New Shops/Businesses in Bray

I strongly disagree. Wowburger charged high prices for what it was, a fast food joint and the quality was not that good.

Elephant and Castle, was great when first launched in the 90s but has now become formulaic.

Stella, yes the concept is great, and the screen in Rathmines is beautiful, but €21 to watch Ryan's Daughter or On The Waterfront is excessive and a cash grab. Tonight's showing of Michael is €23 Add on a very expensive bar and snacks then you see what Press Up group where all about and why they're struggling. Lots of seats available tonight.

I don't get your point about Dunnes, there can be many reasons for poor buildings. Do they own where they occupy? But your claims to me are whataboutery.

Either way I think it's better for Bray that a normal cinema, that appears to have good fit outs, with normal mainstream films at reasonable prices ranging from €7.50 to €14.50 is much better than a luxurious cash grab that would have been empty after initial curiosity.

Wow Burger was not expensive. It was cheaper than Eddie Rockets.

What do you mean a cash grab? Movie theatres are capital intensive at the outset and something like the Stella Rathmines cost millions to do up. The cost reflects that. If you don’t want to pay then fine, but people do. Without the Stella that venue would be either gone or sitting derelict too. That they’ve come up with a commercial model to sustain it is great. There is no guarantee that the pricing would have been the same for Bray, in fact it’s almost certain it would have been far cheaper.

My point on buildings is very simple. Dunnes is a brilliant supermarket with high quality produce. The premises that they occupy are always to a high standard. Where they let themselves down as a company is leaving the likes of Dún Laoghaire Main Street to rot. I understand that their sign isn’t over the door so they don’t get much public pushback, but they should be forced to put signage over the wrecks they leave (including unoccupied apartments in some towns).

In Press Up’s case, the express business plan was to add value to the big tent investment property- ie they had an actual considered approach to the properties they occupied. I can dislike certain Press Up’s offerings but they consistently attempted to better the buildings they were in. It didn’t ultimately work and they got in over their heads (expansion can be a company killer) but I admire what they set out to do in general.

This is the same way that I admire McDonalds for what they’ve done to the Town Hall in Bray. Again it’s very easy to sneer at McDonalds but they have maintained that building to a high standard. I find it hilarious that so many disparage that McDonalds whilst ignoring tenants and landlords on Bray Main Street who don’t appear to care about their appearance one bit. If it wasn’t for McDonalds, that Town Hall would look exactly like Bray Design Centre which is one of Wicklow County Council’s many disgraces.

Overall my point is that I don’t care if you shoot high or low on what you offer (except for gambling premises, a cancer on Ireland and particularly Bray), but have some respect for the buildings you occupy.

“Cash grab” makes no sense btw, there is no relation to upmarket offerings versus low offerings in terms of actual profits.

Your comparison is not fair.Wowburger is a step under Eddie Rockets. Food served in boxes and cartons, plastic cups and no cutlery as opposed to Eddie's plates, waiter service, glasses and cutlery. So of course Eddie's is more expensive.

Fair comparison is McDonald's and it's definitely more expensive and not good quality. You wouldn't pay €15 for a burger and chips in McDonald's which is what Wowburger charge. Clearly did something wrong as it was empty every time I passed it.

Anyhow, I have no with existence of the Stella. It can serve a niche market but it's not the type of cinema that Bray needed. It needs a family type venue for showing blockbusters which is what it looks is now coming.

Also your admiration for Pressup is totally misplaced and again comparing it to McDonald's is wrong. I remember the controversy when McDonald's moved to Bray in the 90s. They don't keep the building nice for architectural reasons. They are forced to by the strict conditions of their lease from the council which insisted on no plastic chairs, restricted signage and litter collection outside.

I know nothing about what you're referring to with Dunnes but I just don't buy that Pressup really care about buildings.

Why is my comparison not fair? You get served your food in a plastic container in both actually. A Bacon Cheerseburger (taking the equivalent) is about 80% the cost of Eddie Rockets, that feels about right to me.

Wow Burger is closed in Bray but does well elsewhere (and still operates despite the process they’ve just done through). You have some strange conflation between “cash grabs” and “not doing very well”. You are entitled to not like something your takes on the historical Press Up are way off. It is mostly catering to mid market tastes.

I’m not sure what point your are trying with McDonalds. It’s a simple fact that they keep the building looking well. McDonalds could quite conceivably move location- in fact the old Wow Burger premises would be perfect for them. We are fortunate they continue to operate from there as it would go to absolute ruin if not. BTW there is no requirement for McDonalds to keep it clean and tidy looking- they can’t alter the building but that’s not the point. The point is whether serving the upper market or lower market, businesses like McDonalds and Press Up are generally good stewards of the high street.

The point on Dun Laoghaire and you not knowing about it underlines my point. They get away with it because you don’t see their name on the door. The Matt Coopper book on Dunnes goes into this in detail. You like Whelans and the rest of the middle class fancy though so don’t have an issue.

Press Up was founded to support Oakmount’s investment properties. You don’t do that by making the place look crap- Pure Fitout were a firm invested in by them (see https://purefitout.com/projects/%29.

None of these businesses are charities but there is an approach and attitude to looking after the urban realm regardless of where you are pitching your product (Lidl are another excellent example of generally high standards despite pitching themselves to a different market segment) don’t get confused on that. It’s a childlike view of the world to look at things like you do.

I’ve never been to the one up in Sandyford, how is that doing? As something to bring people up from the seafront, this seems great.

Longer term we need good quality hotels back in Bray, it will attract people if done right.

For Ukranian's maybe.

According to a Ukranian resident I spoke to last week, they and others have been given notice from the Royal. They said there are renovation works currently happening and once complete they will have to leave.

There were also eviction notices given last summer to IPAS residents at the Esplanade but I don't recall seeing any further updates.

There is supposed to be a hotel (and gym/pool/sauna) in Sea Gardens phase II right beside the underpass to the Harbour.

The swan brigade know best though.

Are there any plans to do anything with the facade?

I'm not originally from Bray, but I have heard them been called The Yellow Can Gang, which is brilliant. Obviously a throw back to the 80's when Tesco sold Yellow Pack cans.

Quick turnaround - looking forward to some delicious ponsy bread

Looks Like Bread 41 was out the door across the weekend.

I don't queue for coffee so just wondering, what's their coffee like?

Outside looks great, however, I find it a pity there is no seating area in Bread 41.

As posters have said, there were non stop queues but the Initial Google reviews haven't been the best. Opening on the Friday of a busy bank holiday was certainly throwing themselves in at the deep end.

What is strange about that area is the upstairs beside the sauna would be lovely for a coffee but is mostly unused. The lack of integrated stairs is an issue.

Good point and some nice views. The old Daata seating next door is also unused but again no access.