Beloved LGBTQ-friendly Liberties Bar All My Friends took its final bow last month and Editor Tessa Ndjonkou is left to wonder what’s next.
Nestled in the meander of The Liberties, All My Friends used to be a beacon for queer people to reunite, socialize and promote their various artists endeavors. Now after two short years, it’s gone leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
In an Instagram post addressed to its nine thousand followers, the small business said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the closure of All My Friends bar with immediate effect”. The statement highlighted the fact that the environment was inhospitable to allowing the business to continue, much less to thrive: “the punitive taxation system that currently exists in this country combined with the ever increasing costs associated with operating a small, independently owned business have just become too much to bear”.
They closed their statement by saying: “Please get out and support small businesses, even if our government doesn’t want to”.
John Keelan, bouncer and ally of the dublin LBGTQIA* scene opened this bar in the Summer of 2022 and its success did not postpone its untimely closure. Speaking to GCN when the bar was set to open he said: “Essentially, I was so welcomed by the LGBTQ+ community that I want to give a little bit back, and provide that community a space where they can feel welcomed and accepted, because I felt so welcomed and accepted in those spaces.” He cited the diversity found in The Liberties as a primary reason why he chose that location.
Having been to All of My Friends with, topically, all of my friends I mourn an incredibly welcoming place I spent only a fleeting time with. Fresh out of my graduation, free double-shot tequila lemonade in hand, the bartender and another client and I were entangled in an impassioned conversation about the importance of arts degrees and the preservation of creative spaces. We had no idea how relevant it would soon become. “You’ve just gotten a degree in Gender, Sexuality and Culture? My gosh, that's amazing!” he said leaning over the bar. “I wish we’d had degrees like that when I was in college. Here...[the drink is on] the house for the graduate!”
It feels like everytime I open Instagram, I am met with an announcement that another place where I’ve made key memories is facing closure. Although the District Magazine Pandemic Report survey revealed significant losses in creative spaces in Dublin after the pandemic, the near sequential announcements of the closure of All of My Friends and P.Macs feels like a blow to a youth who is just trying to find spaces to connect. Sober third spaces are already considerably difficult to find but removing adaptable spaces from us will eventually signify the death of a multifaceted social life and begin to tear at the fabric that makes up Dublin.
Although the District Magazine Pandemic Report survey revealed significant losses in creative spaces in Dublin after the pandemic, the near sequential announcements of the closure of All of My Friends and P.Macs feels like a blow to a youth who is just trying to find spaces to connect.
We often joke or lament about how insular this city can be: “Oh everyone knows everyone here!”. Let’s not allow the government to turn us into strangers to one another.