Florentine Centre

Thargor wrote: »

Its hideous, straight out of the 80s like people say. Tesco up the road isnt any better. Bray must have some of the only 80s style dark/dirty supermarkets left in the country tbh, I cant think of any other ones like that still standing, they've all been given the Cornellscourt style refurbishment.

was in tesco last night and they are doing a major re-org of the store

murpho999 wrote: »

I'm surprised at how little information there is available on this project.

Oakmount now have a page on their website with very little information.

Interesting that they call it "Bray Town Centre" which was the name for the scrapped Golf Lands shopping centre plans as opposed to Florentine.

Also says there will be a "Stella Theatre". This would be disappointing for me as I feel Bray just needs a normal cinema not a luxury/specialist one.

"Press Up restaurants" are mentioned too, this group includes Wowburger, Elephant & Castle, Wagamama and a few others. See Here.. They look to have good options.

That's all I can find. I thought more would be known at this stage as Cllr Matthews tweeted recently that it was still on track for December 2019 opening, which is not that far away now.

https://twitter.com/stevensgreen1/status/1085170156207263745

I read somewhere that there will be 5 cinema screens and that 1 of them may be like the Stella Rathmines and serve alcohol etc. Others would be your normal type.

But you are right there is very little information about what the final project will look like.

Its a bit concerning but Oakmount are good operators.

Press up own the Stella so they obviously are going to run the Cinema and 2 restaurants in it

fjon wrote: »

I would pay a Euro extra not to have to drive to Dun Laoghaire, Stillorgan or Dundrum.

You would have to pay for parking in these also plus the cinema in Dun Laoghaire is falling apart.

Deleted User wrote: »

A lot people will more than likely walk...

I think he means that you need to pay in DL and Dundrum. I think Stillorgan is free.

my kids will go to Bray rather than DL for the cinema - 15 mins on the bus rather than 30 mins on the Dart (which is really infrequent from Greystones on the weekends). I'd expect it to do well if it is well run - there's a big catchment area that currently has no cinema.

WeleaseWoderick wrote:

It does seem a bit odd that there is no news about an anchor tenant at this stage but the Press Up group are decent operators at least so that's a big plus so far.

What are press up group opening there?

murpho999 wrote: »

December is the opening date AFAIK.

So you'd imagine there'd be details now as to what anchor tenants would be there as that all needs to be planned and budgeted well in advance.

I thought it was builders to finish

The Real B-man wrote: »

This is Bizarre do they actually have any i wonder? & decent ones at that :pac:

Not yet. They are in negotiations still.

murpho999 wrote: »

No pedestrian access to Florence Road.

I really think that's going to kill a few shops on the Florence Road and a kick in the teeth as I imagine the building has had an impact on their takings.

"may open as early as spring 2020."

I knew it couldn't be December 2019 as they have previously stated.

Looks like one of the restaurants will be Elephant & Castle.

WeleaseWoderick wrote: »

Not sure Tesco or SuperValu would make much sense considering how close they are to that location already. Could see it being a Donnybrook Fair type grocery store potentially but would they be classed as an anchor tenant?

Agreed that a Penneys would seem a no-brainer for the town.

I would completely rule out Tesco given the money they've just recently spent and the renovation of the store.
I still not convinced Dunnes wouldn't move in there.

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Dunnes makes the most sense to move there, two stores that are awkward (parking wise) could be merged and have a dedicated parking source underground, model it after cournelscourt (whelans butcher, Sheridans cheese mongers) and I think it'd be a hit. Would open up two other stores to become nail bars/pound shops too :pac:

there was some discussion of Dunnes earlier in the thread - they own the 2 stores they're currently in and neither is really suitable to be rented out given the size of them.

How big are the anchor units relative to other stores in Bray? I looked at the planning applications for Aldi and Tesco which suggested they were about 1000m2 and 5000m2 respectively, but I don't think Tesco is actually 5 times the size of Aldi, so I'm not sure.

zoobizoo wrote: »

I heard that the issue regarding access to Florence road was due to a local landlord demanding a large sum for that access across his land

Isn't that the same landlord who recently lost his properties to fire?

What I don't understand is that lane beside Hayes Butchers is the access point from the Florence road in question isn't it? If thats the case, it makes little sense anyway being so close to the main Access point from the Mainstreet. I also assume there will be access to the underground carpark from Florence Road at either or both the current site access points on Florence road. Why can't pedestrian access be added via a partitioned pathway into the carparking area with escalator access to the plaza like you see in Carrickmines. However, the more you think about it, even that doesn't make sense for the Florence Road traders because it would mean folks coming from the Seafront quarter of Bray would enter the Florentine before passing the shops on Florence road. No pedestrian access on Florence road actually ensures pedestrians have to walk past all the Florence road traders. That reminds me of the comments of a previous poster here or Bray Open Forum on Facebook (I can't remember which) who pointed out that the only 'Impulse' trader on the Florence Road is Dealz anyway. To my mind, only Dealz are likely to be affected in a measurable way.

will the cinema be open in time for the next Bond movie - probably depends how many more times the Bond movie is postponed.