Our coolest strip, but there’s not a hipster to be seen

Hyde Parade in Park Central must be our coolest street.

I don’t mean coolest as in trendy, no.

There isn’t a hipster within cooee of Hyde Parade, so you can walk up and down Hyde Parade without the risk of colliding with young bearded gentlemen.

I actually meant literally coolest as in the weather.

Yesterday I left for Hyde Parade and an appointment with a doctor in sweltering mid-afternoon conditions.

But the moment I stepped out of the car and started walking in a northerly direction, I noticed the temperature was almost 10 degrees cooler than were I had come from.

Sounds like I’m exaggerating, but scout’s honour, I’m telling like it is.

The area in front of the Centric building is the coolest part along Hyde Parade, which is a very small strip of road that runs from Narellan Road to Parkside Crescent.

The building helps shade Hyde Parade, but clever planting of trees is really what does the trick.

Hyde Parade is probably only 200 metres long, but what a beauty, an oasis right in the heart of our wonderful town.

But you know what? Hipsters aside, it is also very much like an inner city laneway, full of shady trees, excellent restaurants and cafes.

Ribs and Rumps is long gone but the eateries that remain are authentic places, except for just one or two franchise names.

And of course Hyde Parade is also part of the medical precinct that has grown around there in recent years and everyone I know has a doctor or a specialist there.

Whoever designed Hyde Parade, and much of Park Central, to be fair, deserves a medal.

Marsden Park, too, is up there with the best outdoor public places across the region.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]And to think that when the whole shebang was about to come on line the doubters said it was too expensive for Campbelltown and would flop.[/social_quote]

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

In fact, what happened in Park Central is just like what that old saying says: build it and they’ll come.