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 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.

This year marks Shingle Inn’s 90th Anniversary. Throughout its 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.

Synonymous with the cafe architecture is Shingle Inn’s reputation for cakes. Still made today within a central bakery and distributed to Shingle Inn’s 22 franchised cafes around Australia, Shingle Inn continues to use traditional recipes and baking methods that ensure the cafe’s long history continues to be honoured in the cakes it serves.