In Sydney, we call Newtown the mud. Once you get in, you can never get out. Newtown sucks you in. It has community, it welcomes weird subcultures and has ample green spaces. Newtown houses, the earthy-crunchies, the social activists, the LGBT and the bean soakers. It has plenty of room for all of the uni students and, of course, the hipsters who look like the lumber sexuals – with their thick beards, flanos and turned-up denim.

Newtown is the birthplace of 80s frontman Ignatius Jones, piano band the The Whitlams, punk band Frenzyl Rhomb and even Torres Strait Islander voice of the 90’s, Christine Anu.

It has grunge, grit and it fights for its right to party.

At the end of the day, it’s something Sydney-siders should be really proud of. Newtown blends all together. It has a rich migrant culture, built from the many Greek, Italian, and Lebanese families who laid the foundations and, now, a walk down King Street reveals the influence of Indian, African, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese communities too.

Set against the backdrop of art deco apartment buildings, terrace houses and flat fronts, there is every shade of colour and culture in Newtown circa 2016. But as the hubbub gets louder, Newtown is undergoing the equivalent of a gender reassignment.

Rising property prices, increased demand for late night services and WestConnex are all threatening the status quo. Newtown is changing and locals are up in arms.

The death of King’s Cross and the impact of lock-out laws, has flooded the local night time economy with new trade. As foot traffic increases, it’s time to ask: will Newtown preserve its tasty brew of homemade good vibes? Or  become gentrified beyond recognition? Will locals sell up and grab the cash and dash, or fight change to the bitter end?

Chris Maclean, acting CEO of the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre hopes Newtown can: “stay safe, stay weird and keep celebrating ethnic diversity”. “We are a community hub playing a leading role in maintaining the spirit and character of Newtown,” Maclean says.

He admits things are not perfect. Housing affordability he says is a key issue. “We fight to protect the most vulnerable people in the community and that’s the homeless and those renting in the Newtown’s many boarding houses,” he says. Affordability also impacts students, who have witnessed rentals prices inching north, for quite some time now.

These days, the corner table at Campos coffee is more likely to be occupied by an émigré banker from London or Perth, than a hippy in a headscarf. So what next for Newtown?

While the Newtown Hotel on King Street might be pumping on a Friday night, the nearby Imperial Hotel on Erskineville Road (the famous drag show pub featured in the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) is sadly, not what it used to be.

One resident who has seen the best of what Newtown has to offer, is artist and Brown Street resident Justin van der Berg.  Van der Berg moved to Newtown from Darling Downs, Queensland is his 20’s to  pursue a career as a designer. He and his partner Mitchell, share a long and heartfelt love affair with the suburb. He believes Newtown’s streets still carry a whiff of earthy, lefty perfume in their breezes.

“We came to Newtown from Paddington, because in those days a Paddo terrace was 400k and in Newtown it was 200k. Back then Newtown was a secondary gay area. It was always young though, and full of youthful vitality, due to the uni and the prac hospital,” he says.

“It still has lots of energy, but it used to be a gay strong hold. There was a huge gay community here,” he says. “You still see it a bit. But it’s more watered down. You often used to see boys in frocks on Erskineville Road. It is so rare now, that you see boys in drag now.

Celebrated chef Ben Greeno, works on Oxford Street at The Paddington Inn. He moved to Newtown in 2012 to start a family.

“Since we moved, there has been a rise in the youngish couples, definitely more young families with young children. As people renting in the eastern suburbs start looking for places to buy, Newtown provides a good alternative that’s still reasonably affordable,” he says.

“Since the lock-out laws came into effect, Newtown is one of the busiest place in the whole city.  I’ll drive home through Paddington, then Surry Hills and the streets are pretty deserted. But Newtown is so alive,” Greeno says.

He says the rise of gastro pubs, small bars and places to dine out, makes Newtown unique to inner-city Sydney.

With popular haunts like Stanbuli, Continental Deli & Bar, Mary’s, Hartsyard and The Stinking Bishops all opening up in the last 2-3 years, dining options in Newtown and Enmore Road are on the up and up.

The small bar scene has boomed in the area. Bars like The Midnight Special, The Gretz, Miss Peaches and Earls Juke Joint have joined the dots, between the pubs and restaurants making it truly vibrant. Old school Marrickville local Con Rekes agrees nightlife has grown recently.

