The Local’s Guide to Essendon, Melbourne: What to Do, Eat, and Explore
The Local’s Guide to Essendon, Melbourne: What to Do, Eat, and Explore
Essendon sits directly north of our neighbourhood in Moonee Ponds, roughly 20 minutes by train from Flinders Street. The suburb takes its name from a village in Hertfordshire, England, and it grew with the gold rush of 1851,S when miners travelled Mount Alexander Road on their way to Castlemaine. That same road still runs through the middle of Essendon today, and tram 59, one of the two routes that serve The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds, runs straight along it.
Essendon is known for its leafy streets, heritage shopping strips and a football history that runs deep in local identity. Windy Hill still draws a crowd on game day. The Essendon Farmers Market fills Lincoln Park on the third Sunday of each month. Fletcher Street, Rose Street and Mount Alexander Road are where you will find the suburb’s cafes, restaurants and wine bars.
Mount Alexander Road, Fletcher Street and Rose Street: Essendon's Heritage Strips
Essendon’s shopping life gathers around two historic centres. The first is the Fletcher Street and Napier Street precinct, where the two streets meet Mount Alexander Road. It is the oldest commercial area in the suburb, growing out of trade with travellers on Mount Alexander Road in the 1850s, and most of its shops were built between 1888 and 1914.
The decorative parapets above the awnings carry Victorian Italianate and Edwardian detail, and the interwar Junction Building adds a later chapter to the precinct. Electric trams began running down Fletcher Street in 1909, and much of the strip’s Edwardian growth followed the line. Today Fletcher Street holds a mix of restaurants, cafes and wine bars, several of which appear in our dining picks further down this guide.
The second centre is the Rose Street and Buckley Street precinct, facing Essendon railway station, whose 1909 building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The shops along Rose Street went up in the same period of rapid development, and their arched parapets echo the station opposite, giving the street a consistent and picturesque skyline. A good number still keep their original shopfronts, complete with tiled stallboards and recessed entries, and the strip continues around the corner onto Buckley Street.
Along Mount Alexander Road, trams run on a reserved track down the centre of the road. Between Shamrock Street and Leake Street, that median is lined by the Canary Island Date Palm Avenue: 143 palms planted around 1929, when the tram tracks were relocated and duplicated. It is the longest single planting of the species in Victoria and has been on the Victorian Heritage Register since 1996. Along this stretch, tram 59 runs between the two rows of palms.
Away from the main roads, terrace houses line parts of Napier Street, and period homes sit alongside newer townhouses on the surrounding streets.
Parks, Heritage and Local Landmarks
Beyond the shopfronts, Essendon has parks, trails and heritage buildings of its own. Two of them, Christ Church Essendon and Lincoln Park, sit on or just off the tram 59 route from our door.
Christ Church Essendon
Christ Church Essendon on Mount Alexander Road has served the local Anglican community since 1890. The original church, built that year in bichrome brick in the Gothic Revival manner, now serves as the parish hall. Beside it stands the present church, conceived as a war memorial and dedicated in 1921. Designed by local architect Daniel R. Dossetor of Napier Street, it is a red brick and stucco church in the Edwardian Free Style, with a parapeted tower.
Essendon Football Club: The Bombers
The Essendon Football Club, known as the Bombers or the Dons, was formed in 1872 by the McCracken family in Ascot Vale. After four consecutive Victorian Football Association premierships between 1891 and 1894, the club became one of eight founding members of the Victorian Football League, now the AFL, and won its inaugural premiership in 1897. The Bombers have since claimed 16 VFL/AFL premierships, the most recent in 2000. Today the club trains at The Hangar and plays its AFL home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Marvel Stadium, one of the major venues near The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds.
Windy Hill
Officially known as the Essendon Recreation Reserve, Windy Hill on Napier Street has been a sporting ground since 1881. The Bombers played at the ground from 1922 until 1991, and it was here in 1949 that John Coleman kicked 12 goals on debut. Windy Hill remained the club’s administrative and training base until 2013, and it now hosts Essendon’s AFL Women’s, VFL and VFL Women’s teams, as well as the Essendon Cricket Club. Napier Street meets Mount Alexander Road at the heritage precinct described above, along the tram 59 route from our door.
Lincoln Park and the Essendon Farmers Market
Lincoln Park sits at the junction of Lincoln Road and Leake Street. On the third Sunday of each month, from 8am to 1pm, it hosts the Essendon Farmers Market, run by Regional Farmers Markets. Growers and makers bring fresh produce, bread, meat, eggs, honey and wine, alongside hot food and coffee. The market is dog friendly, and tram 59 from The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds travels along Mount Alexander Road past its intersection with Leake Street.
Maribyrnong River Trail and Moonee Ponds Creek Trail
The Maribyrnong River Trail follows Essendon’s south-western edge, and the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail runs along its east and north. The Maribyrnong River Trail continues for 25 kilometres to Southbank, with riverside barbecue spots along the way. Both are shared paths used by walkers and cyclists, for recreation and for commuting.
