This week on Home and Away in Australia, there’s cause for celebration in Summer Bay as Alf’s brand new bait shop finally opens – but not before Roo plays one final trick.
Having previously run a bait shop out of the Flat Beach Wharf complex for the best part of two decades, Alf (Ray Meagher) was furious when the landlord gave notice of an increase in rent, to almost double what he was already paying.
Alf was sure that the landlord just wanted him out, but wasn’t sure how much fight he had in him to object. Roo (Georgie Parker) instead offered to take up the campaign, but further communication with the landlord hit a brick wall when he refused to budge.
As a result, Alf reluctantly decided to shut up shop. Roo was sure they could come up with an alternative, but Alf had already given up.
“All good things have to come to an end,” Alf commented. “And let’s face it, we’ve had a pretty good run.”
Unwilling to stand by and do nothing, Roo made the risky decision to go to the Coastal News. They agreed to publish an article written by Roo about the closure of the shop, and Alf’s long history of serving the community.
Roo was nervous as she watched Alf ponder the article, but to her surprise, her dad was deeply grateful for the effort she had gone to. Roo explained that she was hoping it would rally the community together to help save the bait shop.
Despite a few derogatory comments, the article appeared to work as more locals spoke up about their sadness at losing the shop, and eventually a re-energised Alf made the decision to relocate instead of closing down completely.
With all other premises in the area charging around the same unaffordable amount of rent, Alf eventually came upon the idea to relocate the shop to the caravan park, more specifically by repurposing an old storage shed.
Roo was doubtful that the shed would be large enough, and instead started looking at quotes for new buildings.
Alf quickly shot the idea down, but Roo secretly tried to rally their friends around to go ahead with a new build. After witnessing Alf shut up shop for the last time, Bree (Juliet Godwin) couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for Alf’s low mood.
Mr Stewart seemed to have had a run of bad luck, which all started with the heart issue which saw Bree panic and nearly cause Alf to lose his life in the ED.
After talking to Remi (Adam Rowland), who is looking for ways to spend his recent $5 million windfall, the pair approached Roo and offered to pay the $35,000 required for the new building. Roo initially bawked at the idea given their recent history, but later swallowed her pride and graciously accepted.
With the money now in hand, Roo was disappointed to learn that the company providing the building wouldn’t be able to install it for three months.
Roo instead asked John (Shane Withington) and Justin (James Stewart) if they would be able to build something of a similar design. All they had to do in the meantime was keep it secret from Alf and pretend they were still clearing out the old shed.
Despite Marilyn’s best attempts to keep Alf in the house, he inevitably found out what was going on at the caravan park. Heart-warmed to see what his friends were doing for him, he decided to keep playing along, but had some fun along the way.
As Roo went running around trying to meet Alf’s requests for the old shed, Marilyn clicked that he had figured out what was going on when she spotted him chuckling to himself.
With everything out in the open, it was all hands on deck to get the new shop ready, with Alf also bringing in Mali (Kyle Shilling) to design a new sign.
This week, as the opening edges nearer, Roo decides to get some payback on Alf by playing a little prank of her own. Forcing Marilyn to play along, Roo tells Alf that the opening will have to be delayed by a further week due to issues with the local council.
“She doesn’t want to lie to Mr Stewart,” Emily Symons told TV Week. “But she doesn’t want to ruin the surprise and all the effort that Roo has gone to make it work either.”
Alf is fuming that the council has apparently thwarted their plans, and he heads down to the new build at the caravan park intending to give the council member a piece of his mind.
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But much to his surprise, he instead finds a massive crowd of locals alongside his loved ones, standing in front of the brand new ‘Alf’s Bait Shop’ premises, all stocked up and ready to open!
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Alf having a bait shop in Summer Bay stretches right back to the show’s beginnings in 1988. At that point Alf was operating Stewart Supplies, a small bait shop combined with a bottle shop, which was first seen on-screen 38 years ago this week.
After joining forces with sister Celia (Fiona Spence), following the destruction of her own store, the pair eventually went on to open the Stewart Store, which stocked all manner of groceries. Alf moved to a smaller store in 1991, continuing as a general store for five years until it was destroyed in the Summer Bay earthquake.
In 1997, Alf returned to his roots by opening up a small bait shop in partnership with Jesse McGregor (Ben Unwin), A&J’s Bait and Bits, but this was destroyed by a fire in October 1999.
Alf co-owned A&J’s Baits and Bits from 1997-1999. ©Back to the Bay
It wasn’t until 2008 when Alf leased the small shop at Flat Beach Wharf, shortly after the diner had just relocated to the same building, which he intended to run alongside grandson Ric (Mark Furze). But he was left to run it alone when, seeing how miserable Ric was after girlfriend Matilda (Indiana Evans) had left for uni in WA, he fired Ric and gifted him a one-way ticket to Perth.
After 14 years, the show was forced to stop filming exterior scenes at both the bait shop and Pier Diner back in 2022, when the real-life location at Palm Beach had to be demolished and rebuilt.
The build was completed early last year, but whilst it was previously confirmed that the building’s new owners were in talks with Seven to have Home and Away continue filming there, it appears that no agreement was ever reached.
The newly rebuilt Boathouse. ©Back to the Bay
Although exterior diner scenes have been replaced by those at the coffee cart, which seem to be continuing for the time being, the bait shop remained off-screen until now.
Instead of finding an alternative location, the show has secured a future for the bait shop by building their own at the existing caravan park filming location—which in reality sits over 35km inland at Kenthurst, on the same estate as Summer Bay House and Summer Bay Auto.
