Popular activity now banned on Bondi Beach

Boozy beach parties on the golden sands of Bondi Beach will now be a thing of the past following a recent council motion placing new restrictions on beach events.

Commercial events that involve selling alcohol on Sydney’s infamous Bondi Beach will no longer be allowed after Waverley Council councillors voted in a plan to prevent “high impact events” that sell alcohol on the beach on Tuesday night.

Popular events including, Mardi Gras celebrations, Sculpture by the Sea and the annual City2Surf event will be ­excluded from the ban.

The motion presented to councillors by Paula Masselos will also mean all beaches under Waverley Council’s jurisdiction will not allow commercial events to sell alcohol at beaches until the council reviews it events policy.

Cr Masselos’ motion said Bondi Beach was “not an event space or a venue or a brand.”

“(It) exists within a suburb where people also live and go about their daily lives”.

Cr Masselos said locals have “very loudly” told the council they do not want alcohol fuelled events at their local beach, where the consumption of alcohol is already banned.

“Our beaches are a space of all of our community, and they have told council loud and clear that they are not in favour of big commercial events involving alcohol on the sand at Bondi Beach,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

In 2020, plans to introduce an Amalfi-style beach club on Bondi Beach prompted similar calls from locals to shutdown and prevent commercial projects along the beach.

The beach club initially planned to provide an “alcohol and food service” to beach goers between the months of November and February.

But the plan was soon dropped after widespread backlash.

Bondi councillor Leon Goltsman said the new ban will stop the “commercialisation” of the beach.

“The beach belongs to the people and it should be free for everyone,” he said according to The Daily Telegraph.

“It is not for sale. Bondi Beach is for the world to enjoy.

“Bondi is a small area and there are more appropriate places to have a party. We need to protect our assets from being privatised.”