New Shops/Businesses in Bray

You're easily excitable eh..

There was also a bustling shopping centre "planned" with anchor tennant, the latter at least has yet to come to fruition. 🤷‍♂️

I'll await to hear locally how it progress' as obviously a touchy subject on here.

Nope, are you?

Just back from a trip to Wicklow Town and you immediately notice how it's thriving compared to our main street. Loads of interesting cafes and independent shops. I wonder why Bray can't sustain the same? If anything, Wicklow is worse for traffic and parking. Wicklow has lots of new housing estates in the vicinity but so does Bray....

With all of the empty units in Bray - you would think the rents wouldn't be too bad but I have no idea.

That's exactly it. Wicklow has less choice than Bray people.

I'm still amazed that nothing has been announced for retail in Bray Central. Signing of contracts has been "imminent" for about 6 months now according to councilors and local TD.

The seafront area sucks in all the good stuff and is always busy. I think this is one of the issues for Bray town, it is almost like 2 towns, the main street and the seafront. The main street is trying to compete with a much more attractive nearby option. I suppose for retail a lot of people like the nearby Dundrum shopping center (I don't like the place, I prefer going into the city).

For full disclosure, I live in the town and I think it is a great place to live and bring up children. We go out very regularly, with and without the kids. For the most part we would remain in Bray for food and drinks. I think one thing we are missing is a higher end restaurant, something like "Woodruff" in Stepaside would be amazing.

There is a difference between the seafront and the main street alright. The main street has some good places, like Duff's and the wild goose. Even as a local, I always find myself just heading down to the seafront as it is much nicer.

I'm from the town and I have lived in a few places around the world. It wasn't until I returned that I realised just how nice a town it is. There's nowhere on the East Coast I'd rather live.

What has really surprised me is the number of people I meet now who have picked Bray as a place to move to - not because they couldn't afford somewhere closer to the city, but because of the proximity to sea / mountains and Dublin.

What also struck me was the lack of negativity towards the town from these 'new' arrivals (within the last 1 to 10 years) - they might have heard that Bray had a bad rep in the 80s but that isn't on their radar now. They don't see the 'roughness' that the town had been known for.

There is a lot more negativity from certain quarters in the town than you'd ever hear from visitors and new arrivals. I'd put a lot of that down to them never having lived anywhere else and don't see what's on their doorstep and then just a negative mindset like you see on Bray Open Forum.

The Main St can look a bit rough and there are empty units around - like most towns. That said, I can pick up most things that I need in the town.

Given the choice, where would most people rather go for food / drinks - the picturesque setting of the seafront or the Main St? It's a no brainer really.

As I live closer to the main street than the seafront I tend to go to the likes of Jasmine House, Pink Salt, Katamandu for food. Pints wise, Duffs, The Wild Goose, Adrmore (for the sport) and Tin Roof for some music. Apart from the Harbour Bar and O'Drisscolls, I wouldn't go to other pubs on the seafront. In saying that I have been to Butler and Barry over the Christmas a couple of times and the food is spot on. Highly recommend it.

Also a blow-in of 8 years and speaking as someone from neither Wicklow, South Dublin or Leinster the "reputation" of Bray was never and has never been an issue for me. The people I've met with the biggest hang-ups re Bray tend not to be able to get past their own opinions of the main street, "Fassaroe" or "Oldcourt". As a town it has an absolutely fantastic location on the motorway network, next to the sea and next to the mountains.

I agree that the main street certainly suffers as a result of the seafront, there's no hiding and no getting away from that. The seafront is drawing business and custom that might have otherwise considered setting up there. It's hard at this point to see what sort of business would thrive on the main st. A cinema will be a huge boost if it ever happens, and I think the theater has the potential to be great but would need better bookings to bring people in. A major issue with the main st however is the trouble finding parking and the heavy congestion, both difficult to solve. Places like the independent wine shop that was there for a time, I'd love to go, but ultimately it's competing (for me) with O'Briens on the Vevey which is quicker and easier to get to, and has parking outside.

The parking would be the biggest issue for me. I live about a 20 minute drive away, and have lived in the area on and off for all of my life. I'd happily go to Bray to shop rather than having to drag myself into somewhere like Dundrum, but if I'm going to spend an age in traffic and then can't find parking, I'm going to go elsewhere. (Actually, to be fair, the weather is a bit of an issue too - the covered shopping centres have their attractions in Irish weather).

As an example I needed to go to a specialty food shop recently. I knew there was one near the Main St in Bray, but as I was going around 5pm, I just couldn't face the traffic or trying to figure out the parking options - so went elsewhere, where I knew access was easier.

To be fair, it's a long time since I even tried to get parking. Church Car Park used to be my go-to spot, but it certainly went through a phase of being always full (admittedly, quite a while ago), so I just gave up and stopped thinking of Bray as an option. I still drive through fairly frequently, and the traffic doesn't encourage me to come back. Should probably give it a try again soon, especially with the Bray Central parking. There's still a good few shops on the Main Street I'd happily pop into.

I am not sure why parking is seen as an issue. There are plenty of places and even on very busy weekends I always find a place. It might not be in front of the shop you want, but you'll find somewhere. If all else fails, the "dirt" car park near the Dargle always has space, and costs nothing.

Parking near the seafront on a summer weekend is a different story though.