Food in nightclubs

mikemac

I wasn't sure which forum to ask, I hope the brothers can help. And settle a bet.
But mods, certainly feel free to move

In the late 1990's, I remember attending nightclubs and they gave out baskets of chips and cocktails sausages.

As I understood it there was some law/licensing situation that clubs were required to give out food. But alas, that's long gone now

Don't tell me I imagined this. :eek:

Or have I got it all wrong? Anyone else remember? A few places in the midlands did this

Silverfish

No, it was something to do with getting a late license, they had to serve food.

I remember getting a roast chicken, mash and veg in a nightclub in Moate.

And chicken and chips in the Ardboyne in Navan.

Bad times, bad times.

Dutchie

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh they were the days.

The club i used to go to during the nineties used to serve free burgers and chips to everyone who produced their entrance tickets.

Best burgers in town.

As far as i know it was a licensing law agreement with the local Judge, in order for them to have a night club license.

Toto Wolfcastle

I always thought it was gas when my parents used to tell me about going out to a club and eating a snack box.

Even a snack box couldn't entice me to go into a club. What's the point? Just go to the chipper instead.

paddydriver

Me and "the bird" (Not the one sat next to me now... who is now wife and Mammy) used to go to club 92 on Sunday nights (free ladies and men's concession passes) to get fed for free and then head home - she lived close by and was happy to drive - I got to have chips & sausages, and a few pints: Result!

Then one night I was biting into the sausage, bit through the fork and broke a crown I had on one of my teeth - I promptly left in a huff and didn't come back for some time; cost me £60 to get my crown back on - so much for free grub!:rolleyes:

Silverfish

janeybabe wrote: »

I always thought it was gas when my parents used to tell me about going out to a club and eating a snack box.

Even a snack box couldn't entice me to go into a club. What's the point? Just go to the chipper instead.

'twas free!

Free food!

Zaph

That free food could be dangerous! A friend of mine once had the curry in one particular club when a piece of meat got caught in her throat and she started to choke. Someone did a Heimlich on her which caused the piece of meat to fly across the room at high speed. Closely followed by the several pints of beer that she had consumed over the course of the night. I am told it was a sight to behold.

yabadabado

I remember this,what was the reason for stopping it?change in licencing laws?

rainbowtrout

Most of the nightclubs in Limerick seemed to serve chili con carne which wouldn't be a good combination with a belly full of alcohol.

The Lodge, the nightclub out by UL used to always serve it. I knew students who would go to the nightclub (free in before 10) so they could have a few pints and 'free dinner'

irish_goat

Zaph wrote: »

That free food could be dangerous! A friend of mine once had the curry in one particular club when a piece of meat got caught in her throat and she started to choke. Someone did a Heimlich on her which caused the piece of meat to fly across the room at high speed. Closely followed by the several pints of beer that she had consumed over the course of the night. I am told it was a sight to behold.

You obviously don't go to many rural clubs, plenty of girls shovin meat down their throats still...

bungler

Wouldnt mind an oul bowl of coddle next time im out on the dance floor nom nom nom

mikemac

What's coddle?
Never heard of it in my life

Tefral

feelingstressed wrote: »

What's coddle?
Never heard of it in my life

a "Stew" of rashers, sausages, onion and potato

bungler

feelingstressed wrote: »

What's coddle?
Never heard of it in my life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coddle

Its a real Dublin dish but jaysus id do anything for a bowl of it

mikemac

Ah, must be a Dublin thing
I'd never heard of it

bungler

Yea its very Dublin my good man

MonkeyDoo

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Most of the nightclubs in Limerick seemed to serve chili con carne which wouldn't be a good combination with a belly full of alcohol.

