VALE An obituary for Town Hall Woolies and the weird little ecosystem around it

Sydney is finally getting the kind of big, polished civic square major international cities are apparently supposed to have.

This morning, the City of Sydney unveiled new designs for Town Hall Square. It’s a $150 million public space set to replace the block opposite Sydney Town Hall with native trees, water features, seating and enough concept-rendered children running joyfully to make an urban planner emotional.

Demolition is expected to begin in 2028, with the square slated for completion in 2031. Objectively, it looks nice.

But there’s just one small irony…

To create a new place where Sydneysiders can gather, eat, meet, perform and generally participate in city life, we’re demolishing a place where Sydneysiders already gather, eat, meet, perform and generally participate in city life.

Right now, it’s just considerably messier.

At the centre of that ecosystem is, of course, Town Hall Woolies. A building which has stood strong since the 1930’s, the CBD institution is responsible for emergency sushi lunches, post-work snacks, Big W cards, and an extraordinary number of bags of chips.

Then there are the buskers. The street dancers. People continue to meet outside Woolies because “outside Town Hall Woolies” remains one of Sydney’s most universally understood coordinates.

There’s the permanent congregation of Lime bikes on the corner. Someone preaching into a microphone. Someone else dancing in front of said person preaching into a microphone.

None of it is particularly elegant…

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Town Hall Woolies has become one of the CBD’s strangest little cultural hubs.

The City’s vision for the new square is almost the exact opposite: a carefully designed civic space intended for markets, concerts, festivals, live sites and major public gatherings, surrounded by a grove of native trees, pavement and plenty of places to sit.

In other words, culture. But curated culture.

And maybe that will be better. Sydney could absolutely use more generous public space in the middle of the CBD, and the current corner is hardly a triumph of urban design.

But there is something very Sydney about spending $150 million to manufacture the kind of spontaneous public life that has been happening there for years anyway.

So, vale Town Hall Woolies and the weird ecosystem that has managed to grow around it. In some bizarre way, you will be kind of missed.

By 2031, there may be trees, water features and beautifully designed seating in its place. We just hope someone remembers where Sydney is supposed to get its chips.