What do people like about living in Bray ?

anto9

For those who live in Bray by choice ,what do you like about living there ?
Is it a safer environment for a family to live in than Dublin City center ?

anto9

Looks like they dont .!!!

LEIN

There have been many many threads on the above subject.

Do a search on bray and you will find them all.

Annasopra

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/04/03/bray/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/04/03/bray-2/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/04/17/bray-co-wicklow/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/04/25/bray-3/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/16/bray-4/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/16/bray-5/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/22/bray-co-wicklow-3/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/22/bray-6/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/23/bray-co-wicklow-4/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/23/bray-7/

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/2012/05/30/bray-8/

NobodyImportant

I moved to Bray from West Dublin. Absolutely love it.

Easy access from M50/N11, Promenade and seafront are a brilliant amenity, Cliff Walk on a sunny day could rival the south of France, enough shops to get you by. Plenty of period properties around which give the place a granduer feeling.

As with anywhere, there are run down parts and where you need to keep you car locked. At all times. Some run down places and shops, but all in all, its a class place to live.

anto9

^Sounds good .Have only visited a few times and not in recent years .Areas i did not like are the High street and a really creepy housing estate off Boghall road .Area i liked the look of are from the high st down to beach road ,with plenty of beautiful period houses as you say .

MadsL

Lived in Bray for about five yeras, one car burned out and another with brick thrown through the rear window. Fights every weekend on Quinnsborough Road.

Pretty place but full of idiots!

jayteecork

I like living there cause I'm a huge Katie Taylor fan.

zoobizoo

For one, the setting by the sea. I can't think of another town with a prom like our's.

There is a great sense of history and community in the town.

It's just down the road from Dublin city and just up the road from the Wicklow mountains. Good public transport too.

There are the amenities: the prom, the Carlisle grounds, the Mermaid Theatre, The comedy club, the gyms, the pool the sports clubs, theatre groups, local arts groups, a gallery,an aquarium, the harbour.......

Yes there are rough areas but so has every town.

Walk down the prom any day of the week and you'll hear a variety of accents, see joggers, families, people of roller blades, picnicers, and those walkers heading out the magnificent cliff walk to Greystones.

Then there's The Summerfest - I can't think of another town in the country which puts on 5 weekends of music, family, food and other events and an airshow!

I also think we've the best coffee available - the two Italian coffee shops on the road up to the DART opposite Sealife have cappuccinos and lattes for only €2.... any other towns able to say that they have such reasonably priced coffees? Gusto Italiano on the Quinsborough Road is also great.

Food: Campo, the Italian Delis, The Martello, Daata tandori, Ocean, Barracuda.... the butchers, the fish mongers, the Larder & Get Fresh for local shopping.

Once you get involved in the town you really come to appreciate it.

There's also a nice influx of foreign students studying here, a lively Italian community and Chinese community.

A Jazz Festival, The Arcadia Festival, events in Kilruddery, St' Patrick's Day Parade etc.....

There's a whole lot going on once you plug into it.

anto9

^ >>There's also a nice influx of foreign students studying here, a lively Italian community and Chinese community<<

Maybe i can start a Thai community .My wife and stepdaughter are Thai .I come from Central Dublin ( now living in Thailand ) ,but my mother ( R.I.P )was born and raised in Bray .

B0jangles

anto9 wrote: »

^ >>There's also a nice influx of foreign students studying here, a lively Italian community and Chinese community<<

Maybe i can start a Thai community .My wife and stepdaughter are Thai .I come from Central Dublin ( now living in Thailand ) ,but my mother ( R.I.P )was born and raised in Bray .

FYI there was a thai restaurant open for a while at the top of the Arcade in the main street and as far as I know it was owned/operated by thai people so maybe they are still living in Bray?

