Pa Johnsons Bar

**Fair_play_boy** · 05/04/2005, 9:10 PM

Saw it yesterday morning. There it was. GONE!
Many happy hours spent there chattin up fine young nurses from the nearby North Infirmary. Now it lies in a heap of rubble, soon to be another apartment block or some other vital building.

Another good Cork landmark, now a memory.
What will go next?

**liam88** · 05/04/2005, 9:37 PM

Closed down to-hopefully to re-open soon but many arn't so sure...

**noby** · 06/04/2005, 7:45 AM

Never knew Pa Johnsons.
I lived in Cork for 6 years, and spent many a night in The Lib.
Imagine my distress when I returned a couple of years ago, to find the same thing - a heap of rubble.( I had to double check, because it was pretty run-down at the best of times!)

I won't lose any sleep over the titanic though. There are other pubs-named-after-sunken-ships in the square above it that are much nicer.
We went into the titanic a couple of years ago after a match, and were asked to 'remove the colours or leave'

**tiktok** · 06/04/2005, 7:50 AM

Still can't describe what it felt like the first time I walked past the pile of rubble that used to be the perfect end to a wednesday/friday night

**patsh** · 06/04/2005, 8:43 AM

Originally Posted by Fair_play_boy

Saw it yesterday morning. There it was. GONE!
Many happy hours spent there chattin up fine young nurses from the nearby North Infirmary. Now it lies in a heap of rubble, soon to be another apartment block or some other vital building.

Another good Cork landmark, now a memory.
What will go next?

I have to say FPB, I can't agree with you about Johnson's being a Cork landmark. It was a dump of a bar, a filthy building and had (in more recent times anyway) a clientele who lived their lives up the farthest reaches of their own behinds.
And the Heineken was absolutely dire as well!......

**drinkfeckarse** · 06/04/2005, 9:13 AM

Originally Posted by noby

I won't lose any sleep over the titanic though. There are other pubs-named-after-sunken-ships in the square above it that are much nicer.
We went into the titanic a couple of years ago after a match, and were asked to 'remove the colours or leave'

Agreed, was a bit pricey anyway. I went to watch my cousin doing a spot of Irish dancing there last September along with her parents and sister. They were doing it for some council do or something official like that and we were asked to leave because it was a private do!! 2 sips outta my pint and even my uncle explaining that he was her Dad and watched all her performances wouldn't suffice!!

A private do in a public bar??

**razor** · 06/04/2005, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by tiktok

that used to be the perfect end to a wednesday/friday night

Thursday & Saturday nights for me, Happy Days.

**dahamsta** · 06/04/2005, 11:17 AM

Pa Johnson's means nothing to me. Where the hell is it, or was it?

I was a Thursday/Saturday Henrys goer too, does that make me old? (It wasn't a religion to me though, thank god.)

adam

**noby** · 06/04/2005, 11:53 AM

Henry's is gone too? I must get up to Cork more often, before they level the whole lot of it. I was a wednesday 'freakscene' man myself.

On the pubs that are still there, I'm about two names back on them.

**Éanna** · 06/04/2005, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by tiktok

Still can't describe what it felt like the first time I walked past the pile of rubble that used to be the perfect end to a wednesday/friday night

agreed. what a loss

**razor** · 06/04/2005, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

I was a Thursday/Saturday Henrys goer too, does that make me old? (It wasn't a religion to me though, thank god.)

Sweat was at its peak in the early 90's I guess. So like myself you'd be fairly old alright. Thursday nights swottin in the library in UCC and then straight into Henrys, everyone had a gearbag with em anyway. If I had those kind of workouts now I wouldn't have the excess body fat. Never was there a more aptly named club night. Well maybe freakscene.

If you are headin into town from the North Infirmary, just before John Buckley Sports shop there are some steep steps that bring you down onto Lower John Street, it was just there at the end of the steps. Popular with the Arty & Drama crowd I believe as the CAT Club was down there too.

**SÓC** · 06/04/2005, 12:15 PM

Freakscene is still going strong but not as good as it once was.

It's in ClubOne now. Half is taken up with indie/alt and general moshing music, the other half of the club is very popular with the gay community; music like Kylie, Jackson 5 and likes.

Not a patch on the old Henry's days or even the brief period it was in the Savoy.

