Summer house blues

IT HAS been 20 months since The Beach House restaurant, operating out of Geelong’s iconic Eastern Beach building, closed down unexpectedly due to ongoing financial issues.

On their way out in April 2016 the departing operators expressed their unhappiness with the council but it seemed everyone had been surprised by the suddenness of the decision to vacate.

Now well into the late 2017 summer that will soon become the 2018 summer the continued vacancy of this publicly owned icon can less feasibly be put down to sudden surprise.

How much this delay and this lost summer for the Beach House is the fault of the last council, the administrators or the specific bureaucrats involved will no doubt be a source of debate.

But every summer month the Beach House goes unoccupied it’s a triple loss for the city.

Firstly, the temporary fry hut operating out front of the closed icon is not a great look for the city and for potential investors.

Secondly, the council loses the revenue they could have flowing in from an operator.

And finally the local and out of town visitors to our own magnificent little Coney Island lose out.

They lose access to the shaded cafe, bar and restaurant (not to mention function venue) that come with an occupied Beach House.

As noted in today’s report the council’s shortlist of tenderers for the space is still being reduced to the most important shortlist — the winning tenderer.

Council is not giving a timeline for the return of an operating Beach House.

But given internal works are said to be needed to get the venue fit for a reopen only the most cock-eyed optimist could see our icon reopen this summer and possibly not even autumn.

Food trucks at Eastern Beach are better than nothing but they are a consolation prize.

They also make Geelong shopfront traders absolutely irate.

The restoration of our beach icon should be a speedy priority for our council.