Lockdown transforms Newtown from foodie hub to ghost town

Crowded or deserted, Sydney's beaches have been the topic on everyone's lips during the coronavirus-induced shutdown.

But numbers in other popular areas of the city have been quietly decimated, such as the usually bustling foodie hub of Newtown.

Photographer and resident Christopher Pearce has spent the past few weeks documenting the area's transformation.

"A lot of people come to Newtown for food and drink," Pearce said. "Without that surge and without restaurants and bars being open, I assumed Newtown would turn into a ghost town."

He said it has been "pretty desolate late at night" although people are slowly beginning to return as they tire of heavy restrictions on movement.

"I reckon it's had a little bit of a bounce back with people coming to do some shopping."

Pearce said the shutdown has seen the area become swamped by an army of food delivery riders.

"They're everywhere, there's more Uber Eats delivery drivers in Newtown than people wandering the streets."

While much of Australia was panic-buying toilet paper and pasta, Pearce said the local shortage was a little more niche.

"In Newtown it was tofu that ran out – it's such a little bubble in the world."

Jenny Spyridis is the co-owner of The Italian Bowl, a popular restaurant on King Street which usually has queues out the door. She described the area as "dreary" since the onset of coronavirus.

"The street is like a ghost city," Spyridis said. "It used to be hustle and bustle, people pushing into each other. Now there's not many people.

"It's quiet apart from the ambulances. That will never change."

The restaurant relies on dine-in guests for the majority of its revenue, with home delivery and pick-up orders forming about 40 per cent of turnover. It's a significant hit for one of Newtown's institutions.

Gelato Messina founder Declan Lee said the outlook in Newtown and other parts of the city is "pretty dire".

"Newtown is a really hard one to explain – it's a really sensitive area in the way it reacts. I think people got pretty scared. [But] there is nowhere that isn't badly affected."

Lee has seen turnover drop by 60 per cent, and while ice-cream delivery is up four-fold, it's coming off such a low base that it doesn't replace lost income from in-store purchases.

He's less optimistic about the road to recovery, predicting it will be "a long haul back".

"People are going to be anxious. I really don't think it's going to be an exponential return to business."