Ballrooms, Hotels & Marquees

Current Count: 1,079 as of 19-Jun-2009

Lists by name: A through K   L through Z
List by county: Antrim through Kildare   Kilkenny through Wicklow
Special topic: The Marquees

Teddy Palmer and his Rumble Band rock St. Dominic's Hall in Glenties. (Click photo to enlarge)

Anyone who grew up in Ireland between 1950 and 1990 knows the ballrooms, marquees, lounge bars, and hotels were home to dancing's "golden age." They might also remember that if it wasn't too cold because of a lack of heat, it was too hot as dancers jostled for position on crowded dance floors, with the sweet mixture of perfume and sweat filling the air. The photo at the right (courtesy of Teddie Palmer) was taken in 1980, nearly a decade "after" the end of the showband boom! Hopefully, this attests to the fact that the era of dancing and ballrooms did not end with the showbands (and they didn't end either)!

Filling Your Dance Card

It was the ballrooms that first catered to Irish dancers in early 20th century. The dance card sample shown right and left was kindly contributed by Arklow musician, Liam O'Reilly, who also contributed over sixty band photos from the showband era. The dance card is from the Marlsborough Hall in Arklow, which Liam tells us still is in use today, although not for dancing. The night's entertainment was provided by W.A. Manahan's Band in 1917. The card provides an interesting insight into the "event" which a night out a dance was at the turn of the century. The band's song selection had to be printed up in advance so young ladies could fill their "engagements" for the evening's dancing. Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized images.

Dancing to the big bands and orchestras of the the 30's, 40's, and 50's finally exploded in the heyday of the showbands, the 1960's. Many new ballrooms were quickly built to meet the increased need of the dancing public. The halls were custom built for dancing and usually included a few bathrooms, a cloak room, and a mineral bar. (Mineral is the Irish equivalent of soda pop). Many were more reminiscent of a shed than an entertainment facility. There was little seating, other than a row of benches around the perimeter of the dance floor. Some included an upstairs balcony area where weary dancers could catch their breath. Halls were often built "in the middle of nowhere," drawing patrons from towns and villages for miles around. Most of the ballrooms enjoyed an unprecedented run of success for twenty, thirty, even forty years.

Around the same time, the "carnival" craze also hit rural Ireland. In localities where there was no ballroom, the locals put up a tent. Local bars would receive an "exemption" for the period of 10-14 days when the festival was in full swing and soon every parish in Ireland had its own special celebration. Daytime activities were usually included in the festival program, but it was the bars and the tents that drew the crowds. Of course, the marquees had even worse facilities than the ballrooms, but to some extent, the "punters" didn't mind. After all, it was only once a year! Click here for more about marquees.  

As time progressed, hotels starting getting into the dancing business, usually to make up for slow times of the year when tourists were few and far between. The introduction and widespread acceptance of the bar exemption (allowing hotels to serve alcohol until 1 or 2 in the morning) heralded the death of the ballroom. They were made possible by the hotel serving food (usually chicken and chips) which allowed them to keep the beer and Bacardi flowing.

Although hotels usually had smaller ballrooms, designed for weddings and business meetings, they definitely had better amenities and more plush surroundings. Some hotels did so well with dancing, they expanded their ballrooms or even added a special club. As discos spread across Ireland, the hotels could see an even better way to make money. Hire a local lad to play records, put up a few colored lights and a disco ball, and call yourself a nite club! It worked, and within a few years only the most popular ballrooms and bands survived and the romantic era of the showbands was all but dead.      

Brendan Bowyer and the Royal Showband play to a packed house in the 1960's. (Click photo to enlarge)

At the same time, small towns around Ireland started building local multi-purpose "community centers." These venues were designed to accommodate everything from basketball to ballroom dancing, and were usually better equipped than ballrooms to handle customer needs. The community centers, although never a threat to the ballrooms, probably helped to hasten their demise.

The interior of The Flamingo Ballroom, Ballymena (from Billy Swann) shows the ballroom at its finest! (Click photo to enlarge)

Today, most of the ballrooms are gone, if not physically, then in spirit. Many have been demolished to make way for new development, but most are simply empty and derelict. Often built in remote places, or on the outskirts of town, the land they occupy generally isn't very valuable. Some have been saved by local residents and renovated. Others have been converted to other uses, such as community centers, motor companies, (car dealerships), furniture stores, warehouses, or factories. Those that are still running have had to reinvent themselves every few years, adopting the model of whatever was popular...at least for a time.

Most of the Irish ballrooms now stand silent, a quiet reminder of a happier, more innocent time. We pay tribute to them here...  

Lists of Venues (see top of page)

We need your help! In trying to determine the "status" of venues, we have only been able to go by research on the Internet. "Active" only means the venue still exists and may, or may not, run dances any more. "Derelict" means it is still standing. If you have any updates on any of these venues, please click here to email us with news! Thanks.

Our lists of venues has been culled from a variety of sources, but is being constantly updated! If you know of any venues left out, please drop us a line and we will add it to the list. We'd also love to get photos of as many of these venues as possible...old or new! Click on the hotel name if highlighted to see a photo. Click here to go straight to the photo galleries.

Special thanks to: Colly Graham (Ballymena D.J.), Johnny Gallagher (Bundoran), Joan O'Connell, Shaun Magee (Chips), Mike Niblett, Glen Brown (Scotland), Jonathan P. Neville (Youghal), Michael Brennan, J. Kieran Magennis, Declan Colgan, Tom O'Connor, Anthony Hillick (Bray), Garth Armitage, Martin Carroll, Anthony Hillick, Declan Byrne, Billy Swann (Cossacks), Jan Lynch (Shelly), and John MacCrossan for their support, information or photos!  

A very special thanks to Teddie Palmer and Pat Hoye for rummaging through their old diaries and memories to help add many venues to this list.

** Photo of Aishling Ballroom, Clogherhead (taken June, 2004) by Martin Carroll.
***Our thanks to Billy Swann for adding several ballrooms to our list!
****Our thanks to Patrick Hoye for adding many ballrooms to our list!
*****Our thanks to Jan (Shelley) Lynch for adding several ballrooms to our list!
******Our thanks to Liam O'Reilly for adding many ballrooms to the list!