LAST UPDATE | 17 Feb

“AN UNDERGROUND, GRASSROOTS venue”, a “great spot for late-night tunes” and a place that has “given huge cultural value for very little return”.

That’s how people in a crowd of more than a hundred described Yamamori Izakaya tonight, as protesters gathered in Dame Court to oppose legal action taken by the neighbouring The Hoxton Dublin over noise levels.

The decades-old restaurant and nightclub, which hosts live music five nights a week, has been at the centre of a growing row since the Hoxton (formerly the Central Hotel) confirmed it had sought an injunction related to noise transfer into its building.

The protest, organised by People Before Profit, took place just metres from Yamamori’s entrance at Dame Court, with music blaring from speakers and chants echoing through the narrow laneway.

Many attendees said the dispute reflects wider frustration over what they see as the steady loss of nightlife and cultural spaces in Dublin.

One masked protester, who asked not to be named, told The Journal the anger goes beyond this single venue.

“People are sick of losing spaces like this,” he said. “It’s a threat to our culture at this stage.”

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who attended alongside party member and musician Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, said the protest was about defending grassroots music and arts.

“I’m here to support the DJs and to support grassroots culture and musicians who are being squeezed out by a bunch of capitalists who’ve taken over the Hoxton hotel,” Boyd Barrett said.

Trinity Hospitality has consistently said it is not trying to shut Yamamori down.

In a statement issued earlier this week, the company said the court proceedings are intended to “advance a testing and resolution process to reduce noise transfer into the hotel”, rather than to close the venue.

It also said that joint acoustic testing took place over the weekend and that it hopes this will allow both businesses to “continue to thrive”. The company has indicated it is open to contributing financially to long-term mitigation works within Yamamori.

The Hoxton, which opened last November following refurbishment, said that it must balance the operation of the hotel with its obligations to guests.

“I hope they’ll see this protest as a very serious expression of the determination of Dubliners and the music and arts culture community to fight for their venues,” Boyd Barrett added.

“Arts spaces and music spaces are under pressure, and we need to fight to protect them, and we need a government to actually support the artists on the venues.”

Protesters pictured on Dame Court in Dublin this evening. The Journal The Journal

Others in the crowd struck a similar note. Conor McBride, who attended with Becky O’Connor, said the protest felt like a breaking point.

“We’re fed up with losing what little we have,” he said. “It’s well worth standing up for culture, music and nightlife in Ireland.”

O’Connor said she regularly visited Yamamori. “It’s a great spot, and it’s great to see so many people out supporting it.”

Yamamori statement

The protest came hours after the owners of Yamamori issued a fresh statement strongly rejecting claims made by the Hoxton’s owner, Trinity Hospitality.

Last week, Trinity Hospitality said it had been left with “no choice” but to seek an injunction, citing multiple complaints from hotel guests and saying it could not use around a quarter of its rooms due to noise.

In a statement, Yamamori said it found it “extremely difficult” to accept claims that the legal action was not intended to “curtail cultural or nightlife activity”.

“It is also hard to accept the company’s claim that it had no choice but to seek the injunction,” the statement said, adding that the club had sought meetings between experts from both sides over recent months.

Yamamori’s owners also said that when the site next door operated as the Central Hotel, the space above the venue was used as a function room, not bedrooms.

“The current owners chose to convert this area into bedrooms despite our concerns, which were known to them,” the statement said.

They added that during construction works, Yamamori commissioned an independent sound report and provided it to the hotel to assist with mitigation measures.

The venue said it is now analysing technical sound data received from the hotel earlier this week.

Additional reporting by Eoghan Dalton