Issue #9

Welcome to The Prestonian, a fortnightly newsletter that brings you all the ins and outs of Preston and it's local surroundings.

We are a group of creatives who want to share our love and passion for the northern suburbs. We'll be covering a whole host of topics ranging from local news to food reviews to local sports. Everything Preston, always.

Meet our editor

Sezer is a creative writing wiz who specialises in putting words onto a page. He moved to Preston at the start of the year and fell in love with the suburb. You can see him walking his dog, Ramsay, up and down High Street.

He works as the social media marketing manager for Digital Basis, a Preston-based digital agency that has thrown its support behind The Prestonian.

What are we covering in this issue?

We're highlighting the opening of The Keys on Plenty Road, we take on another $20 challenge, a community gathering in Reservoir, and a Halloween event at the Preston Market.

The Keys

The time is finally here! The Keys in Preston have set an open date and we couldn't be more excited!

October 26th will see The Keys open with 12 bowling lanes, a pub-style bistro, a small arcade, a dance floor and, a 450-patron capacity beer garden out the front of the centre. The three separate bars are all hooked up to northern-suburbs brews like Tallboy and Moose, La Sirene, Moon Dog, 3 Ravens, and Hawkers, and if you're a fan of the Coen Brothers 90's classic, The Big Lebowski, you'll be happy to know that White Russians will also be available on tap.

You'll be able to find great pub fare and pizza's by the slice at The Keys. With an Italian-American style menu, it aims to be the kind of place you can pop into any night of the week to have dinner, a drink, or a bowl.

The Keys has been decked out with the latest bowling tech and machinery while also installing vintage bowling alley pieces shipped over from parts of the US to give the place a proper retro bowling alley vibe.

Bookings are essential and will open on the 10th of October, make sure you get online and reserve your spot!

Website: www.thekeys.com.au | Instagram: @thekeys.leisure

$20 in Preston

It's time for another $20 challenge in Preston. You know the drill by now. We head out to Preston to grab ourselves three items for the workday, a coffee, a snack and lunch. Let's do this!

Just up the road from our High Street office is Winston Press, a stunning little establishment serving up some of the best coffee and baked goods in Preston. We took a quick stroll up the road and got a cappuccino for $4.50. The staff at WP are always super friendly and love to have a chat to learn more about their customers.

If you haven't been to Winston Press to try their coffee and food yet, we highly recommend you check them out when you get the chance.

We couldn't finish the morning without a snack, and we knew just the spot to go to. At the Preston Market, tucked away in the deli section, you'll find Rustic Bean cafe, a family-run operation with everything from coffee, to breakfast, to biscuits and even chocolates from overseas. Still, we were eying off the börek for $4.50. The börek you'll find at Rustic Bean is more traditional than you'll find at the other spots around Preston. It is much closer to the style of 'sü börek', which you'll typically find in Turkey. The pasty is much softer and layered like lasagne. It's filled with white cheese and spinach and will have you coming back for more as soon as you finish your first serving.

Definitely try this börek the next time you head to the Preston Market!

Lunchtime hits, and unfortunately for us, it's bucketing down with rain in Preston. We need something warm, filling, and tasty. We figured it was time to head to Cornutopia and bag ourselves a meal.

On the menu, you'll find burritos, tacos, and a whole host of Mexican staples. We had $11 left to play with and decided to grab two things, 1 beef taco for $6 and a serve of corn chips with guacamole and salsa for $5. The taco meat was perfectly cooked, with little crispy bits for that extra flavour, while the homemade guacamole on the corn chips was beyond addictive! We polished off both items and headed back to the office to finish off the day.

For any Preston locals yet to try the food from Cornutopia, this is us telling you to do it, you won't regret the decision to head down and try the food.

We managed to finish on $20 for the final cost and look forward to another round of the $20 challenge in an upcoming issue.

Winston Press | Rustic Bean | Cornutopia

Halloween at Preston Market

Spooky season is upon us and the Preston Market are hosting an after-school Halloween event for all ages.

The annual trader trick or treat is back for another instalment while there will be plenty of extra things to see and do with spooky characters roving around the market, spooky games like broomstick limbo, spooky creatures, devil dance, dress the mummy, a spooky disco for the dancing zombie within us ('cause this is thriller), and scratch lantern making for the kids!

Get down to the Preston Market on the 28th at 3.30pm for all the fun!

When: Friday October 28th - 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Website: www.prestonmarket.com.au | Instagram: @prestonmarketau

Edgars Creek and Edwardes Lake Community Event

Local Darebin residents are invited to a community event at Edwardes Lake Park on Sunday 23 October to launch a new task force working to protect the health of Edwardes Lake and Edgars Creek.

The community event is free and will include a Welcome to Country, Smoking Ceremony and Wurundjeri storytelling, along with a range of activities to learn more about local water and wildlife.

Families can come down to get involved and learn about Waterwatch water testing, education about water bugs, frogs and turtles, and more.

The task force is a partnership between a whole range of teams from Darebin City Council, Moreland City Council, Merri Creek Management Committee, Friends of Edwardes Lake, Melbourne Water, Environmental Protection Agency, Yarra Valley Water, Reservoir Frogs Waterwatch, Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Friends of Merri Creek and Friends of Edgars Creek.

Click the link here for more info.

When: Sunday October 23 - 10am to 2pm

Spread the Word

The future of The Prestonian is bright, and we want to showcase more and more of the Northern Suburbs. Bringing increased exposure to small businesses in the area, and creating a sense of community by keeping everyone in the know.

If you're a business owner, a local resident or a lover of Melbourne's Northern suburbs and you have something you'd like to share, then DM us on Instagram @theprestonian or reply to this email to get in touch.

Tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone you know, we want to bring the beauty of the Northern Suburbs to as many people as we can.