Dublins declining nightlife?

wakka12

Just found it interesting the other day thinking about how many clubs are closing down or have closed down recently, Hangar will close soon, and recent news is that a hotel will be built on the site of district 8.Odessa and SIN nightclubs closed very recently, in December and october respectively. Then in the last 2-3 years we've lost the dragon, lost society, twisted pepper, play nightclub,dandelion, the palace

Theres not too many purpose built nightclubs outside of harcourt street at this stage. Only a handful of large ones, Coppers DTWO the academy button factory.Bit sad really! Anyone else noticed? Dublin used to have an impressive and varied selection of nightclubs for the size of the city, but now its a very poor selection imo

I hope something happens with the old tripod/crawdaddy nightclubs, the site went on sale a year or two ago, haven't heard anything since

retalivity

wakka12 wrote: »

Bit sad really!

No its not, nightclubs are horrible places where you are gouged on entry, drinks, cloakroom etc., and are so dark/noisy you cannot talk to or barely see anyone. Maybe people copped on what a waste of time/money they are.

wakka12

retalivity wrote: »

No its not, nightclubs are horrible places where you are gouged on entry, drinks, cloakroom etc., and are so dark/noisy you cannot talk to or barely see anyone. Maybe people copped on what a waste of time/money they are.

Nightclubs are still incredibly popular..several nights per week in coppers Ive seen queues that would have you standing outside for well over an hour waiting

Demand is still there I think nightclubs are just being offered money for the premises that they can't refuse, rather than closing down due to lack of business. District 8 for instance will be continuing to operate until into 2019 when its demolished

Im not a big clubber at all, but I think its fun the odd time and its good to have a variety of them for people into different music .

retalivity

Coppers benefits from the rep it has in the media, its late licensing hours (a few others now seem to have the leeway they always had), as well as a lot of people having FOMO about the place. It has many of the issues listed above, but the one thing i will give it is that it does have the house/hotel layout to it that gives it spaces where people can actually socialize

LincolnHawk

Clubs always close here and rebrand, or a new one opens....but the total number stays more or less the same.
...but I think you are on to something OP, we are losing Howl at the moon too

wakka12

LincolnHawk wrote: »

Clubs always close here and rebrand, or a new one opens....but the total number stays more or less the same.
...but I think you are on to something OP, we are losing Howl at the moon too

I think before 2014 or so that was true, but now the number of clubs just seems to be in perpetual and very steep decline and the ones that do reopen like twisted peppers are only reopening as bars or restaurants not clubs.

JupiterKid

I think changing demographics, changing tastes and the property market have a lot to do with it. In the 2000s, the club scene was huge but there was also a huge cohort of twenty something people who gravitate to nightclubs. Now that this generation are largely married and settled down, the demand for clubs is a good bit less.

Skyrocketing property prices and leases mean that many clubs are being priced out of the market.

Rumpy Pumpy

People are drinking at home before hitting the clubs. Difficult make money, and a few spurious compo claims can make it unviable.

The more dance music oriented ones have the problem of everyone being off their faces on cheap pills, and asking for pints of tap water instead of alcohol.

wakka12

JupiterKid wrote: »

I think changing demographics, changing tastes and the property market have a lot to do with it. In the 2000s, the club scene was huge but there was also a huge cohort of twenty something people who gravitate to nightclubs. Now that this generation are largely married and settled down, the demand for clubs is a good bit less.

Skyrocketing property prices and leases mean that many clubs are being priced out of the market.

Thats interesting, I wonder if Dublins population has aged that significantly since celtic tiger or if it just down to changing taste of young people . Dublins birth rate is pretty healthy so I wouldn't have thought ageing demographic would be the main factor, as you'd have a lot of young people replacing them continually

JupiterKid

wakka12 wrote: »

Thats interesting, I wonder if Dublins population has aged that significantly since celtic tiger or if it just down to changing taste of young people . Dublins birth rate is pretty healthy so I wouldn't have thought ageing demographic would be the main factor, as you'd have a lot of young people replacing them continually

The birth rate in Ireland peaked in 1977 and the biggest age cohort of native Irish is between 35 and 45 - this is my generation, the generation that partied and clubbed in the 90s and 00s and is settled down now. There isn’t as many 20somethings as there was, say, 15 years ago but then again, Dublin gets replenished with young people via immigration and young people moving here from rural areas.

Also people prefer late bars these days over clubs.

jon1981

Personally I think Dublins nightlife has never been better! It's just evolved into many smaller and more taste driven options.

Yes the super club is gone but instead you have loads of cool late night spots to suit all interests and taste!

Gavin "shels"

wakka12 wrote: »

I hope something happens with the old tripod/crawdaddy nightclubs, the site went on sale a year or two ago, haven't heard anything since

Unfortunately will end up being either offices, hotel or apts.

Muahahaha

I would say another reason has to be the changing of pub closing time to 12.30am on Fri/Sat plus amount of bars with late licenses that let them serve till 2am.

