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Dawson's Amusements demolished
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26-02-2013 5:35pm#1Just noticed that Dawson's Amusements down on Bray sea front has been demolished. About time too, it was a real eyesore, but does anyone know if there's anything planned for the site or is it just going to be left as an empty plot for years just like the ones further up the front next to the Esplanade Hotel, and by the corner of Victoria Avenue?
Also any ideas, apart from the obvious "putting a new roof on", are they doing to the old boat house? Maybe opening up some new shop units?
EDIT: Should have Google'd it first
Turns out it's just going to be turned into a car park "for the time being", i.e. the next 10 years at least ... 1
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Dawson's Amusements used to be the best arcade on the seafront and the Ghost Train was epic - back in the 1960s - but in its more recent incarnation it was an awful eyesore. The old building had an Art Deco (?) look about it and was packed with all sorts of amazing mechanical gaming machines. A vintage arcade on Bray Seafront would be a real draw but I shouldn't think that there's much chance of that.
Anybody got photos of the arcade in its heyday?0 -
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Judgement Day wrote: »Dawson's Amusements used to be the best arcade on the seafront and the Ghost Train was epic - back in the 1960s - but in its more recent incarnation it was an awful eyesore. The old building had an Art Deco (?) look about it and was packed with all sorts of amazing mechanical gaming machines. A vintage arcade on Bray Seafront would be a real draw but I shouldn't think that there's much chance of that.
It was a great old arcade..... Space Ace, DragonSlayer (both the first Laser Disc games) and lots of decent pin ball games.
It also had Sea Wolf - the sound of the inside of submarines coming from it.
There were loads of games we used to play there and in the little arcade beside it - they had good version of Daley Thompson's Olympics and Yi-Yar Kung Fu.
The Star was good for 1942, Supersprint, Ghosts n' Goblins, Rampage, Shinobi, Spyhunter, Karate Champ, Kung Fu Master and Paper Boy to name some of the best ones. Oh, and R-Type and Commando.
The Fun Palace had a dodgy version of Return of the Jedi which kept giving out lives. There were plenty of afternoons I'd head down, pop in 10p and stay for an hour.
It all went down hill when Street Fighter arrived. 6 Buttons!!!! Too many moves.... then the price of games went up to about a pound and we stopped going down.
They were great places to hang out after school.
I even miss Loppy's.0 -
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I seem to remember that the "Fun Palace" had a Ghost train too. That was back in the days when chippers only sold fresh fish 'n' chips, and ice cream was from a block with a couple of wafers.
Even further back, in the late 1960's, I remember the Guinness Clock which used to appear near the bandstand every summer. It was a fascinating, Heath Robinson type invention that used to spring to life every quarter of an hour. There were 8 or more of the clocks which travelled around the British Isles and were based on the original created for the Festival of Britain in 1951; sadly some philistine in Guinness' decreed that they all be scrapped in 1966 as the Gilroy Zoo animals used no longer reflected the company's new image.
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i heard the old boat house re.roof project is going to be a new overnight homeless shelter...needed after that young chap froze to death on the street at smiths during the cold spell..anybody else hear this?Just noticed that Dawson's Amusements down on Bray sea front has been demolished. About time too, it was a real eyesore, but does anyone know if there's anything planned for the site or is it just going to be left as an empty plot for years just like the ones further up the front next to the Esplanade Hotel, and by the corner of Victoria Avenue?
Also any ideas, apart from the obvious "putting a new roof on", are they doing to the old boat house? Maybe opening up some new shop units?
EDIT: Should have Google'd it first Turns out it's just going to be turned into a car park "for the time being", i.e. the next 10 years at least ...0 -
Dawson's had the 'Laughing Sailor' too.
A puppet thing that sat in a glass box and laughed
it's head off for a couple of minutes if you put some money in.
I think it was 1 or 2d (old pennies).
Not showing my age now am I?
Do you remember the gypsy fortuneteller in the glass case that used to be near the entrance of the Fun Palace?
She was awesome, I hope she went to a good home and didn't get throw away as rubbish. 0 -
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Do you remember the gypsy fortuneteller in the glass case that used to be near the entrance of the Fun Palace?
She was awesome, I hope she went to a good home and didn't get throw away as rubbish.
I only have the vaguest memory of that.
Not sure if I liked it.
Was it a freakish looking thing with a shawl?0 -
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flyingmachine wrote: »Did Gerry Freeny not own dawsons
The Freeneys purchased Dawsons sometime in the 80s I think. Could be the 90s though.
This photo of Jerry Dawson and his wife and daughter is on the "Bray Did you know" facebook page. I think it was taken sometime in the 60s or 70s. If you look at the comments there is a comment from someone claiming Jerry Dawson was her great grandfather.
It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.
Terry Pratchet
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