One of my most asked questions

Councillors have been talking about the disrepair of the Victorian shelters on Bray seafront for at least 6 years.  The roof was recently damaged by storm Éowyn. Love or hate them, they are iconic structures. The roof is not original, but what is of historic significance is the ironwork by the Walter McFarlane iron foundry in Scotland, who were world-renowned for their architectural work  Over the years, parts of the wrought iron have corroded and will need recasting.

Councillors have been putting money aside through discretionary funding for the restoration of these structures for a number of years (well before I became a councillor). There is €140,000 raised to put towards the overall cost, €70,000 per shelter.

The council had previously tried to access heritage grant funding, but the grant application was unsuccessful. The council will try again this November (2025) now that we have greater match funding (with most grants, you will not get 100% of the cost of the project, but have to provide a significant contribution, often around 20% of the project cost).  

There have been comments that this project is akin to the building of the Leinster House bike shelters. This project was always going to be more complex and costly as restoration work needs to happen by a skilled tradesperson. Our expectation is that they are sensitively restored to showcase the beauty of the original.

I am really hoping the council's heritage fund application will be successful this time around, as the shelters disrepair does impact on the appearance of Bray seafront.