I mean for most people the reason you went to clubs was because the pubs had kicked you out and you wanted the night to continue. Back in the day nightclubs had a monopoly on serving drink beyond 11.30pm which then became 12.30am for Fri/Sat circa 2002. A lot of pubs of course serve a little bit later than the 12.30am time and it is not difficult to still have a drink in front of you at 1.30am in a pub. So I would say that the later opening times mean you would only get about an hour or 90 minutes in a nightclub so people are going to be reluctant to pay 15 euro in for that before getting fleeced on drink. With the admission and cost of drink two pints could easily end up costing you almost 30 euro and then youll have bouncers shouting at you just to add insult to injury, no thanks !

Rory28

Muahahaha wrote: »

I would say another reason has to be the changing of pub closing time to 12.30am on Fri/Sat plus amount of bars with late licenses that let them serve till 2am.

I mean for most people the reason you went to clubs was because the pubs had kicked you out and you wanted the night to continue. Back in the day nightclubs had a monopoly on serving drink beyond 11.30pm which then became 12.30am for Fri/Sat circa 2002. A lot of pubs of course serve a little bit later than the 12.30am time and it is not difficult to still have a drink in front of you at 1.30am in a pub. So I would say that the later opening times mean you would only get about an hour or 90 minutes in a nightclub so people are going to be reluctant to pay 15 euro in for that before getting fleeced on drink. With the admission and cost of drink two pints could easily end up costing you almost 30 euro and then youll have bouncers shouting at you just to add insult to injury, no thanks !

I know they have a thankless job nut it was bouncers that turned me off clubs. I don't know what it was about them but I would be a nervous wreck whenever I delt with them so I just stopped going. problem solved. Late bars are a lot more enjoyable anyway.

L1011

Diversification of music tastes mean people often can't tolerate 3 hours listening to the worst chart music for a hefty entry fee and go to a bar with music more to their tastes; similarly that has had a serious impact on the more club-style nightclubs because there are fewer 'big' nights on.

At the opposite end of the same scale, DJs who would have played a Tripod sized venue are now in the Point in many cases due to higher interest in certain types of dance music.

Dragon died because gay bars are outliving their relevance in more open societies and with dating apps - Dublin has two now when it had five at the lowest ebb of the crash and a lower population. Most of the rest listed have either just reopened with a new name and theme (so has the Dragon, of course) with another name or are/were doomed due to development. The building Odessa is in will reopen, suspect Sin will too.

wakka12

Rory28 wrote: »

I know they have a thankless job nut it was bouncers that turned me off clubs. I don't know what it was about them but I would be a nervous wreck whenever I delt with them so I just stopped going. problem solved. Late bars are a lot more enjoyable anyway.

Why would anyone thank them? Every second one seems to be horrible and unreasonable person

G_R

I think the nightlife in Dublin is better than ever tbh. As someone else said, there's less big clubs but there's more smaller places so you get a but more variety with different music types, and the majority of them are open until 3am+ anyway, and at that point in usually happy enough to get some unhealthy food and head off home

VonLuck

I can't speak for everyone, but I've no interest in going to a club just to hear someone press play on the top 50 songs in the charts at the moment.

There are some places that do it differently in Dublin, like District 8 where every night is a gig, or at the lower end of the scale, Xico which at least hires a competent DJ to give their own twist on mainstream songs.

Places like Coppers or DTWO cater to the drunken masses in my opinion.

bucketybuck

Rory28 wrote: »

I know they have a thankless job nut it was bouncers that turned me off clubs.

Very much so. You think I am going to ask permission or pass an interview just so that I can go into your business to spend my money? Bollocks to that.

If the bouncer is doing anything other than politely holding the door open for me then that business can get stuffed.

sdanseo

bucketybuck wrote: »

Very much so. You think I am going to ask permission or pass an interview just so that I can go into your business to spend my money? Bollocks to that.

If the bouncer is doing anything other than politely holding the door open for me then that business can get stuffed.

From an adult perspective you're dead right, but they're mostly dealing with people who are both drunk and immature (literally). They have to treat punters like they do, and while standing in the cold or rain for hours on end every night. Very few of them get a kick out of it, my experience with bouncers and there have been many has been quite positive with only a few exceptions. Yes there's arseholes. But same goes for the customers.

The snowflake generation are now at club age and expect red carpets to be rolled out for them. You get turned away, on to the next.

Dr Turk Turkelton

retalivity wrote: »

No its not, nightclubs are horrible places where you are gouged on entry, drinks, cloakroom etc., and are so dark/noisy you cannot talk to or barely see anyone. Maybe people copped on what a waste of time/money they are.

wakka12

sdanseo wrote: »

From an adult perspective you're dead right, but they're mostly dealing with people who are both drunk and immature (literally). They have to treat punters like they do, and while standing in the cold or rain for hours on end every night. Very few of them get a kick out of it, my experience with bouncers and there have been many has been quite positive with only a few exceptions. Yes there's arseholes. But same goes for the customers.

The snowflake generation are now at club age and expect red carpets to be rolled out for them. You get turned away, on to the next.

