In case you didn't notice, we love our trams here at Time Out Melbourne. So when we heard that advertising firm The Sphere Agency have come up with a novel way to repurpose Melbourne's iconic green and gold W-Class trams, we listened. Campaign Brief reports that Michael Abdel, founder and executive creative director of The Sphere Agency, is working on converting the historic trams into cafés to be located around Melbourne, interstate and overseas. The idea for the café project, to be branded Melbourne Coffee Co if it goes ahead, has been floated with the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) team and Abdel told Campaign Brief that "everyone we're shown this proposal to has fallen in love with the idea and wants to see it happen".
You will have seen a similar concept to The Sphere Agency's cafeé idea with the Tram Bar that used to be parked in front of the Arts Centre spire. These days, the W-Class trams are still traveling along the City Circle, normally taking tourists to Harbour Town shopping district and back into the city. The government has also committed $8 million to the restoration of Melbourne's W-Class trams so they can be restored back to as close to their original appearance as possible, while upgrades ensure that the trams meet current safety standards. In March, a fourth refurbished W-Class tram returned to action along the City Circle after a restoration at the Bendigo Tramways Depot and Workshop.
There's no confirmation yet as to when the Melbourne Coffee Co project is due to go ahead, but watch this space.