 There is a primary school (Lyall Bay School), a Playcentre, a lawn bowls club, two surf clubs, and a small range of shops.The suburb is also home to Fat Freddy's Drop, a popular Wellington band.Lyall Bay was earlier known as False Bay after the master of the ship "Winwick" when he misread the bay for the entrance to Port Nicholson in 1841, then the name for Wellington Harbour.