What's Really Happening on Bray Main Street

Over the last two weeks I've had a lot of conversations about Bray town centre. I was interviewed by the Irish Times about vacant properties on Main Street. I've been contacted by constituents about a new vape shop opening. And separately, I've had people get in touch about the quality of some of the businesses opening up around the town.

I want to bring all of this together in one place.  The actual numbers on what's on our main streets, an honest answer on what I can and can't do about who rents a vacant unit, and a genuine question back to you: what do you think Bray is missing?

The numbers: what's actually on Bray Main Street

I put together a quick count of every retail and service business currently operating across Bray Main Street, Quinsborough Road, Florence Road, the Arcade, the top of Novara, and the new shopping centre.  This does not include all the great businesses in Bray, such as those on Albert Walk, Castle Street Shopping Centre and the Egan Centre to name a few. Here's my count:

Some things jump out. Vacant properties are the single biggest category on our main streets, 32 units, spread across the Arcade, the shopping centre, and elsewhere, most sitting there available for let or sale. Hairdressers, cafes and charity shops dominate the units that are occupied, which tells its own story about the kind of business that can survive on a physical high street when so much else has moved online.

The vape shop question and what I can (and can't) do

A number of you have contacted me about a new vape shop opening in the town. I want to be upfront with you about where I stand personally and what I can actually do as your local councillor.

Personally, I share the unease. I don't think our town needs another vape shop, and I'd much prefer to see units on our main streets used differently. But I have to be honest: as a councillor, I have no legal power to prevent a landlord from renting their property to a particular type of retailer, or to block a business from opening simply because I or others in the community don't like the product it sells. Property leasing is a private matter between landlord and tenant, and short of planning or licensing breaches, the council has no role in vetting who moves into a vacant unit.

I checked the current Bray Local Area Plan to see whether there were any provisions I could use, for example, restrictions on signage or shopfront design that might at least limit how the unit presents itself. The only thing I think might apply is signage should be in-keeping with facade of the property, which I would argue this is not.  I have put in a query to the planning department. We are due to begin work on an updated Local Area Plan, and I intend to raise the question of stronger town-centre and shopfront guidance as part of that process, so we have better tools for issues like this in future.

I'd also point out that vape shops are licensed by the HSE, and it's the HSE that enforces those licences.  I sit on the HSE Regional Health Forum and I'll be asking them directly whether they take the existing number of licensed shops in an area into account before issuing a new one.

More broadly, I think this is a symptom of a bigger problem facing our town centres. With so much retail moving online, the businesses that survive on our main streets tend to be the ones that can't be replicated on a screen; hairdressers, nail bars, cafes, charity shops, and, in the current legislative gap, vape shops. That's a planning and economic development conversation we need to have properly as a council.

On the vaping issue itself, I agree the regulatory gap needs closing, and I don't think it can be solved at council level. I'll be raising this directly with TDs in my party, and I'll be pushing for:

• Stricter controls on the age of purchase
• Restrictions on the marketing and visibility of vape products, ideally with point-of-sale display rules similar to cigarettes
• Better enforcement around vaping in non-smoking areas; bars, restaurants, and public transport, where it's clearly still happening despite the rules

Legislation eventually caught up with head shops a number of years ago. It took sustained political pressure, but it can be done, and I intend to keep pushing for it.

A word on some of the comments I've seen

Separately, I've also been contacted about the quality of some of the businesses opening on Main Street, and I've seen some comments made about individual shops, including accusations of illegal activity made without any proof. I want to say clearly: these are people's livelihoods. Raising legitimate concerns about the mix of businesses in the town is fair and reasonable. Making unfounded accusations against named businesses is not, and I'd ask people to be careful about the difference.

Over to you: what's missing from Bray Main Street?

The reason I put together the full list of what's currently on our main streets is that I want to ask you directly: what do you feel Bray is missing? With 32 vacant properties spread across the Arcade, the shopping centre and beyond, there's real opportunity here, but only if we're clear about what kind of businesses we, as a community, actually want to attract.

Is it more independent retail? A better food offering? Something for teenagers and families? Let me know your thoughts, I'd like to use this as the start of a proper conversation about how we attract the right mix of businesses into Bray, rather than just watching whatever unit becomes available next fill up with whatever's willing to take it.

Get in touch with your thoughts, and I'll share what I hear as part of the push for a stronger Local Area Plan.