CROWDS GATHERED AT Dame Court in Dublin’s city centre this evening in protest against the end of Yamamori Izakaya’s DJ and nightclub events.

This evening’s protest was made up of a DJ, large speakers powered by a generator, and crowds with signs and grievances at the end of the much-loved Yamamori late-night events.

The ending of the events follows an agreement between Yamamori and the landlord of the Hoxton Hotel, Trinity Hospitality, last week.

Yamamori agreed to gradually phase out its nightclub and DJ events from 19 July after the “mutually beneficial” (and yet to be revealed) solution. The agreement marked the end of months of a bitter dispute between the two parties that reached the High Court.

Speaking at the protest, Sunil Sharpe of the Give us the Night campaign said that although the housing crisis is the top issue in Ireland, there needs to be spaces available for people who live in the city to get out to and connect with others.

“We don’t only need places to live, we need places to actually have fun in as well,” he said.

Sharpe said that people should not waste energy directing their anger at the Hoxton, which is merely a tenant of Trinity Hospitality, but at the government. 

He referenced a stalled Bill that would allow nightclubs to stay open until 6am, and said it looks like it won’t be enacted “unless we put enough pressure on them [the government]. Use this as a fuel to bottle that energy you have now – because we have a fight on our hands.

“There’s so many other social and political issues that our stuff doesn’t even rank near,” he told crowds. “We have to move it up.”

Emma Hickey / The Journal Emma Hickey / The Journal / The Journal

While there was dancing, cans, and laughs at the gathering, many of those in attendance were genuinely passionate about Yamamori Izakaya.

Britt, who was at the protest representing LGBTQ+ collective Rathaus Dublin, said the group is “heartbroken” at the end of Yamamori’s events.

“The need for movement and community is so high, and our spaces are slowly being taken away,” she told The Journal. “We’re here to show support for the places that we love.”

She said that the surge of new hotels and apartment buildings in the city centre is eating into Dublin’s longstanding cultural spaces.

“We need to build more spaces and places for us to come together and gather and celebrate,” she said.

Emma Hickey / The Journal Emma Hickey / The Journal / The Journal

Britt was accompanied by ‘Lamp-er-ella’, who donned a lampshade and a sign saying: “Fuck your fancy hotels!”

Lamp-er-ella told The Journal, “I’m just here to throw shade on all the new hotels that we don’t need”.

Itziar, who is from Basque Country in northern Spain but who has been living and working in Dublin for two years, said she was out protesting as she disagrees with the new hotel beginning business next to a late-night venue and then taking issue with the sound of the events.

“You [the hotel] are new,” she said. “There are people coming here [Yamamori] for many years.

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“I think we need to fight for this space.”

The auditor of UCD People Before Profit James Iran pointed to the venue’s support for events run to fundraise for the Palestine movement.

“They’ve always been very welcoming to those, and that’s why a lot of people come out for these things, because these are left-wing venues at the end of the day,” he told The Journal.

“Corporations and the government shouldn’t rule over Dublin nightlife. It should be the people who decide.”

Rian Power was one of many who showed up to protest at Dame Court this evening.

The matter first kicked off in February, when Trinity Hospitality sought an injunction against the George’s Street nightclub in the High Court claiming late-night music from Yamamori Izakaya forced the hotel to close 31 rooms and to incur up to €300,000 in losses.

News of the injunction prompted several protests in February.

Trinity Hospitality had argued that noise from the venue exceeded acceptable levels and said sound monitoring equipment and limiters were needed to ensure compliance.

Yamamori, in turn, had defended its long-running nightlife offering. 

The site has operated in the area for around 15 years, and is known for hosting nightly sets that feature local, underground, and emerging DJs across a variety of genres like house, techno and disco.