The Annandale Troll Edition 53

What Annandale is missing

Street party, festival or fair

• A street party would be a wonderful way to bring the neighbourhood together.

• A school fete would be a lovely addition to the local calendar.

• Close off Booth Street for a street party, just as Marrickville does.

• How about a street party in Whites Creek Lane?

• An Annandale Arts Festival – it has a nice ring to it.

• An annual event would be great. The council's support for Halloween street closures this year shows how well this brings the community together.

• I was sad to see EcoFest leave Annandale and would love it back. Nearby, Callan Park's buildings could be revived – the glasshouse would make a lovely café and the outdoor pool could be restored.

• Glebe, Stanmore and Leichhardt all have street festivals. Ours needn't be as big, but something to bring people together would be welcome.

• Close Booth Street for a day-long festival, with businesses trading on the street and live music – I think it would be very popular.

• A music festival at Whites Creek.

• A street festival or market day where local crafters can sell their work. I'd also love a nice restaurant (not a pub) and cafés trading at night instead of more fast food.

• More small street closures for low-key gatherings, barbecues and music – something casual and close by that I can enjoy with my elderly relatives when I visit.

• We don't have a village square like those in Europe, but a regular block party could become our own version of one.

• An annual family event just for Annandale. We also need a safe water-play playground like Pirrama Park's, more outdoor seating and picnic settings, and a small stage for community performances like The Canopy in Lane Cove.

• An annual event on a closed street – music, art, a market, perhaps classic cars.

• A Christmas street party.

• The Stanmore Music Festival is a great model for an annual, community-inspired event that brings people together.

• Street parties – plus local after-school jobs for kids, such as car washing, gardening, bin cleaning or babysitting.

• An Annandale Food Festival showcasing food made or grown in the area.

• A Booth Street festival that encourages sharing local produce – eggs, honey, herbs.

• A neighbourhood block party, perhaps shared by Annandale, Lilyfield, Glebe and Forest Lodge – no commercial angle, just a chance to share food and conversation with neighbours.

• An annual neighbourhood street party – not a retail festival, just neighbours bringing chairs, brownies and pots of tea to meet and mingle.

• A community street event and more live music. It's very quiet at night, which can feel unsafe when walking home alone.

• An event celebrating our Troll!

• Booth Street's village centre has lovely cafés and shops but lacks something to tie it together. An annual street festival – call it 'Annandalia' – closing a couple of blocks for a Sunday afternoon would be excellent.

• Neighbourhood street lunches.

Wine bar, food and nightlife

• A local wine bar – we're still waiting for one!

• A Lebanese or Chinese takeaway or restaurant, and a wine bar.

• A corner wine bar like Kisa in Glebe would really enhance Annandale – when we visited it was full of people young and old, and the atmosphere was great.

• A sushi train and a wine bar.

• Better dine-in options, and somewhere nice for a quiet drink with my partner – the local pubs aren't always the right vibe.

• A small wine bar, perhaps with alfresco seating, open in the evenings.

• A butcher, and a more family-friendly pub – perhaps with a play area in place of the smoking area.

• A deli.

• I was going to suggest a butcher or a wine bar, but more importantly we need recycling bins in our parks. So many coffee cups, bottles and containers from park visitors end up in landfill – this is something we could push for as a community.

• A music and wine bar, perhaps with jazz.

• A top-notch dine-in restaurant – where is our Ester, Fontana or Sixpenny? And a proper arts venue: a small theatre, cinema, jazz club or concert space.

• A good bakery with great sourdough and croissants at local prices – where we used to live, there were four within a five-minute walk.

• Live music at the North Annandale Hotel.

• A dessert shop.

• A piano bar.

• A small neighbourhood wine or cocktail bar, like Oti's in Leichhardt or Different Drummer in Glebe.

• A wine bar, and a community run club.

• Nightlife beyond the corner pub.

• A wine bar, plus events, festivals or music in the Rozelle Parklands or Callan Park.

• More nutritious takeaway options.

• A Thai restaurant.

Transport, traffic and parking

• A ferry service at The Crescent, and perhaps a monthly local market showcasing our many local artists.

• A zebra crossing on Young Street near Reserve Street for children walking to the primary school.

• On Johnston Street, rear-to-kerb parked vehicles often stick out so far that the kerbside lane can't be used. A painted boundary line would help.

• More bike infrastructure!

• A direct bus from The Crescent into the city.

• Better cycling connections and safer conditions – The Crescent is too busy and people speed.

• Better road infrastructure – parking, crossings and less through-traffic.

• Traffic calming on Parramatta Road, and light rail linking the city to the new housing development at The Joinery.

• Too many drivers cut through our streets to avoid main roads, which can be dangerous at times.

• A ferry stop, as promised before the state election – and how about a street festival?

• Dedicated parking zones for Lime and other share bikes, which clog our footpaths.

• A weekly morning 'bike bus' route linking local schools through Annandale, Forest Lodge and Glebe, so kids can ride alongside the parents already doing drop-offs by cargo bike.

• Better north–south public transport.

• More safe places to cross The Crescent, such as a zebra crossing or lights.

• Faster public transport to the city, and better parking.

• Fewer cars.

• A proper-sized supermarket, and a Johnston Street reclaimed for locals rather than through-traffic – with cycleways, trees down the middle, parallel parking and some public art.

• An end to parking fines for residents on Trafalgar Street.

• A bus from Victoria Road to Stanmore station.

• More speed humps in the back streets.

• Resident parking in Wells Street.

• Better walkability. Garage sales used to be a great way to meet neighbours, too.

