Is Jack Walshs Punchbowl shop closed?
I heard over the weekend that Jack Walsh’s Punchbowl bicycle shop has closed. It truly marks the passing of an era in Sydney’s south-west and in Australian cycling. Jack once rebuilt a set of wheels for a road bike of mine and his handiwork is a prized posession of mine. Jack has run his shop on Punchbowl road continuously for 65 years. The shop has some fantastic murals, and the obligatory selection of cycling photos, some of which have made their way to his great mate Mick Mazza’s shop on Marrickville Road, Marrickville. More on Mick later. I haven’t been out to Punchbowl for a while so I can’t confirm his shop’s shut, but it’s got me thinking (and linking) to a few little web snippets about the man. I hope I’m wrong and that someone has taken it over and respected Jack’s great work for cycling and retained the murals and the classic look of the shop. Sadly, methinks not. According to MP Tony Stewart, who delivered a short biography of the great man in the NSW Parliament in 2006, the
