Night out after lockdown: ‘It feels like a normal Saturday but we all know it’s not’

By 8.30pm on Saturday night, long queues formed outside gastropubs in Dublin city centre for the second night of their reopening after lockdown.

Popular venues Pygmalion, No Name Bar and Capitol Lounge were fully booked out for the evening and most people queued in the hope of a walk-in table becoming available.

In the queue for Capitol Lounge, Kate Carter (21) from Dundrum said she and her friends had just left their first bar after exceeding the time limit and were hoping the group of six could stay in the next bar until closing time.

“I’m just delighted to be out. I’ve been off work during the restrictions and haven’t been able to do anything. I was someone who would go out three nights a week before, so being able to go out for the first time in two months is unreal,” she said.

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Capitol isn’t Ms Carter’s go-to spot but her favourite places are still closed or booked out, she said. “The €9 euro meal rule is annoying,” she said. One restaurant told her group they couldn’t go in unless they spent €39 per person. “So it’s definitely not the same as a normal night out,” Ms Carter added.

Rachel Sullivan (21) from south Dublin agreed. “It’s a different vibe from before. When I’m coming out now I feel nervous. It’s really busy so it feels like a normal Saturday night but we all know it’s not. We have in the back of our minds that we have to be careful,” she said.

At another city centre pub gardaí asked people in the queue to disperse as groups of mostly five and six people congregated on the corner without social distancing. Several people in the queue had been there for over an hour hoping to get a table. Inside the bar,€9 euro meal rule was applied sparingly as menus were only provided when asked and most tables drank without meals.

Limits on bookings contributed to some of the crowds congregating outside venues as people queued around doorways for walk-in tables, while others bought takeaway pints and drank on the street instead.

Street atmosphere

Unlike those in the long pub queues, Joey Cook from Walkinstown and his friends preferred to drink on the street “for the atmosphere”.

“You wouldn’t see everyone out on the streets like this any other Christmas, it’s a bit more mad. There are more people drinking on the street than in the pub, so we left the Hairy Lemon and got take away pints from the International. Now we’re on the float,” he said.

Mr Cook’s friend, Dara Murphy, chimed in: “The good weather helps. If it was raining, nobody would be out here.” Mr Murphy (21) said he and his friends appreciate being out now more than ever. “We took everything for granted before this. Now we’re just happy to be out at all.”

Over on South William Street , one of the areas that attracted criticism during Level 5 due to photos on social media of large crowds drinking takeaway pints outside, there was a substantial Garda presence at 11pm. Every bar on the street was at its reduced capacity.

Hugo, a barista at Metro Café, said the bistro was “actually busier than this time last year.”

“I think people have just been home for so long that everyone wants to be out for the first weekend of reopening,” he said. Hugo said customers were respectful and compliant of the rules.

“People are queuing outside until we have space and wearing their masks until they’re seated at their table. Everyone has been really nice and it’s just good to be back,” he said.

A bar owner further up the street said one of the main challenges was getting staff to return to work and feared some bar workers “preferred to stay on the Covid payment”.

Last orders were taken and pub goers heading home flooded the streets by 11.30pm. Clodagh Ellis (23) and her friends Sophie and Aoife were heading home from The Woollen Mills where they had food and a few drinks.

The three friends said they felt safe and comfortable because they were seated in their own booth and had hand sanitiser at their table. Aoife said she would have loved “a proper wild night out, if it was safe” and said it was weird to be going home so early.

“I hate going home at half 11 when my parents are still up. I miss going home after 3am and eating McDonald’s with my eyes closed. I feel like we’re missing out on our twenties,” she said.

By midnight, one popular taxi app had crashed for some revellers trying to get home and some competed with each other in trying to convince taxi drivers on Dame Street that their fare was the one worth taking.