The Lodge, the nightclub out by UL used to always serve it. I knew students who would go to the nightclub (free in before 10) so they could have a few pints and 'free dinner'

I remember picking tickets off the floor that had "chili con carne meal" on them to go back for second dibs....ahh the life of a student ;-)

Joe10000

Annabells was always curry and blinkers/92 sausages and chips. Every club had to serve food to comply with the licencing law of the day.

evercloserunion

Never liked coddle, definitely wouldn't go to a nightclub for it. Saw it on the menu in a restaurant there the other day, I just think it's a very odd dish to have anywhere except at home.

_feedback_

I remember the Greville in Mullingar back in the day having the full carvery on the go during the night club. Madness!

Sofiztikated

Why is everyone saying it's madness?

I think it's a bloody brilliant idea! Although it would screw the chippers over.

mikemac

Glad to see so many remember these days

I wonder why it stopped. I might stroll over to legal forum and see if they know what happened.

JabbaTheHut

Yep. Twas a great idea. iirc, It was working backwards; as in, when food was served, then alcohol could be too. So beer was served, ONLY once food was too.

Ahhh, the olde days, when you could get drunk, and fed, for next to nought. There was more to World Cup '90 than football

Sugarfree

Does anyone here remember the Grill nightclub in Letterkenny. They had an actual chip shop in the nightclub, I think its well gone now.

Mint Sauce

Sugarfree wrote: »

Does anyone here remember the Grill nightclub in Letterkenny. They had an actual chip shop in the nightclub, I think its well gone now.

Was just about to post that, think it was late ninties early noughties.

Food was about as bad as the venue.

Tar.Aldarion

voodoo lounge sold pizza! mm

Senna

irish-stew wrote: »

Food was about as bad as the venue.

Jesus, dont say that, many a Sunday night was spent in Bella's, £5 (maybe less) in and you got a ticket for food.
The mates used to get a curry chips and coleslaw, which looked like crap and i always got something different, but one night i was particularly drunk i order it.....fecking heaven. couldn't even look at it sober, but it just "worked" on a belly full of beer.

Them were the days, i think they only ever served the food on week nights or a Sunday night, think they could serve drink later on Fridays and Saturdays without the food.

mikemac

Asked over in Legal forum and got this rather excellent explanation

coylemj wrote: »

I'm not sure where it is now but it goes back to the 70s when cabaret joints with restaurants attached to them exploited a loophole whereby a person consuming a 'substantial' meal could be served drink for an hour after normal closing time.

The definition of a substantial meal was that it was a meal that could be considered a meal in itself or as the main course of a meal 'and for which it would be reasonable to charge not less than 50p' - 63 cents in todays money.

This gave rise to the chicken dinners at cabaret spots all over the country. You paid an admission charge which included the meal and you got a voucher for the meal, most of the vouchers were never redeemed because almost everyone was there for the extra hour at the bar.

Any of the old style dance halls that hadn't been killed by discos were completely wiped out by this development as it meant that in most towns on a Saturday night there was a big migration from the pubs to the cabaret spots at closing time for an extra hour's drinking.

hrcbob

This late meal was the only decent food i got in the week when i was living in carlow town in around 99.. The foundry did a decent enough feed of chilli/curry/ or sausage and chip in a little room over the jacks.. i was a regular customer of a thursday nite and part of the nite out was the wonder of what was gonna be for dinner that nite ..

donutheadhomer

i used to work in tropics in Limerick and hated cleaning up the curried vomit. also the food used to come from the kitchen in a black plastic sack in a shopping trolly that we used to push across the floow.

LostinBlanch

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Most of the nightclubs in Limerick seemed to serve chili con carne which wouldn't be a good combination with a belly full of alcohol.

The Lodge, the nightclub out by UL used to always serve it. I knew students who would go to the nightclub (free in before 10) so they could have a few pints and 'free dinner'

BTW that was also the place that used to play Rock The Boat as the last song when the staff couldn't be arsed cleaning the dancefloor!

Poor Uncle Tom

You can't bait a bowl of weekend stew when it's made at about 2.00 on Friday night / Saturday morning with the 78 spinning ABBA's greatest hits up at number 9, finding a bit of mystery meat adds to the occasion.....:p

Sugarfree

Sugarfree wrote: »

Does anyone here remember the Grill nightclub in Letterkenny. They had an actual chip shop in the nightclub, I think its well gone now.

