He said the brewery could have brought more life to Oakleigh. The closest nearby brewery is Kaiju in Huntingdale. “There’s nothing else happening in that area. It’s a bit neglected, if I can say so,” he said.
“So having that brewery there would have been a good revitalisation of that site.”
The brewery’s proposed location was an old cake decorating supplies warehouse, with the property covered by a commercial zone and included within the Oakleigh major activity centre.
However, it was also close to nearby houses, with two residents lodging objections.
One objector described the proposal at VCAT as “radical” and said it was not family-friendly, warning of a huge negative impact on the area’s amenity through things like noise and public urination.
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While the number of objections was relatively low, the council still decided against approving the brewery, also citing traffic concerns and the location of a nearby aged care home.
“There aren’t a lot of breweries in the Monash area, so they definitely don’t have that much experience, in my point of view, in how these businesses operate,” said Tandon.
“They were thinking it was going to be like a nightclub.”
It’s been a difficult year for craft beer in Australia, with an estimated 22 breweries either closing or entering voluntary administration in the past 12 months.
For now, it’s back to the lab for Tandon, with $100,000 already spent trying to get the brewery off the ground.
The difficulties facing other brewers may provide an opportunity, he said, with the potential next move to buy an established brewery. “We might have to do it on a smaller scale,” he said. “But yeah, the dream is still alive.”
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