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Nightlife

The nightlife scene in Dublin has changed beyond all recognition in the last few years. Alongside the traditional Irish pubs are a new breed of style bars and buzzing pre-club haunts. Pubs are generally open Monday to Saturday 1100-2300 (until 2330 in summer) and Sunday 1200/1600-2300 (until 2330 in summer), although some serve until 0200. Bars close between 2330 and 0100, while clubs stay open until 0200 or 0230. The minimum drinking age is 18 years.

What's on Where (website: www.wow.ie), the free events guide, available in cafés and bars throughout the city and the fortnightly magazine In Dublin are useful guides to what's on and feature bar, restaurant and club reviews.

Bars and Pubs: Dublin's pubs fall into two camps - the traditional drinking haunts and the designer bars for bright young things. Hip bars include Pravda, 2-3 Liffey Street Lower, The Chocolate Bar, Harcourt Street and Mono, 26 Wexford Street. The new minimalist venue of choice for Dublin's bright young things to spend their wealth in is AKA, 6 Wicklow Street. For a more traditional pub crawl head to Temple Bar, where the Temple Bar, Oliver St John Gogarty, Fitzsimons and the Norseman are to be found; on Baggot Street, there are pubs like Toner's, O'Donoghue's and Doheny & Nesbitt, where ghosts have taken up permanent residence. The Dawson Lounge, 25 Dawson Street, is the smallest pub in Dublin, with room for about six people in the basement. The George, 11 South Great George's Street, is among Dublin's most popular gay bars.

Casinos: These are limited to private clubs that are not open to non-members. Ireland is somewhat anti-gambling and no public casinos exist.

Clubs: Once a clubbing wasteland Dublin's reputation for top rack nightclubs is growing year on year. U2's Kitchen, Essex Street East, may no longer lead the way, but it is still popular. PoD (Place of Dance), Harcourt Street, is now the style leader and has won awards for its outlandish decor. The exclusive Lillie's Bordello, Adam Court, Grafton Court, is where all visiting pop stars, actors and celebrities hang out for after-show parties. Ri Ra, Dame Court, combines a chilled bar with a hip club. Velvet, Harcourt Street, was the first club in Dublin to latch on to UK Speed Garage. In addition to Dublin's clubs, most music venues host club nights after gigs.

Live music: Eclectic is the key word for Dublin's music scene, with most venues playing something of everything, from jazz, blues and soul to rock and pop, English folk and Irish traditional (known as 'trad'). Trad is played in countless pubs, often for free in impromptu 'sessions'. Larger venues or venues hosting high profile performers may charge on the night or tickets may be bought in advance.

The Temple Bar Music Centre, Curved Street, Temple Bar, is a great venue for spotting new talent. HQ, housed in the Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame, 57 Middle Abbey Street, hosts a variety of international and local acts and has a small, intimate feel to it, similar in style to Vicar Street, 99 Vicar Street.

Olympia Theatre, 74 Dame Street, is one of the best venues for broad-ranging styles in a large and lovely three-floor venue, for early-evening and post-midnight gigs. On a smaller scale, the eighteenth-century pub, Whelan's, 25 Wexford Street, is a surprisingly innovative venue which, along with The Funnel, 24 City Quay, provides a platform for up and coming bands. Jazz is best represented at the Norseman, 29 Essex Street East, heavy rock at down-to-earth Slattery's, 129 Capel Street, and trad at the roomy pub Eamon Doran's, 3A Crown Alley in the Temple Bar district.



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