Young couple need advice on moving to Bray

TomNg12

Hello,

We're a young couple who have lived in Dublin for 7 years, and finally about to purchase our first home.

Bray looks like a really decent area, and we have viewed a few houses there. Can you please kindly give me an updated opinion about some areas below? I've read all about them here, but they're a bit old, so any new updates would be great!

1. Ripley Court. Our first impression is this is a really nice area, what do you think?
2. Kilbride Grove. According to this link: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055247807/moving-to-bray/p1, Kilbride Grove is a "bad" area. I'm surprised because it is actually very close to Ripley Court/ Ripley Hill (like 5 minutes walk only). Can you please kindly advise?
3. Woodbrook Lawn, Boghall Road: within Old Court (which I presume is the old council estate?). I've heard mixed opinions about this in particular.
4. Elgin Heights: a bit further down the road and have 3 houses up for sale. Any advice about this?

Thanks a lot everyone!

Tom

murpho999

My advice is to go yourself a few times and have a look around the estates, areas and people.

Look what's around, facilities, roads, shops. schools etc and see if meets your needs.

Coming on here and asking people to offer opinions on areas that are often misinformed and tainted by snobbery is just wrong in my opinion and can be very misleading. For example I've seen a few threads on Boards about Bray by people who think they know the town and they call the whole town rough and no go area at night etc when the that is no where near the truth.

As for updates, what type of updates do you expect? An old council estate will always be an old council estate and also don't understand why you're surprised that a council estate next to a "good area" as you call it would be a bad area. There'd be different social classes living there but it doesn't make it bad.

Bray is a great town to live in, with facilities improving (Bray Central opening up),good transport links etc.

Any negatives in the town are far outweighed by the positives and I think you should check it out and if you like a house then realise it's most likely a "good area". Best to go with your own intuition than depend on viewpoint of an internet stranger.

Hope this helps and best of luck. As I said you will love living in Bray.

TomNg12

Hi, thanks for your reply. We did indeed go there a few times already and do have a few impressions regarding the areas, but I guess hearing opinions from people who have actually lived there is quite beneficial.

Were you mentioning Kilbride Grove was a council estate? I actually didn't know that. I also don't mean it's a bad area, it's the person in the link I included above said it, so I just want to confirm if what he said is true. I have visited Kilbride Grove and found it quite fine personally.

Thanks again for your opinion!

Richard Hillman

I think the areas in bray to avoid are the Old Conna estates (known as Fossaroe) and Oldcourt. Some estates are close but would be grand because they are deep cul de sacs with no access from those areas mentioned.

The subtle things to look out for moving to any estate really are speed bumps, youth clubs, boxing clubs, the constant hum of dogs barking, people beeping their car horn when they see people they know, lack of trees, does the nearest shop have security guards, flags on lamp posts, graffiti that references Garda or Rats.

TomNg12

That's actually very sensible advice esp the subtle signs, thank you very much :)

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975874#Comment_118975874

Now that’s the snobbery I’m taking about. Speed bumps are signs of rough areas now? Better not go to Strand Road in Sandymount so.

Richard Hillman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118975980#Comment_118975980

I'm just describing my own area. Apart from speed bumps, we don't have them in my estate.

murpho999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118976171#Comment_118976171

Speed bumps are more to do with length and straightness of road and also access points. If an area links two major roads it can become a rat run with commuters taking shortcuts so you'll see speed bumps on the roads regardless of the area.

For example that's why Lower Dargle Road has them,outside of Bray, I drive through Woodbine Road every day (Right beside Montrose/UCD), very nice, well to do area but the road is full of speed bumps because of people using it as a short cut.

Other estates might have them for safety reasons to protect kids out playing etc and to say they're a sign of a rough area is just snobbery in my opinion.

Alun

Yes, the speed bump criterion is nonsense. There are two in my, very quiet and peaceful, estate for example.

