Why are there so many hippies in Galway?

yourdeadwright

The hippies seem to be dyeing out like the Goth lads did,

I used to visit Galway every summer in the 90;s & they seemed to be every where along with the wino's of Eyre square,

Lately i visit less often & you see a few around are on shop street during the day but not much,

It got a reputation of a good City to go on the drink but there NO nightclubs now, Where do people in Galway go to pull nice women on a night out these days ,

Still a great spot to get stuck in a pub or two from 12 to 12 but for late night venues its terrible,

It’s even a pretty overrated town to go drinking in tbh.

CalisGirl

It desperately needs a few late night opening cafes. I know there's Cafe Nero in Eyre Square but that's about it. After 6pm, it's pubs only or takeaway coffee. No where to meet someone outside a pub or work for a bit on a laptop in the evenings. Cafe culture sorely needed in Galway.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147204#Comment_120147204

There used to be a place called Cafe Java that opened late but I'm not sure how late. It's been many years since I was in it but have such fond memories. My best friend and me drinking ridiculously sweet hot chocolates planning our futures and falling in love with every long haired guitar carrying lad that walked through the door

Galway has a very special place in my heart. I have a love for it that no place else receives.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147144#Comment_120147144

Quite a lot of the bars now have late licences till 2, The Dail, Front Door, Roisin Dubh, Monroes Live, Massimo's and probably the reason the nightclubs fell away. Some of the crusties went into bands like Big Bag of Sticks and a few were buskers, some still busking about. Folk troubadours I suppose come under the hippie/alternative life style, long hairs playing bouzoukis and mandolins, banjos and whistles. You also see them in Kilkenny busking the upward winding alleyways like they're court madrigals in the castle.

I suppose its Galway's laidback atmosphere and the long haired (in 70s and 80s) De Danann setting the session trail for Galway. The trad an amalgamation of North West, Mid-West and Clare musicians and lots of trad tourism with people learning the music from all over the world and making a pilgrimage to Ireland. You just have to look at TV footage of the fleadh Cheoill or Willie Clancy week in Clare to see this influence too.

whisky_galore

Late bar closing times are very tame though, I doubt very many will go for these new extended hours if they cant get staff or if locals whinge about noise. The niteclub is pretty much dead as a concept here.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147321#Comment_120147321

2 am being the latest drink in a City is very tame.

I do love Galway for day drinking

Daisy78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147221#Comment_120147221

Ah good times. The only place you could go and get food at one in the morning that wasn’t from a chipper. It’s still there, not sure about the opening hours though.

For the critics, you need to spend more than a long weekend in Galway to really understand its charm. Hanging around Superman’s during race week won’t give you any real sense of the place or the people who live there.

Airyfairy12

Theres allot around Sligo & Leitrim too, dunno why, just seems like an area where they accumulate. Allot of them are English too.

Bobblehats

I can still smell them, in their heavy oversized waffle knit sweater that looked like a cow chewed on it and soiled olive moleskin combat trousers with heads like Jimbob from Carter swigging from a the dregs of a flagon of linden village. These apparent vegans, trying to bum odds for an abrakebabra they didn’t do falafel in them days either what a cop out

yourdeadwright

To be fair its kind of sad to see alternative life styles disappear , variety was the spice of life,

Every teenager now up & down the country dresses the exact same & all all clones of each other,

Sunny Disposition

I wouldn't say Galway is a great centre for proper hippies. East Clare, North Clare and West Cork would have greater concentrations.

Galway would be more of a centre for aimless but artistic young people than bona fide hippies.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120154845#Comment_120154845

Quite a lot of them have migrated to working the summer festivals, building stages and rigging, putting up the fencing around the festival perimeters, you still see them at Electric Picnic, All Together Now and Body & Soul festivals these days.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120155259#Comment_120155259

What do they do for the other 10 months of the year?

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120155713#Comment_120155713

Festival season is more like end of April till the end of September really, quite a lot work the psytrance events throughout the year as well as things like the Big Bass Gathering in Leisureland in Galway usually early December (which hasn't happened for a few years now since the pandemic). You would see them alright at one off events at the Commercial Boat Club when they have reggae and drum n bass nights. Other than that I suppose they hibernate up in the hills of Leitrim, Sligo and Clare and Cork, brewing moonshine, growing weed and farming.

maninasia

Galway is too expensive now and very hard to find housing, doubt there are many there these days. They are out in leitrim etc.

pgj2015

I know a hippie, she is around 30 I suppose, cant stand her, awful attitude off her and not a nice person which is weird because I thought hippies are usually easy going nice people?