northern edge of Brisbane’s CBD and is described as the world’s largest subtropical garden in an urban centre. The setting — tiered gardens, mature trees, open lawns — makes it a genuinely distinctive alternative to the arena circuit, and the 2025 season proved there is an appetite in Brisbane for exactly this kind of outdoor live music experience.

*Photo Credit: Tourism & Events Queensland*

Second Sunday co-founder Cameron Coghlan said the expanded program reflects the response to last year’s debut. “We’re incredibly proud to see Night at The Parkland return for its second year, building on a strong debut and creating even more opportunities for audiences to enjoy great live music in a unique outdoor setting,” he said.

Brisbane Festival Artistic Director Ebony Bott added that the series had quickly established itself as a standout live music event for the city. “We’re excited to welcome Night at The Parkland back to Brisbane Festival in 2026, bigger, bolder and expanded across three incredible weekends,” she said.

Tickets and information

General public tickets go on sale today, Tuesday 2 June, at 9am AEST. Full lineup details, individual show information and tickets are available at here. Getting to Roma Street Parkland is straightforward, with trains running directly to Roma Street Station and buses servicing the underground busway or street-level stops right outside.

Published 2-June-2026

Howard Smith Wharves Expansion Approved With Brisbane’s First Over-River Pool

DA A006618899

Artemus Group has received approval for a $500 million expansion of Howard Smith Wharves, bringing Brisbane’s first over-river swimming pool, a 106-room boutique hotel and 8,500 square metres of new public space to the heritage-listed precinct beneath the Story Bridge.

The development approval, granted this week, fires the starting gun on a transformation the Fortitude Valley precinct’s developers have been planning since lodging the application in September 2024.

Dubbed HSW 2.0, the expansion represents the most ambitious change to the site since the original $110 million redevelopment opened in November 2018, and it lands with a clear deadline in sight: the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Brisbane’s first over-river pool

The standout element of the approved design is the over-river pool, the first of its kind in Brisbane. Positioned to extend out over the Brisbane River, the pool forms part of a broader bar and dining precinct that will replace the existing Rivershed venue.

Renderings show an open-air structure that puts swimmers directly above the river, with the Story Bridge and cliffs of Kangaroo Point as the backdrop.

No Brisbane venue has built a pool over the river before. The concept draws on precedents in cities like Paris, where floating pools on the Seine have long been part of how the city uses its waterway, and it fits the broader pattern of cities reclaiming their rivers as recreational infrastructure rather than industrial remnants or backdrop scenery.

Artemus Group founder Adam Flaskas framed the approval as a defining moment for both the precinct and Brisbane’s relationship with its river.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Brisbane,” Flaskas said. “Howard Smith Wharves has always been about connecting people with this magnificent river, and with this announcement we take that vision to an entirely new level.”

A precinct built on Depression-era foundations

Howard Smith Wharves carries genuine historical weight. The wharves were built between 1939 and 1942 as part of a relief employment programme during the Great Depression, constructed in conjunction with the Story Bridge directly above them.

The site served the Howard Smith Co Ltd coastal shipping company until the 1960s, hosted World War II air-raid shelters, and then sat largely abandoned for decades before being listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1997.

Artemus Group secured the site in 2015 and spent three years transforming it into the vibrant precinct locals know today. The riverside hub features 13 restaurants, cafes, and bars, including Felons Brewing Co, Yoko, Greca, Stanley, and Ciao Papi, alongside Crystalbrook Vincent hotel and Howards Hall.

It became the first site in Brisbane to achieve Heritage Hero Status from the National Trust, recognised for its management of built, environmental and cultural heritage across the one development.

The 2018 version of Howard Smith Wharves gave the precinct its identity. HSW 2.0 is designed to deepen it.

Everything else the expansion includes

Beyond the over-river pool, the approved plans include a nine-storey, 106-room boutique hotel to be built atop a substantially upgraded Felons Barrel Hall. The revamped hall will be designed to attract larger music and entertainment events, addressing one of the current site’s capacity limitations.

Two new cliffside lifts will improve access to the precinct from Bowen Terrace above, addressing a long-standing friction point for visitors who find the staircase descent from the valley’s upper streets steep or difficult. Cascading riverfront stairs will create a more gradual connection between the precinct and the water’s edge.

The pontoon infrastructure, which will provide private boat mooring and improved river access for tourism operators, is designed to be flood-resilient, a significant engineering consideration for any structure built over the Brisbane River. The new public realm totals 8,500 square metres, a 30 per cent increase on the current site’s outdoor space.

Howard Smith Wharves chief executive Luke Fraser said every design decision had been guided by a single question.