As others have said, just visit the areas you're interested in at different times of the day, and get a feel for them. It's difficult to say what exactly to look out for objectively, it'd be more of a subjective thing, a gut feeling as it were.

fjon

One thing I would say having lived in a couple of places in Bray - I would try to get somewhere closer to town/ seafront if you can. I grew up in just about the furthest estate from the town and the 30 min walk from the Dart station was a complete pain. Now living much closer to Main St. and the Dart station it makes a huge difference.

Out of the above listed ones I'd lean towards Woodbrook Lawn based on location. I would probably not go with Elgin Heights - even though it's a fine estate it's just a long boring walk to get to anywhere interesting.

Alun

That's a very good point. I too live a good 30 minutes from the sea front by foot, and not only that, it's uphill on the way back! I have a friend who lives in Seacrest and he can be on the sea front in 10 minutes.

Bray is a great spot, I blew in to North Wicklow from South Dublin a number of years ago with the main motivator for moving there being the house itself and amenities Bray has. It's so close to Dublin too which is cool.

Bray has loads of diversity, close to the sea and some really nice houses and places to live around. Loads of good parts, some you'd rather avoid like anywhere tbh and in my years living here, I've never gone to them. A council estate is a council estate no matter where you are really, no offence to anyone but like a town is a town and Bray is a pretty big town with different house prices around. Main Street is a bit ****/tacky at times but to be totally honest, it's helped me out with things more often than not; Specsavers, dentist, GameStop, Lifestyle and I'm really looking forward to the Stella, that will be an unreal addition. The only thing I'm not happy with in Bray are the schools, they're a bit meh I think but I need to do more research, having said that there's still more options than Greystones. If you do move to Bray, get yourself a bike as it's the best way to get around the town and if you see a beautiful house up the Killarney Road etc you can just cycle down to Seafront in minutes tbh without worrying too much about a 2k walk to the sea.

On that note, Bray has got more going for it than it's overhyped neighbour Greystones to be totally honest, better transport options (more frequent Dart service) to Dublin, way better bars and restaurants (though I do love the hungry monk and the tapas spot in Greystones), a much nicer promenade in Bray, soon to be the Stella cinema and sea swimmers who just get on with it and go for a swim every day without the same people having to tell everyone on Instagram about it over and over and over 🤣😂🤣😂. Greystones a great spot too in parts and has some lovely houses near the village but nowadays I find it's way too overpopulated, sprawled out and busy and chaotic. And they've wrecked their harbour! Original, old school Greystones heads would totally agree with me.

Barnaboy

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Lefty2Guns

Bumping this thread. Living in Bray 5 years, moved from South County Dublin. Me and my partner love it here and can't see ourselves living anywhere else in Ireland due to the ammenities available in the area and the ease of getting in and out of Dublin City on public transport when needed.

As one poster mentioned above, location is key to be honest. I live down by the Peoples Park and its great having the seafront, harbour and park on your doorstep.

Barnaboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119354686#Comment_119354686

Just about to move to Bray for exactly the same reasons. We're really excited about it. The whole conveyancing process is criminally slow in this country. Hope to finally get in the next 4-6 weeks.

Lefty2Guns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119384243#Comment_119384243

Good luck with your move to Bray, we have no regrets moving here.

My sister is waiting to get her keys to her own place shortly and my mate got his keys for a place around the corner from me last week.

BalcombeSt4

Kilbride is fine, I go to the post office & dry cleaners beside it once a week. Maybe it's because someone was murdered there in a gangland hit about 15 years ago. Oldcourt isn't as bad as it was 15 - 20 years ago, but Oldcourt drive is still a bit rough, no physical danger, but a lot of drug dealing.

The only places I would suggest you avoid are Ballywaltrim estate which is a cross the road from St, Fergals church & like already said Fassaroe.

SlipperyPeople

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119354686#Comment_119354686

Echoing this - We're a young couple first time buyers who have just bought down by the park as well. It's really great, especially with the great weather strolling to the park / seafront in 10-12 mins is amazing.

Lefty2Guns

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452808#Comment_119452808

Thats great to hear.