Bureaucratic parking battle pushes Perth cafe to brink of closure

A bureaucratic battle over parking has put the future of a popular cafe up in the air and led to thousands of dollars’ worth of tickets being issued to coffee aficionados in Perth’s south.

Lovers Deli & Canteen owner Mia Gammon told this masthead the next month was “make or break” for the Beaconsfield business, which she said has been at the focus of residential complaints since it opened at the beginning of 2025.

Gammon and co-owner Jake Carter rallied record-breaking support last April after they discovered, only weeks after opening, that their building was only licensed to trade as a “lunch bar” – not a cafe.

An investigation by the City of Fremantle – sparked by disgruntled Stokes Street residents who claimed the cafe had turned their quiet street into a busy thoroughfare – revealed the licensing discrepancy.

The duo, who also run Good Things cafes in Fremantle and Mosman Park, gathered approval from the city for a licensing change after over 600 people voiced their support for Lovers.

But eight months ago, following more complaints that Gammon said were from the same disgruntled neighbours, the city took away the cafe’s dedicated parking after their bays were measured and apparently “3 centimetres not to code”.

“So they’re saying, depending on what car you’ve got, it could protrude onto the road … so you can’t park there,” Gammon said.

“I was [so confused] because that’s our only parking for the cafe, and if you take that away, it forces people to park on the street, which was the problem to begin with.”

Gammon said the eight car bays were turned into loading zones by the city. When customers began parking on the street, more chaos ensued.

“It gets even worse because I was just going back and forth with the parking people telling them this is crippling us and is ridiculous, and then we had to explain to customers that they’re not allowed to park there,” she said.

“You can literally watch our revenue go downhill after our parking was taken away.”

Currently along Stokes Street, drivers are not allowed to park on the road on the western side, but are on the eastern side.

A City of Fremantle spokesperson said a six-month trial was conducted from July 2025 to January 2026 of a no-stopping zone down the western side of Stokes Street.

“A survey of residents at the conclusion of the trial found that the majority of respondents were supportive of the modification and as such, it has been made permanent,” the spokesperson said.

This masthead has reached out to residents on Stokes Street for further comment.

However, Gammon said the signage along the street, and lack of yellow lines indicating not to park there – which the city spokesperson said they were not legally required to paint – made it difficult for drivers to know where to park.

When people began parking along both sides of Stokes Street, Gammon said residents began calling the local rangers – sometimes multiple times a day – to alert them of incorrectly parked cars.

“They target us on the weekends when we’re busy, and on special days. On Valentine’s Day, two rangers pulled up and fined everyone, people were here with their loved ones, with their kids,” she said.

“This weekend ... we were doing pretty good, it was pretty busy, and they sent three guys in, three separate cars pulled up.

“It was like a swat raid with their little lights on, and these guys got out of their car and walked up to the café.

“I was racing around the cafe, telling people to go move their car because I don’t want people to get a fine ... and within 15 minutes, the whole café was empty, it was horrible.”

Data released via a Freedom of Information request and shared with this masthead by Gammon shows that since January 1, 2025 there have been 80 parking tickets issued, worth a total of $6125.

Gammon said the decision to remove the parking spots had crippled their business financially with locals telling her they won’t visit the café fearing a parking ticket.

However, it appears the city is giving ground in the fight.

City of Fremantle mayor Ben Lawver told this masthead the city was going to start “realigning the curbing and … reinstating the parking, probably in the next couple of weeks”.

A city spokesperson said works would be carried out to convert the service bays in front of the café into six compliant parking bays and a loading zone following recent approval by the council’s chief executive.

But Gammon isn’t sure if reinstating the parking would be enough to keep the business afloat.

“We have the option to get out of this lease in a month. We are financially behind because we are not making enough money. We’re barely breaking even,” she said.

“So we need to decide, do we sign on for another three years with this problem, or do we call it? If we do call it, we will never recoup our money we put into it.”

Gammon said she was not ready to give up, and was fighting for the community’s support.

“I love the space. I love 98.5 per cent of this community, they’re awesome, and we’re still a young business, we still have that time to grow … but the community has lost faith that they can come here without getting a fine,” she said.