Rock For Culture: A Protest "To Save Fibbers"

Culture
11 Aug 22

The Living Room beer garden.

The protest will take place at 6pm today August 11th outside of the Holiday Inn.

The O'Connell Street beer garden at Fibbers has been home to alternative arts and culture for 43 years, and is now facing destruction – only to be replaced with an expansion of the Holiday Inn Hotel. Today, August 11th, at 6pm there will be a protest outside of the Holiday Inn to save the beer garden shared by Fibber Magee's, The Living Room, and Murray's.

The protest will act as a showcase of the massive talent that has thrived at Fibbers. There will be a live band, a DJ, and Ireland's top drag and burlesque performers on the street to display the importance of Fibbers as a home of arts and culture. Dublin City Council have already approved planning for the expansion of the hotel, but Rock For Culture aims to be a "peaceful disturbance" to demand the safety of the Irish cultural landmark.

Dublin's first ever alt-queer nightlife event, Dance To The Underground, is based at Fibbers and will be left homeless in the face of its destruction.

"We urgently needed a safe space where we could meet, enjoy ourselves and dance... Fibbers is our home and it's our mission to keep queering this space that is so important," the founders of DTTU explained.

The garden has also been influential in Dublin's indie music scene.

"The venues which rely on the shared space have a long history of supporting Irish Traditional & Rock music such as U2 and Aslan," explains the Green Party's Nessa Hourigan.

Rock For Culture has tons of support already, with a petition with over 10k signatures and countless appeals sent to An Bord Pleanála. Labour, the Green Party and Give Us The Night have also sent in appeals, and will contribute speakers to today's event.

Clearly, Fibbers is incredibly important to so many people, evident by the outrage over the space.

"We should be asking the government for more alternative spaces, not to save our own and longest standing one," says an ex-employee at the pub.

Sign the petition here, and check out more information about the protest below.