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Sunday 24 November, 2024
Sunday 24 November, 2024
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The oldest gay bar in Ireland is closing its doors
THE OLDEST GAY bar in Ireland has announced its imminent closure.
Loafers on Douglas Street in Cork opened in 1983.
In a post on Facebook this afternoon, owner Ted O’Connell said he was “devastated” at having to close.
“It is with a profound sense of sadness that I have to announce that today will be my last day opening the door of Loafers,” O’Connell wrote.
“To those who have been friends and have supported Loafers over the years, thank you.”
The bar was opened a decade before the State decriminalised homosexuality in 1993.
Loafer’s website describes it as a bar that “caters to all members of the spectrum who respect the ethos of the bar”.
This ethos is “to provide a safe and friendly social environment for the LGBT community and their friends”.
There’s been an outpouring of support for O’Connell and the staff of the pub on Twitter:
Originally published on TheJournal.ie
Read: ‘It took me 65-and-a-bit years to summon up the courage to talk about being gay’ >
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Cork gay bar LGBT loafers