**tiktok** · 06/04/2005, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by SÓC

Freakscene is still going strong but not as good as it once was.

It's in ClubOne now. Half is taken up with indie/alt and general moshing music, the other half of the club is very popular with the gay community; music like Kylie, Jackson 5 and likes.

Not a patch on the old Henry's days or even the brief period it was in the Savoy.

Freakscene was all about the location for me, I thought it lost a lot when it upped to the Savoy, floor was too big, too many people there for the Savoy, too few for the music.

Freakscene always had an important alter ego, Danascene in henry's was great to wander into, hear some great pop tunes and people watch. "I want you back" by the Jackson 5 was a fantastic floor filler.

Birthday and Christmas parties in there were the business, and it;s still the only club I've ever heard Weezer played in

**noby** · 06/04/2005, 1:01 PM

Did freakscene have a 10th anniversary there lately?
If that's the case I must have been going pretty much from the get-go. A friend brought me there first, and I kinda presumed it had always been there. I know I spent my 21st there ( I have the t-shirt as a momento), which (scarily) was 10 years ago last feb.

Danascene was good for your weekly 10min fix of disco. You'd come out thinking 'I may look like a spotty greasy-haired student wearing plaid, but I feel like John Travolta/Disco Stu'. Then you'd hear NIN, and snap out of it.

**SÓC** · 06/04/2005, 1:17 PM

Originally Posted by noby

Did freakscene have a 10th anniversary there lately?
If that's the case I must have been going pretty much from the get-go. A friend brought me there first, and I kinda presumed it had always been there. I know I spent my 21st there ( I have the t-shirt as a momento), which (scarily) was 10 years ago last feb.

Danascene was good for your weekly 10min fix of disco. You'd come out thinking 'I may look like a spotty greasy-haired student wearing plaid, but I feel like John Travolta/Disco Stu'. Then you'd hear NIN, and snap out of it.

Yep 10th Birthday recently enough, before Christmas AFAIK.

Its a bloody cheap night out, if you get in before 12 its usually about €3 with a free shot and lollypop! They give away a fair few free tickets every week online, my girlfriend manages to win most weeks so you can even save the €3!

**patsh** · 06/04/2005, 2:44 PM

Originally Posted by SÓC

my girlfriend manages to win most weeks so you can even save the €3!

YOU have a girlfriend......

thecorner · 06/04/2005, 6:03 PM

Originally Posted by razor

Sweat was at its peak in the early 90's I guess. So like myself you'd be fairly old alright. Thursday nights swottin in the library in UCC and then straight into Henrys, everyone had a gearbag with em anyway. If I had those kind of workouts now I wouldn't have the excess body fat. Never was there a more aptly named club night. Well maybe freakscene.

If you are headin into town from the North Infirmary, just before John Buckley Sports shop there are some steep steps that bring you down onto Lower John Street, it was just there at the end of the steps. Popular with the Arty & Drama crowd I believe as the CAT Club was down there too.

thursday and saturday night man meself in the early 90's

enjoying each night and living for weekenders.

pre henry's drink in baxters....anyone???

**Fair_play_boy** · 07/04/2005, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by patsh

I have to say FPB, I can't agree with you about Johnson's being a Cork landmark. It was a dump of a bar, a filthy building and had (in more recent times anyway) a clientele who lived their lives up the farthest reaches of their own behinds.
And the Heineken was absolutely dire as well!......

That description is a bit cruel, but I could not disagree with it.

Truth be told, what makes it a landmark for me is the memory of the crack with the nurses, and the brilliant atmosphere there when it was the unofficial canteen for the North Infirmary. When I was a student arranging matches, there were some med students on the team who were doing their time in the hospital. Sometimes when I rang the hospital looking for them, the switch advised me to try Pa Johnsons. And these guys were on duty!!!
After the hospital closed down, the atmosphere was never as good, although it livened up when Jim Creed worked there behind the bar. What a story teller. Legend.

**razor** · 08/04/2005, 7:56 AM

Originally Posted by thecorner

thursday and saturday night man meself in the early 90's

enjoying each night and living for weekenders.

pre henry's drink in baxters....anyone???

The aunts brother in law worked in Henrys as a bouncer so i'd pay him an oul visit early in the week and he'd sort me out for comps.
Jury Room man myself for the pre drinks.
Happy Days corner, Happy Days.