A Saturday night table at Masons of Bendigo – recently voted the best restaurant in town – needs to be booked well in advance, but last Saturday nearly a third of reservations didn’t show. 

Owner Sonia Anthony said lunch was “surprisingly busy” despite clashes on Saturday between far-right groups protesting the approval of Bendigo’s first mosque clashed with left-wing demonstrators.

“But at dinner 20 people didn’t show,” she said. 

“I can’t say for sure it was related, maybe they stayed at home because they thought it would be too scary, maybe it was just one of those nights.

"But that’s quite a lot of people, we’ve only got room for 65, so it was quite a big chunk of people and it doesn't look good for people to think Masons isn’t full  – normally we have to turn people back.”

Still, Mrs Anthony considers herself lucky. She sympathised with the restaurants and cafes which were closer to the action and forced to close altogether.

“For them it was a real shame to close Saturday… that’s the busiest day of the week – and small business is doing it tough as it is without this type of thing,” she said.  

Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said she parts Bendigo resembled a “ghost town” on Saturday after protests kept many from coming into the CBD. 

Now she is calling on Bendigonians to help small businesses bounce back.

“We’ve got to be doing something positive after what happened on the weekend,” Ms Chesters said. 

“When the blockades went up all I could think about was an entire Saturday trade lost, and being from a small business family I know how important Saturday trade is.”

In response the MP launched ‘Eat.Drink.Shop Bendigo’ – a call to arms to shop locally this weekend.

“Let’s eat, drink and shop in Bendigo next weekend and show our small businesses and traders that we support them and help them make up for the loses they suffered last weekend.” 

City of Greater Bendigo mayor Peter Cox backed the campaign. He thanked police for a “fantastic job” in maintaining order and said it was part of living in a democratic society.

“Now I’d like to see the people of Bendigo repay and support Bendigo businesses – they gave up something for the safety of others, and it’s important to acknowledge that,” he said.

“It’s my birthday this weekend, so I’ll be out in a local restaurant with all the family.”

Already their are signs people are receiving the message. 

Simone Blakemore’s Sim’R cafe, directly adjacent to the protests, closed all of Saturday, leaving 20 employees out of work for the day.

“Today we’ve been back to normal,” she said on Monday.

“And we’ve had a lot of customers come in and say they came to support us and help us get back to normality.”

For more on the ‘Eat.Drink.Shop Bendigo’ campaign head to its Facebook page.