It's the late-night takeaway spot that's kept Canberra partygoers and hospitality workers well fed for more than 45 years - but the Civic Chicken Gourmet is no more.
The iconic fast food restaurant located at 131 City Walk - just a stone's throw from the city's numerous nightclubs - officially closed two weeks ago and is being revamped into a pizza and pasta restaurant.
It will remain under the ownership and management of Canberra's fried chicken guru Gerry Sanfrancesco, but the standard hot chips and gravy in the Civic taxi line at 2am will be a thing of the past.
There were plenty of crying emojis and 'Noooooooooo's on Facebook on Wednesday night, as The Canberra Times broke the news to devastated Canberrans.
Sanfrancesco - who has worked behind the Chicken Gourmet counter all night until 6am most Saturdays and Sundays since taking ownership in 1982 - said while he understood he was breaking the city's heart by closing the takeaway, it was time for a change.
"We're moving away from fast food, we'll be more like an eatery, a restaurant, breakfast and lunch and dinner and specialise in pizza, pasta and burgers," he said.
"Canberra's a bit more upmarket now I'd say, they're changing the way they're eating these days so we have to go that way too.
"We'll be open to midnight at least and people will still be able to come in and grab an icecream, a pizza or a coffee.
"It is iconic but things do come to an end after a while and now we're moving on to better things."
The Chicken Gourmet outlet on Marcus Clarke Street is expected to operate for "at least a little while longer", while the Bonner and Crace stores will remain open.
But it's the closure of the city location - serving chicken, chips as well as phenomenal thick shakes and homemade apple pie over the years - that has Canberrans devastated and more than a little nostalgic.
Chicken Gourmet is closing! 😱 We’re here with owner Gerry getting the details!
Posted by The Canberra Times on Tuesday, November 28, 2017
While most people can't imagine anything worse than serving food to the city's inebriated punters in the early hours of the morning, Sanfrancesco said he's loved every minute of it.
"It's been a passion for me, I've done so many late nights here, working the late nights and serving the burgers and the chips and gravy," he said.
"We met a lot of people in Canberra and I still see people now, they bring their kids in and say 'we used to come here late at night'.
"It was fun, it was actually really fun - we'd have [radio station] 2CA playing in the background as our music and then when they finished work the 2CA staff used to come down and help us behind the counters. It's been unbelievable.
"We met a lot of amazing people over the years.
"People come in and say 'I remember you from 15 years ago and 25 years ago'."
Working hard among the deep friers into the wee hours for more than three decades, Sanfrancesco has witnessed the Civic nightclub scene transform from dark, underground clubs like Southpac to vibrant, open-air bars like Playground.
Jaggers, Pandora's and the Private Bin were dominant in the early 1980s. The nineties saw the rise of the immortal Mooseheads and ICBM, while the mid-2000s was all about North Bar and Shooters.
"The nightlife is still very strong - I just think it's a different way of clubbing now," he said.
"They don't stay out until 6am anymore but it's still quite busy until 2am and 3am in the morning which is great.
"In the early days we had some pretty bad people, but they used to come back and say sorry the next day.
"That was just the people they were, a few days later they'd come in and say how sorry they were, that was part of growing up in Canberra."
The new pizza and pasta restaurant is due to open early next year.
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