The Viking Inn, at 75 Dame Street, predated The George as being Dublin’s first ‘exclusively gay bar’. Situated just beside The Olympia Theatre, the pub was taken over and renamed Brogan’s Bar in the early 1990s.
The earliest (newspaper) records show that 75 Dame Street operated first as a surgery for a ‘mechanical dentist’ by the name of John Egar in the 1850s. Remodeled as a public house it was known as O’Brien Bros. (1920s), Kerins (1940s), McCabes (1950s), Leonards (1960s/1970s), The Crampton Court (late 1970s), The Viking Inn (1979 – 1987), The City Hall Inn (1989 – 1993) and finally Brogan’s Bar (1993 – present).
The Viking was the first bar in the city to be owned by a gay proprietor and to be opened specifically as a gay bar. It closed in 1987, shortly after The Parliament (now the Turks Head) opened and a full two years after The George first set up shop.
Poster John K. on gaire.com remembers:
Because it was beside the Olympia there were many amusing incidents when straight people, especially from the country, went in and quickly began to feel very uncomfortable … The Viking was a great spot. I first went in there around 1980 (and) I have no recollection of any Garda harassment.
Fourcort recalls plucking up the courage to visit the place for the first time:
One night in the early eighties, I walked the entire length of Dame St. about 20 times trying to get up the courage to push in through the door of the Viking. A couple of drag queens cottoned on to me at one stage and started laughing at me. Eventually, I just forced myself in, got a pint (I never drink pints, I just thought I could make it last, and not have to move again), and went and hid down the back.
There are lots of aspects to Dublin’s LGBT culture that I’d like to cover in the future including the four-storey gay Hirschfeld Centre (1979 – 1987) in Temple Bar, Sides D.C. (now The Mercantile) on Dame Lane, the legendary acid house nightclub which started out as a gay club and the tragic events surrounding the 1982 murder of Declan Flynn, a 31-year old gay man, in Fairview Park by a gang of thugs.
Veteran campaigner and DJ Tonie Walsh has done fantastic work in trying to record the history of the LGBT community in Ireland, his long standing work cumulated in the Irish Queer Archive which was donated to the National Library in 2008. The archive contains, amongst other things, ‘over 250,000 news clippings dating from the late 1960s and covering all the national print media, all lesbian/gay print media published in Ireland since 1974 and rrivate papers, journals and diaries (the earliest dating from 1947)’.
Oh you forgot to say that Norris robbed the proceeds of the sale of the “community” space, about half a million as far as can be guessed, he gagged the proceedings, read all about it on P.ie
Hello
The Viking was tiny and very poserish as I remember it from my one visit in 1985. Like a gay version of The Bailey! The Hirschfeld had a cafe during the day (circa1983) which served good food and had people hanging around there for long periods doing nothing in particular. Flikkers the disco was a depressing place which stank of poppers by the end of the night. On my first visit there in 1982 there was a guy walking around feeling the walls and anyone standing against the walls! The front door was locked and had a peephole for the doorman to look out at you and decide if you should be let in. (The doorman was a disabled guy who used to get asked ‘How can you know you are gay when you are disabled?!!!) Once in you had to be ‘signed in’ by a member, we didn’t know any but after a frosty reception from the receptionist we got through. The music was good. The 1982 Declan Flynn murder and it’s aftermath features in ‘Down Down…’ the book by Eamonn Sweeney. Earlier in the same year a gay set designer from RTE was murdered in his home in Monkstown. The Charles Self murder seems to have been forgotten. The way the murder investigation was conducted badly soured relations between the ‘gay community’ and the gardai and was extensively covered in the Irish Times at the time. The fact the murder was carried out by a rent boy or someone posing as a rent boy picked up by Self on the night added to the shock value of it.
Don’t worry be happy..
The Charles Self murder was pretty rough alright, most people were terrified, he was living with Vincent Hanley at the time.
There were some very good people around the Hirsch, I remember a working tailor called John who was not earning a lot but he bought me lunch one day in the summer of 81, then you had others who’d move in on you for the purpose of using and losing you, nothing has changed there. Some people really looked out for me. The membership thing was not an issue for me, I knocked on the door and a fella called Frank opened it and said you do realise it’s a gay club, I said of course I did, why else would I be here, Anyway I got in and paid and was surrounded by 7 guys in the foyer, I never got beyond the foyer, were they vultures, probably. I still know the names of two of them. I was 17 and the one who used and losed me a few hours later is revered by some and ignored by many today. I believe his empire may have collapsed around him and the castles ramparts no longer defend as once they did. There were a lot of people whose sole intention was networking and figuring where the power lay and for those of us not like that there was the promise of crumbs if the rodents hadn’t been first. Anyway, yeah it was largely depressing and food was harder to come by than drink as a lot of drinkers wooden buy food or stock the fridge, £25 on de dole didn’t stretch to anything much at all. I’m trying to get names for the good guys but they are eluding me just, even the help line(710 939) was infiltrated by abusers, the excuse being that “I fancied him”, I wish I was making this up. I must have stayed in 25 places in 3 months where different guys tried to manipulate me, truly shocking!! In fact the only one I remember who never pressured me at all was Louis Walsh who I had coffee with for seven hours one Wednesday night in late 83, total gentle man. I didn’t know who he was till some one told me on Friday night. By far the worse thing of the lot was the death toll from AIDS. I stopped asking in the end and then there was nobody who knew me left to tell me who was left? The disabled door man was one feisty fucker who having not being made flavour of your month turned to fucken stone, the rejection was vicious, you’d meet people, talk to them once and then you ceased to exist there in after, I mean it was a truly awful experience. I don’t go next or near any of that now and life is more than livable, oh and there was great craic to be had at times if only you could spot the vultures!!