Playhouse nightclub in Tallaght had a chipper in there too recently enough, (2003/2004). Was in the pub in the same complex one night, there was a wet T shirt competition, then into the club and a lash of chips come closing time. Nothing like it in Cork. And the accent on the Tallaght ladies, savage :pac:

Mdawg

there is a Irish nite club in London that still serves sandwiches (roast beef and salmon) at about 12 at night. well it did about 4 years ago.
it was called Dicey Reillys in Neasden and it called itself northwest London's premier night spot!
the place was mental, they played and irish set that consisted of saw doctors, declan nerny and big tom songs!

rubadub

The lawyer guys post is right, it was not "free" it was already paid for in your ticket, it technically had to be that way. I remember them in club92 and in fibber magees in town (who had chilli), I remember getting peoples tickets and loudly complaining how fattening the food was -which resulted in getting girls tickets, I still get desserts at weddings with this devious trick.

There must be still some "substantial meal" rules, eddie rockets now sell pints of heineken but you must get a meal, and AFAIK a large burger can count as a meal, the pints were only 2.50 a while back. Or else they made the rule up themselves to sell burgers and stop pissheads.

There are other loopholes, like for theatres, so the gaiety can open very late when it is really a nightclub, I think andrews lane theatre opens late like this too. I am surprised loopholes are not taken advantage of more, an obvious one would be a bring your own drink "restaurant" which is really a pub.

bryaner

Silverfish wrote: »

No, it was something to do with getting a late license, they had to serve food.

I remember getting a roast chicken, mash and veg in a nightclub in Moate.

And chicken and chips in the Ardboyne in Navan.

Bad times, bad times.

I knew one of the chefs that worked in the Ardboyne years ago when they did suppers for the nightclub, he warned us never to eat them but it never stopped us when full of sauce. :eek:

Still here to tell the tale so they couldn't have been all that bad..;)

3ndahalfof6

Aye I remember this, a stunt to get people in the door and it worked,

The only prob was it was mostly fellas went, full of drink to get the food and have a wee dance with themselves before kicking the ****e outta some poor gasun minding his own business.

All in the price of the tickets, plus the cleaners got a lot of extra hrs.

fofany

Sugarfree wrote: »

Does anyone here remember the Grill nightclub in Letterkenny. They had an actual chip shop in the nightclub, I think its well gone now.

Don't remember a chip shop, but do remember the suppers. Always got the chips & salad, they were always very generous with the beetroot & I hated beetroot! Friday nights & Sunday nights in the 90s. Great memories.

delly

I remember getting a good feed of chicken and chips in zeniths in howth. It set you up for the long walk down the hill to try and grab a taxi in the harbour. This was around 95 or 96 and I can still hear santrancisco playing on the decks, good times.

Kat1170

Ah remember it well. Sat night in Najinskys on the Curragh, belly full of beer then upstairs for chicken chips and peas. Smallest chickens I have ever seen. Good times

the_syco

rubadub wrote: »

I am surprised loopholes are not taken advantage of more, an obvious one would be a bring your own drink "restaurant" which is really a pub.

Oh, but there are. There's a restaurant in Dublin that will serve wine until 6am, once you're eating there. Dislike wine myself, so never went there.

I know of a restaurant in Leixlip that won't serve you alcohol, unless you buy a meal (an actual meal, not just a burger), but I think that's just a nice scam/scheme they have

feelingstressed wrote: »

Asked over in Legal forum and got this rather excellent explanation

coylemj wrote: »

The definition of a substantial meal was that it was a meal that could be considered a meal in itself or as the main course of a meal 'and for which it would be reasonable to charge not less than 50p' - 63 cents in todays money.

Considering a can of coke then cost 50p, and now costs 90cent, and that wages were a lot lower back then, 50p could've gone a lot longer back then.