Shopping Strips on Mount Alexander Road, Buckley Street and Keilor Road
There are three shopping streets, and each one gives you a different kind of afternoon. Once you know what each is for, you will always know where to head.
This is the street we send people to when they want to wander. Boutiques, homewares, a good barber, and Parisian Baker for something sweet along the way, the kind of shops worth taking your time in. The strip grew around the tram, which reached the Mount Alexander Road junction in 1906 and was extended a kilometre along Keilor Road to Gillies Street in 1923. The shops filled in from 1925 onwards, which is why the two-storey brick frontages above the awnings all share the same period look. Follow the road up to the junction at North Essendon and it turns practical, with a greengrocer, a butcher, a chemist and a post office within a few minutes’ walk. Keep going and the street carries you into Niddrie, past Niddrie Central and the library, the shops running on as one long neighbourhood. With a tram stop every few hundred metres, the whole stretch is made for exploring on foot.
Mount Alexander Road
This is the practical street, the one you head to with a specific job in mind. It runs the length of the suburb as the main road north-west out of the city, which is why the frontages are wide and the buildings set back: car dealerships, furniture and homewares showrooms, medical suites and gyms, the kind of businesses you drive to rather than stumble across. It is not a strip for browsing, but it rewards a look up. The avenue of 143 Canary Island date palms between Shamrock and Leake streets went in around 1929 and has been on the Victorian Heritage Register since 1996. Watch for the pubs, too. The Lincolnshire Arms on the Keilor Road corner has traded on that spot since 1851 or 1852, when it served travellers choosing between the Castlemaine and Bendigo roads, which is how the intersection got its old name of Bendigo Corner.
Buckley Street
Buckley Street runs quietly east to west past Essendon station, past school gates and front gardens. Getting across town here is easier these days, now that the old level crossing has made way for a road underpass. The shops are small and scattered between the houses, a corner bakery here, a hairdresser there, the kind of everyday stops that make it worth a walk even without a reason.
LaManna
LaManna at 10 English Street is a family-owned food market on a scale you rarely see. The LaManna family opened it in 2010 inside Building 89, a 10,000 square metre post-war TAA aircraft overhaul building, and filled it with what it calls Australia’s largest 100% Australian grown fruit and vegetable market, alongside meat, deli, seafood, bakery, patisserie and grocery sections.
DFO Essendon
Mount Alexander Road continues north as Bulla Road, which leads to the retail precinct beside Essendon Airport. There, at 100 Bulla Road, DFO Essendon brings outlet shopping for fashion and homewares under one roof. The centre trades from 10am to 6pm, seven days a week, although individual store hours may vary, and on-site parking is available.
Leisure Heli Tours
Leisure Heli Tours flies out of Essendon Fields at 72 Hargrave Avenue, where guests check in through the executive lounge before boarding. Scenic flights take in the city skyline, Port Phillip Bay and the coast, and longer trips land at wineries in the Yarra Valley and on the Mornington Peninsula for lunch. The company also runs private charters, wedding and corporate flights, and transfers to destinations around Victoria.
Melbourne's Gooney Bird
For something with more history to it, Melbourne’s Gooney Bird is a restored Douglas DC-3 operated by Shortstop Jet Charter from Hangar 5 on Wirraway Road, a hangar built in 1936. The 30-minute joy flight passes the MCG and Albert Park Lake, crosses Port Phillip Bay towards Portarlington, and returns over the Westgate Bridge and the CBD. There are also weekly day trips across Bass Strait to King Island, and evening cocktail and dinner flights that begin with drinks in the private jet lounge. A cockpit jump seat is available on request, so one passenger can ride up front with the pilots for take-off or landing.
Best Restaurants and Wine Bar Near Essendon
Saros Bar & Dining
We sit on the ground floor of The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds, a few minutes down Mount Alexander Road from Essendon.
Our kitchen cooks modern European on seasonal produce. The à la carte menu covers share plates and full meals, with a dessert menu of its own, and both move with the seasons, so what we are serving changes through the year with whatever is good at the time.
Good drinks matter to us as much as good food. An international wine list sits behind the bar, backed by more than twenty scotches, ten gins, ten vodkas and a long range of liqueurs. Cocktails are our speciality, with the Cosmopolitan and the Martini leading the way. Happy Hour runs Monday to Friday, 3pm to 6pm, and that is when the room fills with people from the neighbourhood. The room itself is built around a marble bar, with booth seating along one side for anyone who wants to settle in for the evening. Plenty of people come in for one drink after work and stay for dinner.
Right where Keilor Road begins, at number 19, this is proper boulangerie and patisserie work: croissants, scrolls, and a pastry counter that thins out fast on a Saturday morning. There is a small room upstairs for anyone happy to sit with a coffee for a while, and plenty of people do exactly that.
