THE Cottesloe Council has supported a request from Kim Gamble's Beachfront Enterprises to run the redeveloped North Cott Café as a BYO venue despite problems on the beachfront with alcohol consumption.
Town of Cottesloe CEO Barry Austin said the council would support the change of lease terms for the café on the redeveloped site.
"The tender is essentially about the building, the operations are part of the lease, and at any stage there are always going to be negotiations around the lease details," Mr Austin said.
The original tender for a low-cost informal café and kiosk for families and young people did not include any provision for alcohol.
Mr Austin was very clear that the BYO licence was not a stepping stone for the North Cott Café site to become a licensed venue
"It is very clear and distinct, it will not be a licensed venue, there are plenty of licensed venues on the beachfront and there are enough troubles with those," he said.
Mr Gamble said that in the original tender nothing was mentioned about alcohol, apart from that you wouldn't be able to sell it.
"Any place can be BYO, trying to prohibit it under the lease makes you the controller of other people's morals," he said.
"The whole nature of these cafes don't lend themselves to heavy consumption.".
The council is currently formulating a strategy to address beachfront drinking and unruly behaviour, allegedly emanating from the Ocean Beach Hotel and the Cottesloe Hotel.
"The agenda is set to discuss behavioural problems on the beach-front and how that impacts on the residents," Mr Austin said.
"The evidence suggests it is a behavioural problem rather than a licensing problem.
"I think it's more of a policing problem on the beachfront."
A public meeting with residents, police, hotel owners and the public is planned for March to discuss possible solutions to the alleged antisocial behaviour.
Mr Austin said legal action against the hotels on the beachfront would be the very last resort.
