A new life for an Iconic Icecream Factory in West End

Each month a group of us, who call ourselves the Newmarket Mums, meet for coffee on the last Sunday. We usually frequent cafes in the general vicinity of the Brisbane suburb of Newmarket where many of my friends in this group still live. I’m one who has moved suburbs but only about 3 kms away but one lady sold her large house and moved into a unit in the inner city suburb of West End. 

The old West End consisted of quite a bit of industry as well as residential and commercial enterprises. After WW2 it became popular with immigrants and developed into a delightful cosmopolitan suburb. In more recent years the suburb’s industrial areas have started to be redeveloped with masses of apartment blocks replacing factory buildings. So now I’ve got the background story out of the way, I’ll continue on to tell you about the Newmarket Mums’ August gathering. 

Yes, we all met up near Sandra’s unit at a cafe called Jo Jo’s...

It features unusual decor as noted in the top left of the collage, cups with the logo of the owner’s  brother ( well known Brisbane hairdresser who made his fortune  by developing a huge franchise of salons) and an enormous photo board wall showing Stefan with a whole lot of celebrities. 
 After a lukewarm coffee and a wander through the attached gift shop with its overpriced ( hey it’s the new West End what did I expect?) items, we left Jo Jo’s. Our friend was very excited about what she described as ‘a new park’ a short walk away, so off we set to have a look. 

It was amazing; no wonder Sandra was so excited. The site was the old Peters Icecream Factory. 

First some old photos...

In 1996 Nestle bought out Peters Icecream and closed the factory at West End. The building would be used for a number of purposes over the years but a fire on the ground floor in 2013 forced it to close. In 2014 it was bought by developers Payce and Sekisu House.

And this has now been redeveloped as West Village...

The front of the former Factory is now the most amazing tropical garden...

There are cafes along the right hand side and lots of tables and chairs for alfresco dining. At night the place is like a wonderland with lights throughout the gardens.

Then inside the old factory there are galleries full of art...

This elephant sculpture had me intrigued...


Apparently the plans are that gradually more apartment blocks will be built around the old building. I took a photo of the blocks already built.

I loved the gardens; all those bromeliads, gingers, dracenas, cordylines  etc planted in huge drifts...stunning!