Unfortunately the restaurant did not stay open for very long

Annasopra

anto9 wrote: »

^ >>There's also a nice influx of foreign students studying here, a lively Italian community and Chinese community<<

Maybe i can start a Thai community .My wife and stepdaughter are Thai .I come from Central Dublin ( now living in Thailand ) ,but my mother ( R.I.P )was born and raised in Bray .

Try contacting the Bray Intercultural Committee. I think you can contact them through Bray Partnership.

Splendour

B0jangles wrote: »

FYI there was a thai restaurant open for a while at the top of the Arcade in the main street and as far as I know it was owned/operated by thai people so maybe they are still living in Bray?

Unfortunately the restaurant did not stay open for very long

As far as I know, there is a Thai restaurant at the DART end of the Albert walk.

I ditto all that zoobizoo said and will add:

The library in the town is a fantastic facility-great staff who are full of information and if they don't know, they'll find out for you!

Bray is close to so many good hillwalking areas-we're spoilt for choice.

Judgement Day

Seems to be a bit of a conflict between this thread and this earlier one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=59843770 ? Much of what has been referred to in this thread about hill walking, the library etc. has always been there but so much has been lost (the Chairlift, Naylor's Cove, The Fun Palace, Dawson's Amusements, the Panorama and Royal Cinemas etc.etc.. and the over development of the town southwards is very depressing. The cliff walk, even the run-down Promenade/Sea Front may impress some but it could be so much better.

anto9

Judgement Day wrote: »

Seems to be a bit of a conflict between this thread and this earlier one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=59843770 ? Much of what has been referred to in this thread about hill walking, the library etc. has always been there but so much has been lost (the Chairlift, Naylor's Cove, The Fun Palace, Dawson's Amusements, the Panorama and Roya Cinemas etc.etc.. and the over development of the town southwards is very depressing. The cliff walk, even the run-down Promenade/Sea Front may impress some but it could be so much better.

I had a look at that thread from 3 years ago and most of it is negative about Bray .One point that stuck out was somebody said and i quote ''There are too many €2 shops, hairdressers, beauticians. " ........are there really too many Hairdressers ? as that is something my wife wants to get into .First she will have to work for somebody though to find the roaps before she opens her own place .She has her own hairdresser here in Thailand .

zoobizoo

Judgement Day wrote: »

Seems to be a bit of a conflict between this thread and this earlier one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=59843770 ? Much of what has been referred to in this thread about hill walking, the library etc. has always been there but so much has been lost (the Chairlift, Naylor's Cove, The Fun Palace, Dawson's Amusements, the Panorama and Royal Cinemas etc.etc.. and the over development of the town southwards is very depressing. The cliff walk, even the run-down Promenade/Sea Front may impress some but it could be so much better.

Well yep, the town has changed over the last 50 years but it also has a lot going for it still. As someone who spent my childhood in both Dawson's & The Fun Palace, the reason why they ceased trading was because of the changing face of arcade games, the introduction of home consoles and the owners wanting to make money from gaming machines. (If Return of the Jedi was still in the Fun Palace I'd be there every evening with my 10p's).

It certainly could do much better and groups like Bray's Tidy Towns do their best but it's hard without support from more people in the town.

I've had a number of friends moving back to the town after years away and many friends with kids still living in the town and enjoying it.

Funny thing I heard during Summerfest was some teenagers chatting to the band who had just come off stage... "so what's the town like?", he asked, "it looks really nice". "It's a dump, there's nothing to do here" replied the girl who had who had just spent 3 nights down listening to free music and enjoying themselves.

People have divided views on the town but I think that people who get involved start to see the town in a positive light, see the potential that is there and how great a town it could be.

Calibos

The problem with asking a teenager is that one demographic will tell you there is nothing to do because there isn't a Dundrum SC equivelent or Multiplex Cinema here (ie. mallrats) and the other demographic will tell you there is nothing to do because they and/or their mates got themselves barred from everywhere in the town for acting the bollox

delthedriver

anto9 wrote: »

For those who live in Bray by choice ,what do you like about living there ?
Is it a safer environment for a family to live in than Dublin City center ?

