Iggy's Bread closes Bronte HQ on peak days over queue concerns

Sydney's most famous food queue has become a victim of escalating COVID-19 fears, with Iggy's Bread closing its Bronte HQ on peak days due to concerns its famed footpath line poses a threat to social distancing.

"We are choosing quality of life over money," says co-owner Ludmilla Ivanovic.

"It's an issue of distance between customers. it's difficult to ask people and I'm not in the business of policing people."

The line outside of Iggy's is famed, regularly reaching as far as 50 metres down the road. The queue has its own personality, a social experience where the local community and sourdough lovers congregate.

Indeed, Sydney loves a food queue. But they create problems in our new world. Mamak restaurant's famed line on Goulburn Street in the CBD has been more tightly regulated since reopening.

"We've got markers all the way down to the next street," says Mamak co-owner Julian Lee.

"I have to say customers have been patient and understanding," he adds. For safety, allowable numbers inside the restaurant have dropped from the usual 80 to 27.

Operators have been cautious, particularly after The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay was fined $5500 by NSW Liquor and Gaming when a group queuing outside the venue failed to adhere to social distancing.

With her husband Igor in Boston since February helping the family's bakery there navigate the coronavirus crisis in the US, Ludmilla Ivanovic has had to steer Iggy's solo.

"We are shutting [from] Fridays to Sundays indefinitely until we work out what to do," she says.

You'll still be able to grab some Iggy's during the week, or settle for an Iggy's croissant at weekends from its smaller, less busy bakery further down the strip.