The bay is a popular surf beach, featuring a breakwater at the eastern end.

The suburb has a bus service and is near to the Kilbirnie shopping centre and the Tirangi Road Airport Retail Park.

The south-western border has Te Raekaihau Point as the dividing landform to Houghton Bay.

[14] Progress of the suburb was slow until the City Council opened a tram line extension down Onepu Road to the beach In December 1909.

Wellington City Council responded to the problem in 1925 with a programme to level the dunes and cover much of the area with a layer of clay to hold the sand in place.

Sand and gravel built up on the beach during 1939, and from the 1940s until the 1960s Wellington City Council paid contractors to remove it.

[23] Residents blamed the removal of material from the beach and the construction of the breakwater at the airport end which had changed the currents in the bay.

[24] The Council countered that sand and gravel was removed carefully and that the erosion was a natural process.

[25][26] From 1990, Wellington City Council began a programme of sand dune restoration at the eastern end of Lyall Bay beach.

[27] In December 1935 Wellington City Council approved Rongotai aerodrome as the site of an airport suitable for all types of aircraft, which would have involved reclamation of 26 acres (10.5 hectares) of seabed at the eastern end of Lyall Bay.

A breakwater was created and Moa Point Hill was completely flattened, with the spoil pushed into Lyall Bay.

Surfers believed this would adversely affect the surf in the bay, but the airport said they would build an artificial reef 500m offshore to lessen the effect of the runway expansion on the waves.

The new building has space for club activities and storage as well as toilets, changing rooms and outdoor showers and taps for public use.

[46] Members of both clubs compete nationally in various surf sports, which are sometimes held at Lyall Bay.