Bray is a town with many strings to its bow. Once a thriving holiday resort it is now a fast growing suburb of Dublin, and well on its way to becoming the nursing home capital of the east coast, with 18 premises mostly around the seafront. Because it is on the DART line, the town is a popular commuter area. It is also coming back into fashion as a resort with a number of upmarket hotels in the pipeline and the south beach about to receive a coveted Blue Flag. This blend of rural character, city sophistication and seaside atmosphere gives Bray a distinct personality.
Always a good business town, many of the older shops which sell animal feeds and general hardware have stood the test of time. Everything from a needle to an anchor (literally) can be bought on the main street and one of the best-looking McDonalds in the country operates discreetly from the old Town Hall.
Bray Chamber of Commerce hopes the good commuting network and plentiful supply of affordable housing will attract at least one civil service department to the town, following a recent joint Council and Chamber submission.
The town is undergoing many changes, some welcomed by residents and others strongly objected to. The new golf course on the western slopes of Bray Head has just been given the go-ahead. This paves the way for O'Dwyer's huge development on the site of the old golf course at Ravenswell and a new Civic Centre, hotel, theatre and luxury houses to be built on Bray Emmets grounds behind St. Cronan's. The GAA club is to relocate to Ravenswell, where there will also be 83,000 sq ft of office accommodation and premises for the all-Irish secondary school, Colaiste Raheen. A multi-storey car-park and retail centre is planned on a car-park site on Florence Road. It is rumoured that a major Irish supermarket chain with no room for expansion at its current site in the town will be taking over the entire block. Superquinn owns a commercially-zoned site on the Southern Cross Route and is expected to open a second store here.
A recent survey commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce, The Future of Bray, reports that its nearly 30,000 residents view their town as a tourist area. The Beautiful Bray Association, active for many years, has won fourth place overall for Bray in the County Wicklow section of the Tidy Towns competition - an exceptional achievement for a town with a large population and which is flooded with visitors in the summer months. Bray only lacks a municipal swimming-pool and third-level college now, says Dermot De Barra, chief executive of Bray Tourism. The area was known as Ui Briuin Cualann before the Normans arrived. The settlement was a convenient target for the mountain clans of O'Byrnes and O'Tooles - a great battle between Dublin citizens and the Wicklow tribes on Sunnybank gave this area the name "Bloody Bank" for many centuries. William Dargan's extension of the railway line to the town began its expansion and visitors came in great numbers to take the sea air.
Houses are plentiful and prices are lower than in Dublin. Old Bray - behind the seafront and on Herbert, King Edward and Church roads - has the greatest concentration of period houses and is very sought-after. HJ Byrne is selling a three/four bedroom redbrick on Novara Avenue with an asking price of £360,000 and a 1930 four-bedroom semi on Meath Road with a pre-auction guide of £260,000. Biddy's Cottage, a four-bedroom detached house needing refurbishment on Sidmonton Road is for sale at £200,000 through Douglas Newman Good. Another cottage, also sold by Douglas Newman Good and Mitchell Quinn McLernon, is an architect-designed four-bedroom house on Wyndham Park, quoting £380,000-plus. On King Edward Road, Sherry FitzGerald has a four-bedroom detached house quoting £450,000 and the same agent is selling a period four-bed terrace at Loreto Villas for £335,000.
Three and four-bed modern estate houses are very popular -there are several to choose from and young residents often upgrade within these. Off Killarney Road, you can buy a three-bed semi for between £140,000 and £170,000 depending on the estate. Gabriel Dooley has a three-bed semi on Clover Hill for sale for £156,000-plus. Douglas Newman Good is selling a three-bed on Killarney park for more than £140,000 and a four-bed semi on Killarney Road for £170,000-plus. Sherry FitzGerald has a three-bed semi on Herbert Park asking £146,000. Mitchell Quinn McLernon has a three-bed semi on Ashton Wood for £155,000-plus and another on Ripley Hills for over £155,000.
Off the Dublin Road, south of the town and on the Southern Cross Route, estate houses tend to be newer, with en suites and double-glazing, and are slightly more expensive. Examples currently for sale include a four-bedroom detached on Earlscroft on the Southern Cross Route for £250,000 with Douglas Newman Good and a three-bedroom house on Connawood Drive with HJ Byrne for £195,000. Gabriel Dooley has just sold a four-bed semi on Deepdales on the Southern Cross route for more than £208,000.
Period terraced houses, two-up, two-downs and smart new schemes around Lower Dargle Road are close to town and in huge demand. HJ Byrne is selling a three-bed townhouse at The Maltings for £205,000-plus. With the same agent is a period four-bedroom semi on Dargle Road with planning for a bungalow to the rear, asking £320,000.
Sherry Fitzgerald has a quaint three-bedroom house on Pearse Road for more than £188,000. Gabriel Dooley is selling a four-bedroom end of terrace house on Castle Street, asking in excess of £185,000. HJ Byrne is also the agent for a period twobed end of terrace on Vevay Road priced in excess of £175,000.
First-time buyers target the ex-council houses around the town. Wolfe Tone Square is especially popular and increasing in value. HJ Byrne has an extended two-bed here asking £135,000. North of the Dargle, Sherry FitzGerald is selling on Hazelwood, Old Conna Grove and Dargle Heights from £99,000 and Douglas Newman Good has a Dargle Heights three-bed for £95,000-plus.
Bungalows and apartments sell well. New to the market with HJ Byrne is a neat two/three bedroom bungalow at Coburg off Dargle Road, quoting in excess of £175,000. Douglas Newman Good's new Pembroke House apartment scheme on Convent Road starts at £210,000 for two-bedroom units. Average rentals for Bray work out at £800 per month for a three-bed semi.
Plus
Variety of houses
Sea, mountains
Strong community
Minus
Traffic on main street
Becoming a suburb