“How do we create something that Brisbane will be proud to show the world in 2032 and for decades beyond?” he said.

What comes next

The full build is targeted for completion ahead of the 2032 Games. Construction timelines have not yet been confirmed publicly, though the development approval means the project can now move into detailed design and tender phases. The Bougainvillea House event venue will also be redeveloped from its current single storey into a two-storey building as part of the broader works.

Howard Smith Wharves is at 5 Boundary Street, Fortitude Valley. For updates on the HSW 2.0 development and precinct bookings, click here.

Published 28-May-2026

Agnes Unveils Biggest Menu Shake-Up Since Opening in Fortitude Valley

Agnes Restaurant/Facebook

Agnes, the fire-driven restaurant tucked inside a heritage brick warehouse on Agnes Street in Fortitude Valley, has unveiled its most substantial menu overhaul to date, introducing 25 new dishes inspired by Spanish and Mediterranean flavours.

Agnes feels almost like it was meant to be there all along — a street with the same name, a stripped-back warehouse of brick and concrete, and a kitchen that runs entirely without gas or electricity.

Nearly six years on, Agnes has become one of the most recognised restaurants in Brisbane not by reinventing itself each season but by staying firmly committed to a single idea: fire as the only means of cooking, and produce as the only point of difference.

The new menu, unveiled in May 2026 by co-owner and culinary director Ben Williamson, does not abandon that idea. It sharpens it.

A change in the kitchen that prompted a rethink

The menu shift follows the departure of group chef Adam Wolfers, who stepped away earlier this year to take on a similar creative role at Sydney restaurant group Esca. Wolfers had been a significant part of Agnes’s culinary identity, and his exit gave Williamson both the reason and the space to approach the menu from scratch.

The result is 25 new dishes that Williamson describes as a return to the restaurant’s original instincts: fewer elements, better produce, and the fire left to do most of the talking.

“Working with fire is the art of managing a primal element, compelling our team to cook with intuition,” Williamson says. “Our new menu reflects this philosophy, stripping back unnecessary elements and focusing on quality produce, allowing the ingredients and fire to speak for themselves. I wrote this menu from the ground up to take Agnes back to its roots.”

The Spanish and Mediterranean lean is a notable shift in emphasis, though not entirely a surprise for a kitchen that has always drawn on a broad palette of influences. Williamson’s background includes time cooking in the Middle East and years at Gerard’s Bistro before Agnes opened, and that restlessness with any single culinary tradition has always fed into what ends up on the plate.

The new dishes

The new menu reads like a list of things that shouldn’t work together until they do. Scorched Mallorquin toast arrives with honeycomb, fennel seeds and guindillas, the sweet and the sharp and the pickled finding their alignment. Chistorra, a Catalan-style chorizo, is roasted in cider.

Coral trout comes in pil pil sauce with burnt lemon, the Basque technique of emulsifying fish collagen into a silky, almost gelatinous sauce lending the dish a texture that few other cooking methods could achieve.

The kitchen at Agnes burns ironbark, applewood, cherrywood and olivewood, each chosen for how differently it interacts with whatever is being cooked. That level of specificity is what separates the fire-cooking here from a novelty act, and it is that same specificity that underpins the new dishes.

*Photo Credit: Agnes Restaurant/Facebook*

Not everything changes. The smoked tomato toast remains, a dish that has become close to non-negotiable for regulars. The sourdough crumpet with yellowfin tuna and crème fraîche also stays on, a combination that has been quietly perfecting itself since the restaurant opened.

Two set menus and a new cocktail list

Alongside the food, Agnes has introduced two set menus for groups of two or more. One sits at $89 per person, the other at $139, each combining dishes from the new menu with a selection of the restaurant’s classics. The format suits the way Agnes is best experienced: not as a series of individual choices, but as a meal that builds across the table.

The cocktail list has also been overhauled, this time with a Once Upon a Time in Hollywood theme. Two of the new drinks are the Did I Say Something Funny, Stuntman, combining kalamansi, chamomile, gin, apricot and peated rice, and the Spahn Ranch, made with tequila, bee pollen, raspberry and lime.

Whether the film reference is a wink or a genuine structural conceit barely matters when the drinks are that specific about their ingredients.

Sunday bookings carry a 10 per cent surcharge and public holidays a 15 per cent surcharge. Duck dishes are available to preorder at least 24 hours before a booking by emailing seatme@agnesrestaurant.com.au.

Agnes is at 22 Agnes Street, Fortitude Valley, and opens Tuesday to Thursday from 5.30pm, Friday and Saturday from 11.30am, and Sunday from 5.30pm. Phone (07) 3067 9087. Bookings are available here.

Published 27-May-2026