Legendary Lygon Street deli, restaurant and cafe set for extended closure – again

Is one of Australia’s oldest licensed grocers about to slice its last prosciutto? The grand old building on Carlton’s most prominent corner has been a food store since 1871, became King & Godfree in 1884, and has been owned by the Valmorbida family since 1955. On July 28, it will close its doors to renovate.

Owners Jamie Valmorbida and Luca Sbardella are yet to reveal what will come next but say the entire ground floor building on the corner of Lygon and Faraday streets will be shuttered until 2025. As well as the iconic deli, this includes the adjoining wine store, cafe and restaurant Agostino. Rooftop pizza and cocktail restaurant Johnny’s Green Room is accessible via a side laneway and will remain open.

The whole building was closed for three years and extensively renovated, opening renewed in 2018. But the dining and retail landscape along the street has changed again markedly in the last five years. “Since our grandfather Carlo took over the business in 1955, our family has always been fuelled by creativity and truthfully, we feel it’s time for us to evolve, just as our Nonno had to adapt to meet consumer demands,” says Sbardella. “We’re ready for what’s next for this beautiful and historic space.”

The family, which also owns the freehold, isn’t ready to reveal specifics. “What I can say is that the offerings will keep in line with what we’ve been providing for the last 150 years to our community,” he says. “The King & Godfree story will continue.”

Currently the deli sells Italian and local smallgoods, cheese and pantry items, many of which can be found at hundreds of other food stores and even supermarkets.

It’s a far cry from 1955, when Carlo Valmorbida was a pioneer simply because he sold Parmigiano Reggiano, olive oil and tinned tuna. Over the decades, specialist shopping has become less special.

“King & Godfree is so much part of Lygon Street’s history, but it’s always changed,” says Michael Harden, who wrote The Corner Grocer, a book about the store. “At first it catered to Irish people, then Carlton became one of the largest Jewish areas in Melbourne and you could buy matzo and kosher wine there.”

When the Valmorbidas bought it, they steered towards Italian. “They would make pickled vegetables, they’d go up to Rutherglen and come back with barrels of wine that they would bottle,” he says. “In the 1960s and ’70s, when it was Bohemiaville, Carlo’s son John would have an art and craft market in the laneway selling cheesecloth and pottery. They’ve always had an eye on the community and what it needs.”

Harden says Lygon Street is still a destination, but the food shopping side, so strong in its past, is less prevalent than having a drink, a coffee and a pizza.

The last food store standing is Donati’s Fine Meats, which has been in business for 52 years. “We exist differently, beyond trends and changes and dynamics,” says Marcello Donati, son of founder Leo Donati. He admits that the street is not what it used to be, when people could buy fruit, vegetables, fish, olives and meat during a short meander from one small business to the next. “But our clientele are loyal enough to come specially,” says Donati. “It’s more ‘meet your friends, have a coffee, go to Readings bookstore, buy your meat’. We do what we do, we don’t bow to trends and it’s worked for us.”