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Chatterbox leading Belconnen’s cafe revolution

For many years, the district of Belconnen has sat behind Canberra’s leading lights seen in Braddon, Manuka and Kingston when it came to café culture.

Until recently, only a handful of establishments could be found in Belconnen, and they were either takeaway shops that happened to sell coffee or chain stores at the Westfield Mall.

Chatterbox Cafe is located right across the street from the UniLodge in Belconnen

However, more and more cafes have started popping up in the heart of the Belconnen town centre.

One of the recent additions to the area is Chatterbox, located just across the road from the UniLodge building on Chandler Street.

Owner of Chatterbox, Charlie Dagseven, said part of the motivation behind opening a shop in Belconnen was to bring some of that wider café culture to the area.

“We wanted to have that inner city café vibe found in Sydney and Melbourne,” he said, “but rather than look at Kingston or Manuka, we decided to look at either Phillip, in Woden, or Belconnen, and here we are.”

Mr Dagseven said the aim with Chatterbox was to offer a “cool” space, providing all the staples you’d expect to find at an inner city café – organic and free range food, gourmet bread, coffee roasted in house – without sending the customers broke.

“At the moment, if you go to breakfast in the city, you can’t walk out of there for under $40. It’s ridiculous,” he said.

Chatterbox and its sister shop, the Mingle Espresso Bar in the city, are the culmination of 15 years working in the hospitality industry for Mr Dagseven.

“Mingle is a cranking little shop, which I’m very proud of, and although Chatterbox is quite new I’d like to say that it will look the same one day,” he said.

Being situated in close proximity to UniLodge has also been a positive, with many students dropping in for their daily caffeine fix.

“We’re getting a lot of meetings and study groups happening here now, which is great,” Mr Dagseven said. “The free wifi probably helps too,” he joked.

By Alex Malyon

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