Chairlift To Bray Heaven

Gonna take you higher…

t was 60 years ago today – or thereabouts – that the Eagle’s Nest Chairlift Ballroom Dance took place in Bray, and the anniversary is being celebrated this Wednesday.

The dance took place on June 29th, 1962, a fundraiser to help Bray Celtic F.C. join the Dublin league.

And it would appear a fine time was had by all. And a whopping great £35 was raised.

The man with the plan was local lad Ollie Mahony, who just happened to work on the Bray Head chairlift that would be taking patrons to and from the Eagle’s Nest. According to local writer Michael Doorley, the chairlift ‘was set up in 1952 by Eamonn Quinn (father of Superquinn boss Feargal Quinn) and was ‘supported by seven metal pylons (painted bright yellow) going up Bray Head.

‘Steel wires ran between the pylons carrying passengers in what were then called gondolas. It could convey up to 350 people per hour, with the upward journey costing 1s/6d and the downward 1s. Buses would convey visitors weekly from Red Island in Skerries, which was also run by the Quinns. The upper terminus was at the popular restaurant and ballroom, The Eagle’s Nest.’

Living the high life in The Eagle’s Nest 1959

In the early 1950s, Eamonn Quinn had purchased both a field at the bottom of Bray Head and the Eagle’s Nest restaurant and ballroom (first opened in 1932) situated halfway up the hill, about 150 metres above sea level.

With local group The Wingbeats supplying the music, over 400 people attended that June 1962 ballroom dance, with Ollie and his friends regarding the night as a great success. With one or two bumps in the night. As Doorley explains…

Gotta lotta bottle… 1963

‘It was by and large a peaceful and happy musical night but an inevitable skirmish kicked off towards the end. While the band played The Locomotion, Masher Murphy predictably started a scrap but happily it was short-lived after Ollie and his pals diplomatically intervened. They were then assured that the row would be finished off back down the seafront, and so it came to pass.’

With the chairlift always shutting down at 11pm, Ollie had to make his way down Bray Head at 1am with the night’s takings, his buddy Mick Power acting as bodyguard. Sadly, the night’s effort was all in vain, as his beloved Celtic never made the league.

And so Ollie concentrated on the family business, joining his father’s salon as a master barber, The Hygienic Barber Shop having started in 1957 and becoming a prominent landmark on Bray’s main street.

Pic: Luke McGuinness

As to the chairlift, having taken its first customer onboard in April 1952 this major tourist attraction closed in 1970, due to, it’s believed, rising insurance costs. Calls for the chairlift to be reinstated – including running it all the way to the cross at the top of Bray Head – have all come to nothing.

So far.

And there must be a few hardy souls out there who remember the thrill and the chill well given that there was a 60th anniversary party for The Eagle’s Nest Chairlift Ballroom Dance in Finbees back in 2022…