Dublin City Nightlife, Ireland 1968

A night out in Dublin takes in dancing, restaurants, bars and ballads and finishes with sausage and chips in The Manahttan.

Bíonn go leor siamsaíocht oíche i mBaile Átha Cliath do dhaoine óga. Ultan McElligot takes a trip around Dublin to explore the nightlife on offer in the bars, restaurants and dancehalls and to discover what’s on offer.

From traditional ballads to pop music, the nightlife in the capital city is good, provided the cash is available for it of course.

It’s not always a case of faraway hills being green. Dublin nightlife has its own charm, according to one American visitor,

New York has much greater variety of things to do, but of course in New York some people make a career of night life...I prefer the quieter life in Dublin to New York...

You can dance the night away to The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Petula Clarke for five shillings in a disco, but a meal in a restaurant will set you back just over £4. For that though, you will get dinner, wine, a concert, and dancing,

Tá sé an-mhaith, má tá an airgead agat.

Ballad singing has won over one American lady’s heart,

I love them. This is a great thing for me, to go to a pub and hear the ballads...

But how should a good night out in Dublin end? At 4am our weary reporter makes his way to The Manhattan late night restaurant on Harcourt Road, where he concludes his research with a plate of sausages and chips.

This episode of ‘Féach’ was broadcast on 14 January 1968.

The bilingual current affairs series Féach reported on national and international events and was broadcast from 1967 to 1984. Féach was aired every Sunday evening and featured reports in both Irish and English. The Irish word ‘Féach’ meaning ‘Look’ gives an indication of what the programme was about as editor John Ross stated

It will try to show, from a fresh viewpoint, what is happening at home and abroad each week.

The show was originally anchored by Andy O’Mahony with reporting assistance from Seán Duignan and Mícheál Ó Briain.