I’ve long held the opinion that every island should have at least one good beach bar. Like the Soggy Dollar Bar in Jost Van Dyke or Sunshine’s in Nevis, there’s something to be said for sipping a cool rum cocktail with your toes in the sand. But of course, Bermuda is not like every island. As I’ve said time and time again Bermuda is not the “no shoes, no shirt, no problem” Caribbean. It’s not even in the Caribbean for goodness sake, so I’m unsure why some people think an addition here or a tweak there will suddenly make it spring break in Jamaica, which brings me to today’s story: According to Bernews, a local entrepreneur has re-submitted his application to develop a beach bar on stunning Warwick Long Bay and not surprisingly, a leading environmental group is not too happy about it. Wrote the Bermuda Environmental & Sustainability Task Force in a recent press release, “It may help for residents and the public to remember that a previous application for the same location by the same developer was turned down by the Development Applications Board, was negated by the Independent Inspector, and the appeal to the Minister was quashed by the Court. Unless the application is substantively different, it is difficult to see it as other than a waste of everyone’s time and energy to go through this exercise again.” But alas, here we are debating about a proposed beach bar on one of Bermuda’s most pristine slices of sand yet again. I’m not exactly sure where I stand on this one—after all, a Dark n Stormy within eyeshot of the surf sounds pretty good to me—but perhaps the developer could find a smaller sandbox to build his bar on as opposed to one of Bermuda’s most iconic pink sand beaches (see above). Got an opinion yourself? Lemme hear it in the comments below. In the meantime, I think I need a drink.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
To Beach Bar or Not To Beach Bar?
I’ve long held the opinion that every island should have at least one good beach bar. Like the Soggy Dollar Bar in Jost Van Dyke or Sunshine’s in Nevis, there’s something to be said for sipping a cool rum cocktail with your toes in the sand. But of course, Bermuda is not like every island. As I’ve said time and time again Bermuda is not the “no shoes, no shirt, no problem” Caribbean. It’s not even in the Caribbean for goodness sake, so I’m unsure why some people think an addition here or a tweak there will suddenly make it spring break in Jamaica, which brings me to today’s story: According to Bernews, a local entrepreneur has re-submitted his application to develop a beach bar on stunning Warwick Long Bay and not surprisingly, a leading environmental group is not too happy about it. Wrote the Bermuda Environmental & Sustainability Task Force in a recent press release, “It may help for residents and the public to remember that a previous application for the same location by the same developer was turned down by the Development Applications Board, was negated by the Independent Inspector, and the appeal to the Minister was quashed by the Court. Unless the application is substantively different, it is difficult to see it as other than a waste of everyone’s time and energy to go through this exercise again.” But alas, here we are debating about a proposed beach bar on one of Bermuda’s most pristine slices of sand yet again. I’m not exactly sure where I stand on this one—after all, a Dark n Stormy within eyeshot of the surf sounds pretty good to me—but perhaps the developer could find a smaller sandbox to build his bar on as opposed to one of Bermuda’s most iconic pink sand beaches (see above). Got an opinion yourself? Lemme hear it in the comments below. In the meantime, I think I need a drink.
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I have never been to Bermuda and set my eyes on Warwick Long Bay, so it's hard for me to really fight for my opinion. Every situation needs compromise. If you know anything about me I am Mr. Beach Bar, so you'd think I'd dive right in and say build it. I am also all for keeping things natural. That's why I love St. John so much. If I were the entrepreneur looking to build a beach bar and really wanted it to get done I'd probably just choose a different beach instead of the iconic Warwick. Then I would also say to the island regulatory boards that a beach isn't evil! It will bring tax dollars in and give people another way to enjoy the island. It's all about compromise!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
My affinity for beach bars is well-documented, of course, but I gotta' say this one sounds like a bad idea. The ecology of the island must come first, always! Seeing as how the same developer with the same idea has been denied before, I can't imagine it's in Bermuda's best interests to green light this now...
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