Libertine, a popular Belfast queer bar and nightclub, has closed down abruptly. Co-owned by Kristian Nairn, the actor who played Hodor in Game of Thrones, the venue on Tomb Street held events as recently as last Saturday, September 30.
However, since what appears to have been its final party over the weekend, the nightclub’s website has been removed, and anyone attempting to email the business receives an automated email reading: “Libertine is now closed”.
“If you are contacting re tickets or a Karaoke Longe booking, a full refund has already been issued as of Monday 1st October 2023,” it continues.
Shocked by the news, customers have been expressing their disappointment online.
Does anyone know what the craic is with Libertine Belfast? Apparently, the drag queens are saying it’s closed & tickets have been cancelled 🤷🏻♀️
— ☘Teresa Clarke☘ (@Themiddle03) October 2, 2023
“Tickets, cancelled, website is gone, marked as closed on Google, and the queen’s making posts saying goodbye. I’ve not seen anything official but I think it’s safe to say Libertine is gone,” one Facebook comment reads.
Similarly, a Reddit user wrote, “Pity. Libertine is a fun night out with a good atmosphere and inclusive for anybody. It would be a real shame to lost it.”
Another said: “This genuinely saddens me. I wasn’t in it often, but any weekend I was it was heaving! Mid week it was quieter, but isn’t everywhere?”
Libertine was opened in 2021 by Nairn alongside his business partner Jim Crawford-Smyth. At the time, the well-known Northern Irish actor and DJ shared a social media post saying that opening a queer bar in Belfast was “on the bucket list” and that they had “no doubt that Libertine will help make our community even more amazing than it is now.”
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With a capacity of 750, the venue offered a dancefloor, beer garden and karaoke lounge, and enjoyed two years of queer parties featuring an array of incredible drag performers and amazing themed nights.
The bar’s closure comes less than two months after Nairn and Crawford-Smyth announced that Cuckoo, another Belfast venue owned by their business Elwynn Leisure, was also shutting.
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