Having a sh!t job is absolutely no excuse to treat everybody badly for no reason. Waiters and retails staff get treated badly too, but we put on a smile because thats what you ****in do when you're working

I and many others have been treated rudely by bouncers without being drunk or aggressive or doing absolutely anything wrong. I disagree that most don't like the ego trip, theres plenty of other jobs about if they all hate it as much as you say

Gavin "shels"

VonLuck wrote: »

There are some places that do it differently in Dublin, like District 8 where every night is a gig,

Used to love District 8 but have only gone a couple of times in the past 12 months... crowd it attracts these days is mainly under 20! :rolleyes:

Dyr

wakka12 wrote: »

Having a sh!t job is absolutely no excuse to treat everybody badly for no reason. Waiters and retails staff get treated badly too, but we put on a smile because thats what you ****in do when you're working

I and many others have been treated rudely by bouncers without being drunk or aggressive or doing absolutely anything wrong. I disagree that most don't like the ego trip, theres plenty of other jobs about if they all hate it as much as you say

Waiters and bar staff and retail staff are to serve you, bouncers are there to enforce rules. Don't expect customer service

arybvtcw0eolkf

Rory28 wrote: »

I know they have a thankless job nut it was bouncers that turned me off clubs. I don't know what it was about them but I would be a nervous wreck whenever I delt with them so I just stopped going. problem solved. Late bars are a lot more enjoyable anyway.

The vast majority of late bar's have doorstaff, dammit even Spar, Centra and pharmacies here have doorstaff licensed by the PSA (the same people who issue licenses to bouncers) ~ you must be in an awful state leaving the house!.

Some bouncers are arsewipes, some are very decent but one thing is a constant ~ if someone is constantly finding rude doorstaff asking difficult questions you're probably giving them very good reason, and it might be a good idea to look at your own demeanor.

But anyway, clubs close for all sorts of reasons.. Mismanagement is a big one, rates and late licenses (a late license costs €500, not counting the cost of legal fees, per night regardless the size of the club) are a huge burden, one bad insurance claim against a club can put it out of business.

Now that I'm 51 I hate places like Club M, Fitzsimmons etc.. My ideal night is a bowl of chicken wings at the bar of my local now, and maybe a bit of sport on the telly.. Or if I want to go bonkers give me a rock/metal bar, anything but pop or hipster and I'm pretty much ok.

Rory28

Haylee Alive Viewpoint wrote: »

The vast majority of late bar's have doorstaff, dammit even Spar, Centra and pharmacies here have doorstaff licensed by the PSA (the same people who issue licenses to bouncers) ~ you must be in an awful state leaving the house!.

Some bouncers are arsewipes, some are very decent but one thing is a constant ~ if someone is constantly finding rude doorstaff asking difficult questions you're probably giving them very good reason, and it might be a good idea to look at your own demeanor.

But anyway, clubs close for all sorts of reasons.. Mismanagement is a big one, rates and late licenses (a late license costs €500, not counting the cost of legal fees, per night regardless the size of the club) are a huge burden, one bad insurance claim against a club can put it out of business.

Now that I'm 51 I hate places like Club M, Fitzsimmons etc.. My ideal night is a bowl of chicken wings at the bar of my local now, and maybe a bit of sport on the telly.. Or if I want to go bonkers give me a rock/metal bar, anything but pop or hipster and I'm pretty much ok.

Never said they were all rude. I said I was nervous dealing with them. The door staff in a shop is not the same as a bouncer but I'm sure you already knew that.

wakka12

Gavin shels wrote: »

Used to love District 8 but have only gone a couple of times in the past 12 months... crowd it attracts these days is mainly under 20! :rolleyes:

Most clubs seem very young crowd these days..I don't go clubbing very often since I graduated college last year but Ive felt overage at every recent club event Ive been to..

Walking down harcourt street the other night after work and Id say 95% of the crowd of hundreds and hundreds were freshers..felt old af

wakka12

Bambi wrote: »

Waiters and bar staff and retail staff are to serve you, bouncers are there to enforce rules. Don't expect customer service

Ok I won't expect customer service, Ill expect him to be at the very least courteous and pleasant to me for behaving perfectly fine and paying to use the club he's in charge of

VonLuck

wakka12 wrote: »

Most clubs seem very young crowd these days..I don't go clubbing very often since I graduated college last year but Ive felt overage at every recent club event Ive been to..

Walking down harcourt street the other night after work and Id say 95% of the crowd of hundreds and hundreds were freshers..felt old af

I think once you're in your late twenties and beyond you're expected to go to late bars like the Black Door and House, but these are the most pretentious of places and I always regret going!

Dublin Spur

Haylee Alive Viewpoint wrote: »

My ideal night is a bowl of chicken wings at the bar of my local now, and maybe a bit of sport on the telly.. Or if I want to go bonkers give me a rock/metal bar, anything but pop or hipster and I'm pretty much ok.

very much this

theteal

As long as The Foggy and Whelan's are still in existence, my trips home to Dublin will be covered