Public spaces, facilities and council issues

• A summer open-air cinema in Pioneers Memorial Park.

• Better street lighting on Trafalgar Street from the train station.

• Let's work together to stop the council's plan for high buildings around Booth Street – limit them to five storeys, not ten.

• An event space.

• Young Street (Parramatta Road end) constantly floods and doesn't drain, forcing pedestrians to leap the puddles or detour. I've reported it, but council says it's part of a 'bigger issue'.

• A ban on building sites working after midday on Saturdays.

• A central public toilet near the post office or on Booth Street.

• A tennis practice wall in a park – cheap and easy to build, it lets kids practise and exercise even if they can't join a club.

• Upgraded outdoor seating at the corner of Johnston and Booth Streets, plus café seating, planter boxes and lighting along Booth Street to make it a place to linger – like Majors Bay Road in Concord.

• A small performance stage in Hinsby Park for community performances – and, my grandchildren tell me, a toilet.

• Clean up the graffiti on the light rail bridge at the bottom of Johnston Street – it's the first thing you see entering the suburb – and along The Crescent. The faded Annandale signs on Booth Street need a refresh too. Removing graffiti is an easy way to build pride in a great suburb.

• A toilet in Hinsby Park! I also love the idea of closing streets for Halloween and Christmas celebrations.

• Better street lighting for evening walks, and a simple blanket 40 km/h limit on all but major roads.

• Cleaner shopping strips, especially Johnston Street: maintain the pagoda and seating, clean the footpaths more often, keep commercial waste out of council bins and off the footpath until collection time, and replant the planter boxes regularly.

• A community or town square.

• The TAFE site at the bottom of Johnston Street could be put to better use, such as new housing.

• More community-minded businesses on Booth Street, like our local cafés, Corner Booth and Terrific Scientific – they make the village feel safe and welcoming.

Green space and nature

• A community herb garden.

• A campaign to bring back the fairy wrens! We have so much nature so close to the city – let's embrace it with more birds, bees and butterflies.

• Enough park space for everyone.

• Better pedestrian access from Annandale into Bicentennial Park. The council bought 3 The Crescent decades ago with open-space funds, and access is in the master plan, but it has never been delivered.

• More green space along Johnston Street.

• A street orchard in Whites Creek Lane – there's so much concrete.

• Save the palm trees in Federal/Bicentennial Park.

• Centre-line tree planting on Johnston Street, our own wine bar, and a council that insists on good architecture. I'd support more medium-density, mixed-use development – but no higher than six storeys, as Paris did by building to the height of its trees.

• Invest in restoring the wetlands to what they once were.

• An open garden day or garden tour, and a pet day at the park.

• A green shared link along Whites Creek Lane down to the food forest, and perhaps to the bay – together, residents and council can make it happen.

• A Whites Creek clean-up.

• An enclosed dog park – the closest one is in Camperdown.

Get-togethers, clubs and groups

• More dads' groups, community swaps and buy-and-sell events.

• Inspired by Italy's summer fairs: hire some tables in Hinsby Park and invite everyone to bring their own lunch.

• We used to have carols in Hinsby Park years ago. We need events that bring the community together.

• I miss 'Annandale Can Sing', the casual drop-in choir.

• An annual welcome barbecue so newcomers can meet locals.

• A drop-in format for meeting other neighbours – perhaps for families with kids and for older residents.

• More ways to connect with people my age (65+) – walks, catch-ups or hobbies.

• A local 'Ideas in the Pub' gathering.

• A book club, a men's shed – things that give people a reason to meet new neighbours.

• A run club!

Art and history

• More artwork on walls, like the TAFE wall opposite the skate park, and recognition of Anzac Day at Hinsby Park.

• Affordable or donated art studio spaces for locals, and an inclusive community project celebrating Annandale and neighbourly kindness – like the Troll and the Whites Creek garden, but open to those who can't volunteer physically.

• An art show.

• A marked heritage trail celebrating Annandale's rich history.

• A 'living history' project where long-term and former residents share photos, stories and memories – perhaps displayed at a council-sponsored evening at Annandale Town Hall. From the 'witches' houses' to the Abbey, there's so much to tell.

• A guided history walk, perhaps as a podcast you can listen to as you go.

• More of Annandale's quirky details, like the painted bluebirds and the fairy garden on Nelson Street. We could paint local birds where they've been spotted – a tawny frogmouth on Young Street, say.

• More murals and quirky pop-up art – maybe even a gig in January to launch 2027.

• A 'Back to Annandale Day' celebrating the suburb's grand beginnings, with residents beautifying and celebrating together – a positive answer to recent theft and vandalism.

• More murals! I love the frog mural in Whites Creek Lane.

• Historical magazines or books about the area.

Markets

• Regular weekend markets.

• A farmers' market, clubs for cycling, knitting and walking, a music festival, a music practice hall, and a club that visits older residents.

• Better use of the community centre, such as monthly indoor/outdoor markets to rival Orange Grove.

Community sharing initiatives

• More kerbside 'pick and mix' days, where unwanted but usable household items are left out for neighbours to take.

• A community donation drive where we come together to help someone, a cause or a local business.

• A tool and party-equipment library, a bike repair shed and a community car-wash spot.

• A tool library, a local volunteering board and a skills-swap system ('I'll help with your English if you help me clean my car'), plus mentoring between locals and students, and more connection between older residents, younger people and those working from home.

Garage sale or swap day

• An annual residents' sale in Bicentennial Park – a community clear-out of things we no longer need.

• An annual garage sale day when everyone holds a sale at once – kids would love it, and it would bring real life to the streets.