Famous Dublin (and surrounding areas) nightclubs that are no more

The Nal · 15-11-2023 4:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371942#Comment_121371942

Being completely refurbed yeah with Odessa/RiRa to be reopned in the basement apparently.

Lefty2Guns · 15-11-2023 5:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371944#Comment_121371944

A mate of mine runs the music there every second or third weekend. Have had some good nights in it the last while.

The Nal · 15-11-2023 5:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121372049#Comment_121372049

Is it a gay bar?

Cheddar Bob · 30-12-2023 9:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120934945#Comment_120934945

Nah, it's because young lads just cant be arsed any more. A good portion of the lads who smoke weed today (and way more young lads are daily smokers than a decade ago) pretty much barely drink bar there's a birthday do on.

The weed today is so much stronger than the hash that dominated from the 70s to the early 2010s. It's sad to see but they just cant be bothered drinking and clubbing- in the 2000s you had Oxegen, EP (which was a hipster gig back then) and the occasional dance festival. Today every summer must have 50, 60 to choose from, they're on every weekend all summer.

Instead of going out 3, 4 nights a week like our generation did the current lot spend their money on huge blowouts, 6 or 7 Irish festivals and 2 or 3 in Europe. Back then flying to Serbia for a festival was unthinkable, FFS most people didn't even own a credit card to buy it with.

They also have more expensive tastes that cut into any alcohol budget- the idea of using three weeks wages in 2003 to buy a 1000 euro jacket would see people thinking you needed sectioning, that money was needed for 4 nights a week of drink, cover charges, taxis and, on occasion, drugs.

Today a kid will just stay in for a month to save his apprentice or McDonald's wages to buy that Moncler coat and Yeezys.

Cheddar Bob · 30-12-2023 9:54pm

In my clubbing days nearly every reasonable sized suburb and bordering town had a club or at least a large disco bar venue- Blanch Finglas Coolock Clontarf Leixlip Tallaght Clondalkin Stillorgan Dun L,aoghaoire and plenty more.

If you look at the stats after decades of high births we fell to record lows in the 90s but started to recover by the mid 2000s. Theoritically the next decade should be bumper years for nightclubs with the amount coming of age but sadly the culture has changed almost overnight, particularly since about 2017 or so.

I was the first generation to be about in the social media era- in those days we found it hilarious to be tagged in a photo gee eyed, asleep on a couch or the floor, or yoked up, today the kids would be mortified, they're obsessed with looking picture perfect in every one.

gaiscioch · 01-01-2024 9:25pm

Some memories after a chat last night. The Harp Bar, O'Connell Street. It was heavily advertised on the radio. Is it Messrs Maguire now? If not, Messrs was known by another well-known name. The Daniel O'Connell pub on Aston Quay next to Virgin Records. I was meant to meet a cailín at the Daniel O'Connell and I was at the statue and she was at the pub so I won't forget it for a while. In those days when you were stood up, you had to wait until the evening to telephone them at home as they had to get back home.

Nineteen O Connell pub on O'Connell Street, which I think might be Madigans now? Last time I was there, Fearghal Sharkey's 'You Little Thief' was on the duke box. Also, speaking of duke boxes, the UCD (old) Student Bar - how on earth did that ever close? It was absolutely heaving every night, and that duke box was the bee's knees but the entire building seems to be empty for years now. Also, Lonnegan's pub in the Montrose Hotel opposite UCD. The hotel is also gone, and replaced by student accommodation.

L1011 · 02-01-2024 1:45am

Harp is now called River Bar.

Messrs next door was renamed twice since and is now JR Mahons. It may have been Guineys back then.

19 is Madigans yes

Cheddar Bob · 02-01-2024 2:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121559942#Comment_121559942

There used to be absolutely jammed clubs in the basement under its various guises down the years.

I've been there several Fridays in recent years and the old club now holds some sort of salsa classes! Mad how culture changes.

It's funny to think how a boozer changes- Fitzgeralds across the way was a proper rough boozer in my oul lads day, even to the late 90s pal of mine a bit older said a lot of people would be drinking there before hitting the raves (Harp used to have a few but it's sort of forgotten amid the Asylum Ormond etc) and it was an easy place to score yokes if you hadn't got sorted.

It's a clean and proper gastropub now.

It even strikes me when I go to my locals- Saturday night 15- 20 years ago the place absolutely jammed with folk of all ages, dozens, hundreds of people 18 to 28 (16 or 17 for some of the ones lucky enough to spoof it) getting a few pints in before town, a local nightclub, house party etc.

These days you see about 150 people, maybe 10% of them under 25. It's a dire state of affairs tbh. It seems to me that the last cohort of people for whom the local pub is an essential part of their life was born circa 1996, and that might be being generous. You would find few people above that age for whom the most important milestone of their youth was no longer having to approach a bar with some sort of confident stride hoping not to get refused, yet today I'd say plenty of 18ths are passed without a sip being consumed.

It was already struggling and two years of pubs either not being open or being subject to ridicilious conditions may just have broken the chain of generational pub immersal.

The younger generation book a dinner with friends, go for haircuts as a group, and other strange pursuits.

Or plain sit in a gaff with a dozen other young lads smoking weed playing consoles all weekend.

Can see a serious amount of pubs starting to fold before 2040 or so.

L1011 · 02-01-2024 9:31pm

There aren't that many rough pubs left anywhere in the city now - its not that easy to keep your licence if a place is badgers arse rough; nor is it a particularly profitable market!

Lefty2Guns · 03-01-2024 10:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121372267#Comment_121372267

I didn't see anything going on in it to suggest it is. Not there every week so couldn't tell you.

techman1 · 04-01-2024 10:30am

Instead of going out 3, 4 nights a week like our generation did the current lot spend their money on huge blowouts, 6 or 7 Irish festivals and 2 or 3 in Europe. Back then flying to Serbia for a festival was unthinkable, FFS most people didn't even own a credit card to buy it with.

Great observation noticed that myself, but what caused this cultural shift? Maybe it's all the anti alcohol anti pub narrative from the media down through the years and establishment that is sinking in. Also ireland had the most draconian lockdowns regarding pubs during covid, there was the "wet pub" tag that sort of tarred the traditional pub.

Young people being very image and social media conscious are attracted to the big blow out events because it gives them loads of opportunities to post pictures of it on social media whereas sitting in a pub doesn't have the same cache .

Another thing usually when youngsters get a bit older the requirement to be always with their friends is not so strong and that's when going to the pub alone to meet up with whoever was the cornerstone of irish pub culture. Social media obsessed youngsters unskilled in striking up random conversations with whoever are terrified of this

Cheddar Bob · 06-01-2024 2:06pm

I'm quite amazed that to my knowledge the demise, or seemingly permanent suspension, of Club M hasn't raised as much as a single media article, given the amount of attention they give/ gave to kips like Coppers and the Bernard Shaw.

BlueSkyDreams · 06-01-2024 9:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121578772#Comment_121578772

Is it closed for good?

It seemed to be only operating Friday and Sat nights, but I would have thought there was still a market for it in Temple Bar.

One of the big issues for clubs is that bars can open until the same time as them nowadays.

So why pay to goto a club unless its a specific event?

Club's USP used to be that they could open later than pubs/bars. Thats not the case at the moment, until the Give Us The Night campaign finally materialises.