Boathouse Palm Beach and Alf’s Bait Shop in Home and Away to be demolished in $4m plan

Two new redevelopments in up-market Palm Beach have caused a stir among the locals, while Home and Away scriptwriters may have a good excuse to add in some dramatic plot twists.

Stone the flamin’ crows! Alf’s Bait Shop looks set to be demolished.

Plans are afoot to knock down the shop in Palm Beach, made famous by the global hit show Home And Away, along with the Palm Beach Boathouse, which is part of the same building.

The owners – a group of Palm Beach families – will replace the deteriorating structure with a “like for like” build, complete with some mod cons.

If the plans submitted to Northern Beaches Council this week are approved, it will take about six months to complete the $4m project, according to Palm Beach Boathouse tenant Andrew Goldsmith.

The Boathouse, Governor Phillip Park, Palm Beach for Signature Dish.

The work would start after the next summer season.

“Home and Away may have to do some prerecording,” Mr Goldsmith told the Manly Daily.

“Or write something dramatic into the script to explain away the lack of a bait shop.

“Perhaps there could be some sort of explosion.”

While the reno may throw up some concerns for the scriptwriters of Alf Stewart’s character played by Ray Meagher, local residents have also voiced their own fears about what it will mean for the Palm Beach community.

Home and Away's Ray Meagher, who plays Alf Stewart in the show. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Mr Goldsmith said he wanted to put to bed rumours circulating on social media that the development could encroach on crown land or increase the size of the car park.

“The new building has exactly the same footprint as the existing one,” he said.

“The landlord wants to rebuild in the same weatherboard style and have the same casual cafe feel.

“The difference is there will be bigger bathrooms and the kitchen will be larger and modern.

“It is a necessary thing, the rebuild is well overdue. The upstairs is in a bad condition.”

He added that the plans include formalising 10 carparking spots with markings that already exist.

Andrew and Pip Goldsmith were the former owners of the Boathouse, but are still involved in the business after they sold it to brothers Jono and Ben Issac.

Meanwhile, a modified Development Application for a $2m shop top on Barrenjoey Rd, next to Barrenjoey House is also causing consternation among locals.

Mr Goldsmith, who is also a tenant at Barrenjoey House, said he was unable to comment on his neighbour’s plans as he had not yet studied the application.

However, more than 60 people have submitted objections over concerns about the size and bulk and any precedent it may set for future developments in Pittwater.

The approved application was for four units and the modified one is for six.

An artist impression of the proposed $2.3m shop top development on Barrenjoey Rd, next to Barrenjoey House, Palm Beach.

Peta Di Palma wrote that the proposal was an “absolute blight on the landscape and does not reflect the Palm Beach aesthetics that are cherished”. She added that it was unsympathetic to the seaside coastal culture, given that it is next to the historic Barrenjoey House.

Prue Rydstrand wrote that it was a “substantially different design” from the original and the new wrap-around balconies would overlook her property.

While Carrolyn Darragh said: “Palm Beach has a beautiful quaint feel to it and demolishing historical small scale buildings to build oversized concrete box shaped buildings which dramatically alter the landscape is disgraceful and very unpopular.”