Roaming entertainers, overwhelmed staff and a feeling like you’re on the set of Love Island: Dublin has a new nightclub, aimed at young professionals (“over 23s”).
Hyde, an upmarket venue on 9 Lemon Street (just off Grafton Street), opened a nightclub within its four-floor complex on Saturday night.
Each of the four floors in the multimillion-euro development offer a different concept: a cafe bar, cocktail bar, contemporary Asian restaurant and Dublin’s largest rooftop bar, so it claims. After hours it will now play host to Ireland’s young professionals looking to have a boogie – in a boujee new venue.
The new nightclub, known as Seek (Hyde and Seek in case you missed it), was in full swing soon after opening at 10pm on Saturday. Entertainers dotted around the place, such as dancers dressed in disco-ball like suits and a bongo player, added to the already thumping DJ set (throwbacks aplenty).
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While Hyde enjoys a structured dispersal of guests during the day, like any other club, Seek soon resembled a sardine tin, with guests cramming to get a bartender’s attention. I waited 20 minutes at the bar at one point.
As the night progressed, some staff members said it felt “chaotic”.
At one point, a bouncer attempted to hold back a crowd on the way in to Seek, only letting those with VIP wristbands through. This resulted in the disappointed faces of some people who just left the space to use the bathroom, a number of which are outside the nightclub venue. But as the night wore on, people soon slipped by him.
Rare sight
The opening of the venue is a rare sight in Dublin, where a slew of closures in recent years has left partygoers with few options for late-night entertainment. According to the Give Us the Night campaign, just 16 per cent of the 522 nightclubs that existed in Ireland in 2000 remained open one year ago.
Head of operations at Seek, Clive Powers, who also runs operations at Tramline, said: “The Dublin late-night scene has had a rough few years so we are excited to revive the Dublin nightlife scene with the opening of Seek and bring it into a new era. Particularly for those working professionals 25+ who feel like they haven’t had a nightclub of their own in this city.”
The venture is being financed by Michael Stafford, managing director of Stafford Bonded, a Wexford-based drinks company, along with his uncle Conor O’Driscoll and three minority stakeholders: Mike Ormond, Ian Redmond and Michael Keane.
Sunil Sharpe, a DJ and nightlife campaigner, said any venue with a dance floor should be welcomed after years of clubs shutting down.
“I really like it,” he said at the venue on Saturday. “I think it’s really important to have new dance spaces in the city. Over the last 20 years we’ve progressively moved towards a one-dimensional nightlife that’s just only about drinking, where the offering of entertainment is very limited. A lot of operators tend to use their space as drinking space rather than entertainment space. So it’s really positive to see somewhere utilise the space they have to include a dance floor.”
No stranger to the scene, Sharpe is stopped by friends and admirers whizzing up and down the stairs as people navigate the labyrinthine complex.
“There’s not many venues in Ireland where you press the level that you want to go to for the lifts,” he said. “It’s that adventure people enjoy. I think now more than ever people ... want to be able to explore.
“There’s a lot of conversation now about living above the shop and making the most of space as you go further up some of these buildings. We need to do that with cultural and entertainment venues as well.”
Is an upmarket club what Dublin needs right now? Yes, Sharpe said, “We need a little bit of everything.” Surviving as a stand-alone nightclub in Dublin is difficult these days, he said, and a venue that transitions from food and cocktails into a late-night venue is the way to go.
“The fact that we’re seeing a multi-use venue here that is moving from food into entertainment by night is exactly where most operators are going to be looking to if they have any interest in the nightlife industry. Most of these operators are paying obscene amounts of money just on rent ... you have to make the most out of your space.”
Rooftop bar
Upstairs on the rooftop bar, the promised “views spanning right across the city” in one area were obscured to all but the tallest of guests by a wooden wall, and the views thereafter were little more than a few blocks of grey buildings. Inside, however, it was party central. The prevalence of champagne was surely a sign the boom is back – for some – and “influencers” roamed about the place enjoying complimentary drinks.
Later in the evening, what appeared like a fire alarm was heard at least twice on the top floor, alarming guests momentarily.
Speaking to such young professionals the venue aims to cater for, many were frustrated at long wait times for drinks and some were disappointed at the lack of bathrooms, but generally people had fun. Looking at the cocktail menu with prices of about €13 (not unusual in the capital), several said they might come for a special occasion.
“You’re not going to have everything completely right on the first night,” Sharpe said. “I think with any venue, you’re always going to tweak.”
Seek opens every Friday and Saturday from 10pm to 2:30am with an entry fee starting at €5 per guest, more for VIPs. Hyde is strictly over 23′s with a smart dress code
