For those of you who frequent the place, it might be bloody hard to believe it’s turning the big 1 already, we know we were shocked, but stick it in your diary – the Workman’s Club are having a birthday party. What night, you ask? Pfft. It’s a full week of celebrations from September 5th – 11th so you’ve no excuse for missing it.
If you’re not acquainted, The Workman’s Club on Wellington Quay used to be just that – The Dublin Workingmen’s Club. It opened it’s doors back in 1888 and closed them in 2003 and since the place got it’s new lease of life last year you can hear history singing in the walls. History, or whatever band is playing The Venue. Split across a few nubs and hubs of activity from The Venue and The Venue Bar on the ground floor where we’ve caught many a fine music act to favourite Culch haunt The First Floor Bar, it’s stayed very true to it’s back-in-the-day decor with bare floorboards, big old fireplaces, huge windows looking out over the Liffey and an overall shabby chic ambiance.
There are touches of hipster about the place – purple walls with silver trim, hipsters, an old upright piano in The Venue Bar – but mostly what you’ll discovering wandering in of an evening is that there’s a grand bit of space, a nice crowd and if you’re old and so inclined it’s easy enough to have a sconse around and find yourself a chair.
True as it may be that all of this is reading a tad like a love letter, the place does have a habit of being all things to all people and making you fall for it. It’s a great live venue, they mix a mean cocktail, you can have a quiet midweek drink or drag all your mates there for your birthday (What? Where’s Wellington Quay? What club?) and find yourself dancing to Jump Around before negotiating the Workman’s Mile from First Floor Bar to Basement Loo (they have upstairs loos now, but you’re an Old Head if you’ve run the gauntlet). They play host to the monthly film club of our blogging cousins The Anti Room and we hear from the smokers that they have a very nice…area.
If we’ve convinced you to give it the once over (fine, they’ve been known to have sticky tables, if you really want to know what’s wrong with the place) then skip in during the next few weeks, pick your seat and work on your bum groove before the big birthday week line-up of…
David Geraghty (Bell X 1) and Cathy Davey & friends (wink, wink) on Tuesday September 6th
Dublin’s newest comedy club ‘The Death of Comedy’ on Wednesday September 7th
Literary Death Match on Thursday September 8th
Rarely Seen Above Ground on Friday September 9th
Turning Pirate on Saturday September 10th
and
An all day music extravaganza on Sunday September 11th including House of Dolls, Ghost Estates, Darren Hardiman & Overhead, the Albatross.
The real kicker is that we’ve heard the current line-up is only a taster, no surprise considering the booking talents of former Aiken Promotions fella Karl Geraghty, and there’s loads more to come. Our only remaining question is with regard to the possibility of cake.
Well, actually, we’re kind of wondering if they’ll do a Ghostbusters-esque tour of the Fourth Floor of the building that doesn’t get talked about and where nobody’s ever been but going on the way you can make the floorboards bounce on the lower floors if enough people are dancing, we deeply suspect things would get to a level of joist abuse that their insurance wouldn’t cover.
Happy Birthday big W, sure we’re only mad about ya.
