Happy Days

Happy Days is a community cafe at 17 Banksia Drive in the Byron Arts and Industry Estate, a few minutes' drive from the town centre, with outdoor lawn seating in front where dogs are welcome on lead. The draw is house-baked sourdough sandwiches and coffee roasted in the same building, and for dog owners the playground right out front and easy estate parking seal it.

The dog setup

Dogs take the outdoor seating on the lawn and front area, on lead, and they are a common sight here with water bowls usually available. Indoors is for people. The playground directly in front makes it easy to run a dog and small children at the same table, and the estate's quiet lanes are calm enough for a dog that startles in the town-centre crush.

Max: Grab a lawn table after 9am on a weekday. The sourdough comes out warm and the estate lanes are empty enough to do a lap with the dog while you wait.

Worth knowing

The bread is baked in-house and the coffee, roasted next door by Beam Coffee, powers the machine. Expect made-to-order sandwiches on sourdough and ciabatta packed with local produce, house ferments, breakfast plates and homemade cookies, with gluten free bread available. Hours run 6.30am to 2pm weekdays, with earlier closes on weekends, so mornings are the play.

Getting there and parking

It sits in the Doust Complex on Banksia Drive in the arts and industry estate, about five minutes from central Byron. Street and on-site parking around the estate is far easier than anything near the beach, which is half the reason locals bring the dog here.

While you're out there

For off-lead time, Belongil Beach South dog exercise area is a short drive away, with Byron Shire Council allowing dogs off-leash 24/7 between Manfred Street and the western side of the Main Beach car park, in the intertidal zone only. Further south, the Tallow Beach dog exercise area at Suffolk Park runs off-leash south of Jarman Street. Everywhere else in the shire, dogs stay on lead and off the dunes.

Pair the cafe with other dog-friendly stops in the estate or back in town, and check the Byron Bay destination guide before you plan the day.