A protest has been planned against The Hoxton Dublin after the hotel sought an injunction against its neighbour, nightlife venue Yamamori Izakaya, over alleged noise levels. The protest is set to take place on South Great George’s Street at 6pm on Tuesday, February 17

The demonstration was announced by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, a musician and member of People Before Profit, who posted a call to action on Instagram.

“Izakaya is an integral part of Dublin’s nightlife culture. Its loss would be yet another blow to the cultural life of the city. No to the injunction! Join the protest!” he wrote.

The Hoxton, formerly the Central Hotel on Exchequer Street, reopened in November following extensive refurbishment works. The hotel sits next to Yamamori Izakaya, a restaurant and bar that hosts live music five nights a week and has long been part of the capital’s late-night scene.

 

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A post shared by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin (@eoghanoceannabhain)

Ó Ceannabháin told Newstalk that the protest is taking place “because people are sick of the loss of cultural space venues in the city”. He also pointed to the Dublin City Council development plan. “It says that all applications for short or longer-term residential proposals, including hotels, that seek permission adjacent to established late-night users, such as nightclubs, shall be required to demonstrate in their application that they have ensured their development will not cause negative impacts on the adjoining uses in the future.”

Supporters of the venue argue that established cultural spaces are increasingly under pressure from new developments in the city centre. On its own Instagram account, Yamamori Izakaya thanked those who have shown it support but added it would not be commenting further.

In a statement on Friday evening, a spokesperson for Trinity Hospitality, the building leaseholder who filed the proceedings, said: “The proceedings filed last week are not seeking to close the Yamamori Izakaya restaurant or nightclub; rather, it seeks to advance a testing and resolution process to reduce noise transfer into the hotel. Yamamori Izakaya has long hosted its “Izakaya Basement” late-night events, and in tandem, the building has operated as a hotel since 1887.

“However, since the hotel closed for refurbishment, the late-night DJ events moved from the basement to the ground-floor restaurant, which lacks the appropriate structural-acoustic measures for nightclub events. We’re pleased that joint testing occurred over the weekend, as it will hopefully allow us to move forward and find a collaborative solution that enables both businesses to continue to thrive.”

Despite the legal move, both sides have agreed to work on sound testing together in an effort to reach a solution, raising hopes that a compromise can be found before the dispute escalates further into a legal case. However, demonstrators note that the move by the hotel reflects a broader issue as Dublin’s nightlife and arts culture continues to be under threat.