St Kilda Bookshop To Close Down After Just One Complaint: 'It's An Absolute Shame'

A Melbourne bookshop is being forced to close its doors by local council over a single complaint.

As Fairfax reports, the City of Port Phillip have upheld a complaint made last August, that the St Kilda-based 'Bookhouse' is trading illegally in a residential zone. 

Speaking to theMusic, Ben Kemp, who runs the shop with wife Margot McCartney, said the issue has been "bubbling away" for nine months. 

"We didn’t think it was going to end this way," Kemp said.

"It's an absolute shame."

Kemp claims the complainant is a neighbour of the store on Robe Street, who entered Bookhouse for the first time just two weeks after it opened.

"...The neighbour came in and said, 'Look at this place'," Kemp recalled.

"I was sort of, a bit stunned. He said 'It’s like a station planted in my front yard'. I said, 'Look, I’m sorry, I'm not building bookshops to upset people' and thought that was the end of it.

"He would just walk past with a sour look on his face. Since then, not a word spoken...nine, ten months ago we get a letter from council saying someone’s complained."

Mayor Bernadene Voss said under the "existing use rights", Bookhouse could have continued trading, providing the owners provide proof that the property had been used as a shop for at least 15 years.

Though Kemp believes the premises has been operating since the '20s, he and his wife have chosen to not contest the decision and are currently looking for a new space to continue running the store. 

Kemp's landlord is considering appealing the decision at VCAT.

"We’re definitely going to be ramping up the online, because moving and setting up the book shop is going to take time," Kemp said of the move.

"At this stage it’s still up in the air."

Bookhouse has been ordered to close by 5 June.