Gather

Gather is a community-focused specialty coffee cafe at 28 Hodgson Street, Ocean Grove, a short walk from the main strip on The Terrace. It opens at 6am, which makes it a fixture of the local early dog-walk circuit, and dogs are a regular sight settled at the outdoor tables while their owners get their Common Folk fix.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome at the outdoor seating out the front, and on a normal morning you will usually have dog-company nearby. Water bowls are generally put out, but pack a portable one on busy mornings when the bowls may have walked off. Keep your dog leashed and out of the doorway flow, because the counter does a steady takeaway trade in the early hours.

Worth knowing

The coffee is Common Folk, the Mornington Peninsula roaster, and the calm green interior and community feel have earned it a spotless local rating. Alongside the coffee there is high-grade matcha, chai and hot chocolate, and the counter carries pastries and rotating baked goods for a quick breakfast. This is a slow-brew kind of stop rather than a big sit-down brunch: the whole operation runs mornings only, 6am to midday Monday through Saturday, and 6am to 10am on Sundays.

Getting there and parking

Hodgson Street runs parallel to the town's main shopping strip, and street parking is usually available along it and the surrounding blocks. It is an easy walk from The Terrace shops, and flat all the way down to the coast if you want to make the coffee the first stop on a beach walk.

Close by with the dogs

The Barwon Coast off-leash stretch of Ocean Grove Beach runs near the Hodgson Street ramp, with signs marking where the year-round off-lead zone starts and stops, so check the signage before unclipping. Dawn Cafe across on the Ocean Grove foreshore is the other stand-out dog stop in town, and Red Park on the same street is worth a second coffee. More options sit in the Ocean Grove guide and across Victoria.