P.s. the Viking was by no means tiny, South William was tiny and funny ha ha enough they bought that as well, I mean the Viking crowd!!
The Viking was not the first exclusively gay bar. In fact there never was such a place. I’m a 69 year old Dubliner now living in Leitrim (its a long story). Bartley Dunnes And Rice’s were the first ‘gay’ bars for me in the mid sixties. The Viking opened later. For obvious legal reasons neither Rice’s or Dunne’s could profess to be gay. Barry Dunne descrbed his clientele as ‘avant garde’! When The Vikiing opened it became a stopping point on the ‘pilgrimage’ between Rice’s and Dunne’s.
I have great memories of the Viking in particular a manager named Pat who , although not gay, was so supportive and helpful to a degree that I have not come across in a gay bar anywhere in Ireland since.
For me the most memorable Viking related event was when we hired a CIE bus for a trip to the Devil’s Glen. We had a variety of sporting events, including three legged races, etc etc etc. The driver on the way home the driver made a short speech expressing his personal enjoyment of the day.
Small island that this is had me meet that same driver years later in Tullamore when he asked why we had not had more outings like the Devil’s Glen Outing?
My memories of the Viking are good,.
.
I remember the Viking with great affection as it was a regular haunt for me and my mates in 1985-87 during my student years when I first ventured out. I can also remember folk wandering in en route to the Olympia next door. It was really funny to see them come in and then watch the dawning realisation that this wasn’t the sort of hostelry they were expecting it to be. I recall that some of my mates were George people and I was definitely a Viking person but for the life of me I can’t remember what the difference between them was. It feels rather odd to see my youthful socialising places being considered part of history already…
OMG Abused by a system. You walked me right down memory lane with your description of the old gay Dublin. I was a south William drinker in 83 ,a smaller and more friendly crowd (at least I found them to be). The Viking was never my cup of tea. Fond memories of coming out of the hirschfield while the road sweepers were starting their days work.i can look back with rose tinted glasses but they were dangerous times both in and out of the scene.i like you have given up on the scene. It would age you before your time.
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The bar was renamed The City Hall Inn before it became Brogan’s.
My sister owned the City Hall for a period in the early nineties. It still had a small minority of gay clientelle who drank in the basement, it was renamed Brogans c.1994
Thanks for the comment Tommy.
I was on the gay scene 1981 – 1983 and The Viking was certainly NOT DUBLIN’S FIRST GAY BAR. In actual fact the “forbidden fruit” aspect, long since gone, made the whole experience amazing! Rices, Bartley Dunnes, The Bailey (Sat Mornings only), and The South William preceded The Viking. Most atmospheric time when there was a lot more character!!
[…] had gotten into an argument with the barman the previous evening. We have previously about how written how The Viking has been described as the first bar in the city to be owned by a gay proprietor and to be opened […]
The Viking was an all encompassing pub when managed by Paul Whelan during the eighties we fellow hospitality workers were welcomed no matter what our orientation and in fact became a favorite drinking spot when we finished work or on a day off
Dates are wrong. It was renamed Brogan’s in early ’91.
I know as I spent my 18th in the downstairs and had to ask people why they were referring to the place as “City Hall” when it was called Brogan’s.
[…] temporarily naked as contractors work on a new sign. 75 Dame Street used to be a gay bar called The Viking while Crampton Court (the lane down to the side entrance to the Olympia Theatre) is one of my […]
I lived in Dublin from 1980 to 1984 and I drank in Bartley Dunnes and the Viking. I remember the Viking first few women’s nights when some theatre goer from the Gaiety would walk in and realise they were the only men in there. The speed of their leaving was only matched by last orders!!. I worked in the Pygmalion on and off for a while as well. Things could be really awful at times and many friends were attacked and spat at in the street. As a woman it was worse when Dublin became a mecca for British stag parties and you had to be really careful where you went outside the centre of town. I came back to London in 1984 and took the fight with me and was one of the founders of what is now OutWest and LGBT group now 25 years old and still fighting for everything.. Good luck love and best wishes to all of you there keep them coming it has been great reading CHTM tonight. My name is Caroline Carney in case anyone came acroos my trail
Great Memories on this feed. I Arrived on the scene in winter of 83. I often wonder where everyone is now.There are few familiar faces out there now. There was a bar opened briefly on Thomas street back in the 90s and a lot of familiar faces from the 80s appeared there. It was wonderful to meet them again. I don’t think I had any enemies on the scene back then, just fond memories of a lot of people in the same boat, dealing with the same weird world outside the doors of our bars and the Hirsh or the south William. Myself and my friends would stand inside the door of the south William to get the best view. but great memories of Frank McCann RIP Behind the bar and I’m desperately trying to think of the ladies name who worked there, short dark hair and always a big smile.. mostly remember Alison moyet, wham, and all that wonderful 80s music that brings me right back…It was a strange time full of happiness and sadness,and even danger but maybe what makes me feel better about it is because we were younger in our 20s and had our lives in front of us. Thankfully its a changing world, but i wouldn’t change the memories. I would love to see a reunion. Thankfully there isn’t anyone from back there I feel i would like to avoid.
the pub in Thomas Street was Lynches, manies a great night in there.