12/08/2026
THEN & NOW: A walk down Spensley Street 🚶♀️🚶🏽♂️🚶🏾
Part 2 | Shops, Stories & Roundabouts
Our journey through the history of Spensley Street continues…
As we approach the next roundabout, more familiar homes reveal fascinating former lives…
This charming weatherboard house once operated as Sally May’s Drapery and the local State Savings Bank Agency, while further along stood Hoey’s Grocer and Produce Merchant, serving generations of local families.
Across the road, this striking corner building has reinvented itself many times over the years. It has sold fabric, hardware and bicycles, and even housed a photographer’s studio. One of its most memorable businesses was Rendal Cycles—named after owner Mr Ladner, with his surname cleverly spelled backwards! 🚲
It’s remarkable how many stories can be hidden behind the buildings we pass every day….
This distinctive red brick building has lived many lives too. It began as a hairdresser with a billiard saloon tucked away at the back before later becoming a clothing factory, and eventually a printing business. 🎱
Soon we arrive at one of Clifton Hill’s best-known corners.
Today’s pizza shop occupies the historic Centreway building, but before pizza there was Spensleys Restaurant, Setter’s Café, a Hot Bread Kitchen, a chemist, hardware store, post office branch and bank agency. Many former SSPS families will remember fundraising dinners—and even Year 6 celebrations—held there over the years.
Next stop… the Royal Hotel and the final stretch to Clifton Hill Station.
Have you or your family lived, worked or shopped along Spensley Street? We’d love to hear your memories in the comments!
