Shingle Inn, City Hall

Shingle Inn City Hall is the reincarnation of Brisbane’s oldest and most loved café. Shingle Inn was established in 1936 by Brisbane based bakery company, David Webster and Sons. The original store occupied part of the ground floor and basement of the City Building constructed in 1888, and featured a shingle awning over the footpath, from which the café derived its name.

An entry in the Heritage Register under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 quote describes “the Edward Street store was a fine and rare example of interior design by architects Hall and Phillips with each and every part of the interior and shop front contributing to a homogeneous and well-detailed example of the inter-war revival of early English architecture.”

The Shingle Inn’s unique architecture created a distinctive and quaint character unlike any other café in the city, featuring a shingled exterior, panelled interior, dark beamed ceilings and small windows of many panes. The café fit out was dismantled in 2002 when the Edward Street building it occupied was demolished to make way for Queens Plaza. On June 4th 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed, gifting the original store fit-out to the people of Brisbane, to be restored within another Brisbane icon, City Hall, allowing a future generation to experience the grandeur of Shingle Inn.

Throughout its 88-year history, Shingle Inn has been famous for its decadent cakes and delicious waffles. Introduced during World War II to cater for homesick US troops based in Brisbane, Butterscotch Waffles served with ice cream or cream and smothered with caramel sauce as well as Lemon Meringue Pies have gone on to become two of Shingle Inn’s most popular products.

With the café’s ownership divided between two families over Shingle Inn’s long history, the restaurant retains a sense of continuity and charm. This original café was the inspiration for today’s successful Shingle Inn franchise that comprises 24 cafés around Australia, albeit with a modernised fit out, but still serving the same decadent cakes and delicious coffee, that established Shingle Inn as ‘the place to go in town’.

General Access + Guided Tours