Wollongong's small bar group is stepping back in time with a new takeaway place that comes served with a hefty side of nostalgia.
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Lower Crown Street noshery Glory Days, neighbouring Zambrero's, is designed as a homage to the classic 1980s/90s Aussie takeaway fish and chip shop, complete with yesteryear decor, pineapple fritters and burgers that had better include beetroot and yet more pineapple.
The venture is by Ben Abraham, Luke Symons and Scott Mileto, all former Orange, NSW, school kids who moved to Wollongong and went on to make the city's burgeoning small bar set, Good Times Only Group.
Mr Abraham said Glory Days was intended to mimic the ambience of his boyhood takeaway place, Stan's, where he went for "chips after school".
"We're doing all the the nostalgic classics of our childhood," Mr Abraham said.
"Everyone's always talking aout the Glory Days - the good old days, how things were better back then, and that's the whole vibe of things here.
"Right now we're focused on making sure people get pineapple on everything!"
Now with four Wollongong venues (Howlin' Wolf Bar, Dagwood Bar + Kitchen, The Prince, and Port Kembla's The Iron Yampi), plus Bud's at Huskisson and Washington & Co in Orange, Glory Days is the group's first foray into takeaway.
"While we love and respect everything that's modern and new about food, sometimes you really just want a good old classic hamburger with the lot. It's that simple, real food that you punch out quick," Mr Abraham said.
Much of the look and feel of Glory Days is down to Wollongong bespoke brand identity guru Kat Turner, of Good Lucky.
There are tray liners with authentic advertisements lifted from the past three decades, Wollongong's Piccadilly Centre and Surfside Motel among them.
"We always try to have an authentic voice in all we do. The [Iron] Yampi, for instance, is heavy on the history of Port Kembla and the steelworks," Mr Abraham said.
Taking pride of place in the fitout is the original sign for Wollongong's storied live music venue, the Oxford Tavern, which stood three doors away until its 2010 closure.
The sign featured in the 2014 Steel City Sound exhibition curated by Illawarra musician Warren Wheeler at Wollongong Arty Gallery. The story of how it came into the hands of the Good Times Only Group is a little cloudy.
"For whatever reason, after it had been outside the art gallery for three or four months, it was just left behind," Mr Abraham said.
"We decided it wasn't really right to put it up in the Wolf. The Oxford is such a cultural institution, so firmly embedded in the mind of the Illawarra, and we didn't do live music, so it didn't seem right.
"We held onto it until the right moment.
"We're three doors down from the original Oxford Tavern site. We pulled it out and cleaned it up and here we are."
The sign has become a conversation piece, sparking lots of questions from people who expect it to be a replica.
Mr Abraham described Wollongong's current hospitality scene as "incredibly vibrant" and said diners had become spoilt for choice.
How said there were no plans to expand the Good Times empire, though sometimes new opportunities had been known to surprise him.
"I said [no more venues] last time and three months later, here we are. We love what we do we're fortunate we get to go to work every day and do what we love. We love Wollongong and we're fully engrained here so what's next - who knows?"