A few weeks ago, five of us decided to leave this great big capital city of ours and head off for a weekend in cosy Cork. After an early start, Colm, Jimi, his boyfriend Robert, Lee and myself found ourselves in Cashel for a quick pit stop with countless American tourists. The Rock of Cashel is amazing to look at – it’s just that once you’re inside the ruins perched on top there ain’t that much to be doing. Back in our respective cars and a few hours later we were motoring into Cork’s city centre.

The five of us were staying at a gay and lesbian bed and breakfast called Roman House (Tel. 021 450 3606). It’s a bit of an ordeal to actually find anything whilst driving around Cork’s user-unfriendly, one-way road system, but once you’ve found Roman House you’ll be well impressed. The five of us were allocated the top three rooms which was handy. Colm and my room had a fab retro look to it. Our bed’s headboard was of a tiara style with a heart design cut into it — every queen’s dream come true! Once we’d settled in, it was time to go out and explore the surroundings. Due to a mix up, Robert had no clothes for the weekend (don’t ask!) so we spent the next while shopping for socks etc. 

That evening we had a few voddies to get us going and then headed for Café Paradiso, Cork’s best known vegetarian restaurant. Once we’d finished our blue cheese risottos, it was off to our first pub of the night. This was to be Bodega (big sister of Dublin’s Front Lounge), but due to the crowds we headed next door to the Roundy Room. Someone had heard that it was gay-friendly upstairs but I found it to be soulless. Next!

Quickly moving on, we headed to what was to become our big find on the gay scene in Cork — Taboo Bar. Just off the main street, Taboo looked fresh, sounded great and the two barmen gave all five of us a very friendly welcome. I may be putting my neck on the line here, but I would advise the people behind Dublin’s latest gay bar, the Wig and Pen, to go and have a look at Taboo — and copy what they’re doing. The bar’s interior is painted white, which gives a clean, fresh look to the place. This is a refreshing change to the dark, dull pubs you often get elsewhere and is reminiscent of the many gay ‘fun’ pubs in Sitges (Spain) and Mykonos (Greece). The atmosphere also reminded me of fun pubs in the Mediterranean – lots of chart music allowing everyone to sing along. Robert and Lee requested ‘There’s A Whole Lot Of Loving Going On’ – he singing the lads’ bits and she the girls’.

All five of us were reluctant to leave, but the time had come to head over to The Other Place, Cork’s gay nightclub. After paying our €7 entrance fee, we ran up the stairs expecting to be sucked into a huge heaving club. The reality was somewhat different. Instead of the clubbing masses, we came face-to-face with two 50 year olds propping up the bar, a suspicious looking teenager in a corner and three very bored looking bar staff. By simply entering the club, the five of us had more than doubled the amount of people at The Other Place!

After half an hour, the place started to pack up a bit and it was down to the dancefloor with the lot of us. Poor (straight) Lee became the object of desire for a Cork girly and spent most of the night avoiding her. The music was excellent and the five of us pretended we knew how to dance for the rest of the night.
The next day we headed off to Kinsale (beautiful) and then to the Head of Kinsale. Much to our disgust, we quickly realised that the Head of Kinsale is a privately-owned golf course. The next best thing was to climb down the death-defying cliffs to the water’s edge. Unfortunately for Robert, he lost his expensive mobile somewhere on the way to the bottom. It’s probably feathering some bird’s nest right now, along with all those golf balls.

Evening time was quick to come around and the five of us started our adventures in Cork all over again. Highlights of the second night included checking out the new look Loafer’s and returning to the unbelievably (and believe me after the night before it was unbelievable) packed The Other Place.

Cork is a great place to go for a weekend away and I would recommend all readers to consider heading down to the second city and checking out its scene.

More soon

Tim

 
Tim - April 2002
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