Next week on Home and Away, fans are in for a nostalgic treat as the show brings back a long-vanished piece of Summer Bay history: the exterior of the beach house. Once a familiar backdrop in the 1990s, the location has been absent from our screens for more than two decades, making its return in Irene’s farewell storyline both surprising and deeply emotional.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

The beach house first appeared on Home and Away in 1990, quickly becoming a central hub for storylines involving some of the Bay’s most iconic residents. For nearly a decade, viewers regularly saw the exterior, grounding Irene and her family firmly in the Summer Bay landscape. But by 1999, exterior shots vanished, replaced by stock footage of Clareville Beach — the real-life setting of the property.

When the soap switched to widescreen in 2001, production needed fresh visuals. Instead of revisiting the original site, they opted for a different house in Narrabeen. Yet no actual exterior filming was done there, leaving Irene’s presence outside her own home a fading memory. From then on, the beach house became an interior-only location, with fans left to imagine what the outside looked like.

A Surprise Revival

Now, as part of Irene’s heartbreaking exit storyline, producers have decided to restore the beach house exterior. But here’s the twist: the property serving as the stand-in isn’t the original house at all. Instead, it’s the former set of the Bayside Diner — a location deeply tied to Irene’s past. Longtime viewers will recall that Irene worked at the diner during her early years on the show, making this choice a symbolic full circle.

The diner itself was written out of the series in 2000, following a fire started by Colleen. After its onscreen closure, the real-life property underwent a major facelift. But eagle-eyed fans may remember its surprise return in 2013, when it was repurposed as the home of Ricky Sharp’s brother, Adam.

Fiction Versus Reality

While the return of the beach house exterior will delight fans, observant viewers will notice that the real-life house looks very different from its fictional counterpart. Onscreen, the beach house has always been portrayed as a two-story property with plenty of presence, a setting fit for the drama that unfolded within its walls. In reality, the building is just a modest single-story home, lacking the upper level that has long been part of the Bay’s imagined geography.

Why It Matters

For Irene’s farewell arc, the decision to revive the beach house exterior feels deliberate — a way of honouring the character’s decades-long contribution while giving fans a chance to say goodbye to both Irene and the home she made iconic. Using the former Bayside Diner as the stand-in adds a bittersweet layer of nostalgia, connecting Irene’s past, present, and future in a way that only Home and Away can.

As the episodes air, expect social media to light up with side-by-side comparisons, fan theories, and emotional tributes to one of Summer Bay’s most recognisable (and now reimagined) landmarks. For the first time in years, the beach house is back — a reminder that in Home and Away, even forgotten corners of the Bay can return to the spotlight.