At 35 Rose Street, part bakery and part provisions shop, this has become the sourdough stop for that side of the suburb. Fresh loaves and pastries are baked daily, alongside a well-stocked pantry section and flowers by the counter. It closes mid-afternoon, weekdays 7am to 4pm and weekends 7.30am to 2.30pm, so treat it as a morning trip.
At 131 Keilor Road, this family-owned pizzeria does pizza and little else, with dough made fresh in-house daily and toppings sourced locally. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 5pm, it has quietly become the default Friday night pizza for a lot of Essendon households.
f'nc fish 'n chips
Holding down the Niddrie end of the strip at 325 Keilor Road, this is flake, potato cakes and burgers, with a veggie burger on the menu alongside the usual seafood. It stays open into the evening most nights, later than most fish and chip shops nearby.
Take 3 Cafe
At 123 Buckley Street, the neighbourhood cafe on the quietest of the three strips, open for breakfast and lunch seven days and closing mid-afternoon. It has the easy feel of a place where the owner is usually somewhere on the floor.
Exploring the Neighbouring Suburbs
The same base puts more of Melbourne’s north-west within reach. South of Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale centres on the shops and cafes of Union Road, with the Maribyrnong River along its western edge. Further south again, Flemington is known for Racecourse Road and for Flemington Racecourse, home of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. Our local guides to both cover where to eat, what to see and how to get around.
Getting To and Around Essendon
Essendon is served by three train stations, a tram route, local buses and two shared paths, so it is easy to reach whether you are coming from the city or from our door in Moonee Ponds.
1.By Train (Craigieburn Line)
Essendon station on Rose Street, Glenbervie station on Glass Street and Strathmore station all sit on the Craigieburn line. Trains from Essendon station reach Flinders Street in roughly 20 minutes. Essendon station is also served by regional V/Line trains on the Seymour line.
2.By Tram (Route 59)
Tram 59 runs along Mount Alexander Road and Keilor Road to the city. Between Fletcher Street and Keilor Road, it travels on a reserved track down the centre of Mount Alexander Road. Tram 59 also serves The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds, so you can ride from our door to the Fletcher Street precinct, Christ Church Essendon and Lincoln Park without changing.
3.By Bus
Several bus routes finish at Essendon station or continue through to Moonee Ponds. Route 465 runs along Buckley Street to Keilor Park, and route 503 links Essendon station with East Brunswick.
4.By Bicycle or on Foot
The Maribyrnong River Trail follows Essendon’s south-western edge and runs for 25 kilometres to Southbank. The Moonee Ponds Creek Trail runs along the suburb’s east and north. Both are shared paths used by walkers and cyclists, for recreation and for commuting.
For timetables, service changes and accessibility information, check Transport Victoria before you travel.
Hotels Near Essendon
Whether you are in town for a game at Windy Hill, a weekend of outlet shopping at DFO Essendon, major events at Flemington Racecourse in nearby Flemington, or business at the Essendon Fields precinct, quality accommodation close to Essendon makes the trip easier.
The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds
The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds sits in neighbouring Moonee Ponds, directly south of Essendon and on the tram 59 route that runs up Mount Alexander Road. Its serviced apartments are residential in scale, each with a full kitchen, laundry, private balcony and generous storage, which suits short stays and longer ones alike. The two-bedroom apartments have a king bed and two single beds, a comfortable fit for families and for groups travelling together. Saros Bar & Dining sits on the ground floor, so dinner and a glass of wine are a lift ride away.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Most people know the name from the football club and Essendon Airport. The suburb itself is known for its three shopping strips on Keilor Road, Mount Alexander Road and Buckley Street, its parks, and the 1850s heritage cottage at Woodlands Park, the oldest surviving timber building in Essendon.
Essendon Farmers Market runs at Lincoln Park on the third Sunday of each month. Essendon North Craft Market is held on the last Saturday of the month on Mount Alexander Road.
Yes. The Maribyrnong River Trail runs 25 kilometres from Brimbank Park down towards the city. The easiest section to pick up is the four-kilometre loop at Aberfeldie, which follows The Boulevard past the Essendon Rowing Club, crosses the footbridge at Afton Street and returns along the other bank.
Essendon station is on the Craigieburn line, with direct services to and from the city. Tram route 59 runs from the CBD along Mount Alexander Road and Keilor Road through to Airport West, covering both of the main shopping strips. Bus routes also serve the suburb.
Melbourne Airport is roughly twenty minutes by car from the Essendon and Moonee Ponds area, via the Tullamarine Freeway. Essendon Airport, which handles general aviation and regional flights, sits directly on the suburb’s northern edge at Essendon Fields.
The Sebel Melbourne Moonee Ponds is a serviced apartment hotel with kitchens and laundries, and Saros Bar & Dining on the ground floor.