Katie Taylor!

homer911

I love Anvil, always have. Its a great ol' shop that always has something you wont find anywhere else. When my wife an I got married we were looking for things for the house and Anvil had this fabulous table lamp in the window for a few weeks. It was a bit pricey, but we finally decided to go for it. The shop assistant remarked that there were would be many disappointed faces staring in the window as it was the only one they bought and was much admired - still has pride of place in our living room - this is the kind of place that makes a town

..and I see they got into the top 50 independent retailers in Ireland per the Irish Times last week, along with Mrs Mooney in Greystones

Judgement Day

Jeez, Anvil must have changed since my time in Bray, as it was a byword for poor service which it inherited from its predecessor - Murdochs. Is Ledwidge's still going strong?

foxy06

Judgement Day wrote: »

Jeez, Anvil must have changed since my time in Bray, as it was a byword for poor service which it inherited from its predecessor - Murdochs. Is Ledwidge's still going strong?

AH Ledwidges! I have great stories passed down about that shop. Its still there (occasionally closed for stocktaking....)

Maudi

Judgement Day wrote: »

Jeez, Anvil must have changed since my time in Bray, as it was a byword for poor service which it inherited from its predecessor - Murdochs. Is Ledwidge's still going strong?

Ledwidges..i went in once and asked him for hindges.he just stood looking out the window..i asked him again..nothing..i sorta just walked out...another time he told me that all the surveillance cameras on the main st were there to read chips in our brains!! kooky..but i sorta like him..people know him and know what to expect...

Judgement Day

Yes, the owner has a certain Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) aura about him and his mother used to be in the shop with him. Neither seemed concerned with actually selling anything and you wouldn't want to ask for the Green Shield stamps with your purchase! Even my Granny was afraid to go into the shop and that was back in the 1970s.

Dr Strange

I think he's a very nice man. I have the feeling he's a bit lonely and my wife and I go in from time to time to purchase some ornament or a pot and just have a quick chat with him. He may be a bit eccentric but very intelligent and you just have to take him the way he is. I believe he suffered a break-down some years ago.

homer911

Preusse wrote: »

I think he's a very nice man. I have the feeling he's a bit lonely and my wife and I go in from time to time to purchase some ornament or a pot and just have a quick chat with him. He may be a bit eccentric but very intelligent and you just have to take him the way he is. I believe he suffered a break-down some years ago.

We will miss him when he's gone and the place gets turned into another Starbucks or something!

Probably be in his will that he leaves the shop to a cat and the shop can never be destroyed/torn down

poldebruin

foxy06 wrote: »

AH Ledwidges! I have great stories passed down about that shop. Its still there (occasionally closed for stocktaking....)

They seem to have anything and everything in there. I remember shopping around for a schoolyard-type bell in the pre-internet days and looked everywhere..... to no avail.

My mum suggested I tried Ledwidges, so off I trotted down to have a look - didn't see one in the shop so decided to enquire. It was an unusual 2 minutes describing what I was looking for, but he told me he might have some in the attic, and to come back after lunch. Upon my return, he had laid out on the counter about 10 different types of bell, church bells - (for eucharist), little ornamental bells and 3 or 4 different sized schoolyard bells. How long he had them in stock, or who he hoped to sell them to was unclear, but he had them, by god!

foxy06

U were lucky they were in the attic because if they were in the front window display he won't sell them!

Maudi

foxy06 wrote: »

U were lucky they were in the attic because if they were in the front window display he won't sell them!

Has anyone noticed his clocks in the window?they all say 'ten past ten?

anto9

Maudi wrote: »

Has anyone noticed his clocks in the window?they all say 'ten past ten?

I love it .Where exctly is this Ledwidges that you speak of ?I will be in Ireland next month for a short Holiday .May also buy a light bulb just to look around inside ,and see the ecentric owner.:D

anto9

Its ok i found it .Its 3 main Street .