To bench or not to be?

My mate and I are looking at starting a gym(in ocean grove if anyone's in the area) and I've been looking at equipment and have a fair idea of what I'd go with, mostly from gym direct.

One thing I've wondered about is getting a full bench press station. There don't seem to be any good ones on the australian market ie. heavy duty, wide bench, good supports with weight rack, plate for spotters to stand on and maybe some spotting rails all in the one bench, that said even if there were I'm not sure I see the point.

Any bench I get would have to take up as much width any power rack for the barbell, and most are about 1.7m long so it seems there is just no point in ever taking up floor space with a dedicated bench when that could always be a power rack that lets people bench as well as squat, chin, press etc along with better safety with the rails and a bench that's free for dumbells or whatever when not in use.

So what's everyone's opinion on getting such a bench? Are they necessary for heavy duty benching? stand alone benches not sturdy enough for the big boys? Any thing I'm blatantly missing?

IMO you need a bench.
I run a small strength and conditioning gym in Brisbane, and proper benches are a must.
I brought mine online from a local company. It's seen 240kg benches with 165kg guy under the bar.

Sticky, which bench did you buy and from where? Also, what do you feel having a bench offers over benching in a power rack? Looking at a fixed vs free bench, they seem as strong structurally as each other, but the rack offers much better safety with the rails as well much more options/better use of space. Not trying to be a dick these are just the reasons that keep popping up in my mind, if they are no good I'll end up getting the bench.

Hamburgler - That bench doesn't have a weight rack on it, if I was taking up space just for a bench press I'd want it to hold its own weight. I'd be more inclined to go with something like Commercial Bench Press

Also I notice that looking at a shit load of different benches very few give a rating on them. What's the heaviest loads anyone has seen handled with Commercial Flat Bench with wheels or something similar, it says 3mm 11 guage steel which seems every bit as solid as the full bench.

I think the biggest reason to get a bench is that it frees up the power rack, every man and his dog wants to bench, it would be a pain in the ass to want to do squats and there is a procession of wanna bees are doing bench in there, it is like all the friday night specials doing curls in the cage! piss off...

unless of course you are going to have a dozen or so power cages!

as for holding its own weight it allways ends up a mess, as plates get moved all over the place

centralised weight trees are much better IMHO