“Newtown is really a great place to be right now. It has definitely gotten busier. It’s noticeable because all the pubs are packed. There are people lining up and down the street,” he says.

“I love the semi-industrial quality of the inner west. It’s what I live for, the old mixed with the new. That full conversion style you see in Newtown, like when they convert a warehouse or a factory into apartments or even into stores,”  says Rekes.

He also loves the way the casual dining has picked up.

“I cannot tell you how many good restaurants and good bars have popped up from all sorts of different cultures. From Italian and Japanese, to Mexican and African, you name it, there is a restaurant that has opened up in Newtown. It’s fantastic,” Rekes says.

Greeno agrees Newtown strikes a healthy balance between nightlife vibrancy and green spaces.

“For me what’s worth preserving Newtown’s parks and greenery. It’s perfect for us with a young child. We used used to live in Surry Hills and moving here wasn’t something I originally wanted to do but if I were to move away it would be the green spaces I would miss. Sydney Park is also a big plus for us. Especially the cycling centre which has been good for us teaching our son to ride his bike.”

Right now for residents the biggest cross to bare is WestConnex tollway, due for completion in 2023. The impact could be 12 or 24 hour clearways on King Street, removing the buffer between parked cars and pedestrians at night. Locals feel this would negatively affect local businesses and the long loved King Street ‘feel’. WestConnex is also connected to the forced acquisition of homes in the Inner West. Both local MP Jenny Leong and the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre’s Chris Maclean, agree it’s a bad move.

“The Greens are the only party in parliament that has consistently spoken out in opposition to this project. The Greens oppose WestConnex. We oppose it in any form. We oppose the compulsory acquisition of people’s homes for this dirty tollway. We oppose the destruction of any of our precious parklands and green spaces for this dirty tollway. And we support the redirection of public funds into world-class sustainable public transport,”  says Leong.

Indeed Leong feels the inner-city needs better planning to connect to the city, car free.

“South King Street is my neighbourhood, it’s the area where I live, it’s where our campaign office is and it’s where I socialise, shop and stroll.“The WestConnex project is a 33 km dirty tollway disaster that encapsulates the short-sighted, vested-interest, anti-community, unsustainable culture that has infected politics in NSW for too long,” Leong says.

She fears WestConnex will lead to more traffic congestion in Newtown, rather than less. Chris Maclean agrees its is the number one issue for Newtown business owners. And according to resident Con Rekes, traffic is already bad.

“Because I work as a sales rep. King Street is my main thoroughfare. I drive from the city to Marrickville all the time, but I am worried about the huge traffic influx and how it’s all going to be managed. Peak hour right now is already kind of crazy. It can take up to 40 minutes to drive from Surry Hills to Marrickville.” Rekes says.

From hard-core infrastructure changes, to more societal issues, the next big fracas facing the “new” Newtown is the threat of gang related violence. As the Cross closes down and people shut up shop, there is a foreboding sense among local people that loose, raw elements might infiltrate King Street.

“We want people to know Newtown is multicultural, gay tolerant and everyone is welcome,” says Chris Maclen,

“Our #Newtownvibe initiative was a social media presence in response to someone being assaulted here . We set up a roundtable with hoteliers, publicans and locals to map out our response and we decided to host a welcoming party for outsiders on Newtown Square each Saturday night. Just to try and introduce people from outside to the Newtown vibe.

“We had live bands, free popcorn and art projects for the kids. We have actually lost funding for that program now, but it was really great. It was designed to let people know that Newtown is a safe and vibrant place,” he says.

From stark change, to subtle gradations, locals grass roots groups are currently fighting to preserve the Newtown vibe – the subtle things about the place that you can’t quite quantify or put your finger on. As Newtown, Enmore and Erskineville take benefit from increased trade and begin to grow, it remains to be seen if Newtown can protect and preserve character of the neighbourhood and handle the influx of outsiders. Will Newtown become a gentrified inner-city dining mecca, soon to be sanitised by families flocking to row terraces with their terrazzo and lap pools?  Or will proud locals hold on tight, to their graffiti walls and socialist ideals?