District 8 will close if owner gets his way
Anthony Byrne, the owner of Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre which operates as a pop-up nightclub District 8 run by a consortium of promoters (including Subject, Archetype, Bedlam & Hidden Agenda) may close if his plans to demolish the building to build a 298-unit “aparthotel” goes through, as Newstalk reports.
Plans were submitted before Christmas for a six-storey development at 135-143 Francis Street. The theatre and its surrounding buildings on the site would be destroyed to make way for an aparthotel built around a courtyard, with restaurant, gym, bike hire and reception area. Some of the facades would be retained though a theatre is not in the plans.
It’s the latest news of closures to Dublin’s nightlife with Hangar due to close to make way for a hotel (though it will remain open this year), Sweeney’s due to reopen under new management and Twisted Pepper severely reducing its clubbing output and reopening as Wigwam following an ecstasy-related death.
A closure of District 8 would mean the last remaining venue that could host 1,000 plus people in the city centre and caters for dance and electronic music would be gone, further reducing the scale of Dublin’s nightlife.
Recent guests at District 8 include Ben Klock, Daniel Avery, Dimitri From Paris, Pantha Du Prince, Jeff Mills, Surgeon, Omar S, Patrick Topping and Fatima Yamaha, not to mention the local ecosystem of DJs and producers such as Sunil Sharpe, DJ Deece and Defekt.
