It is mainly the bigger, new 'superpubs' which have bouncers on their doors, although many suburban pubs also have them (again mainly the bigger ones.)

Everybody loves bouncers in Dublin - not. While some of them are nice and friendly and will try to explain reasons as to why you're not getting in to their establishment on the night, many others are not, but I guess this applies to any job sector, you can find people who are good at the job and people who are bad at the job..

There are a variety of sayings (excuses), bouncers will use for not letting you in to their pub. Among the most popular are and I have heard these used are:

"Sorry regulars only tonight!"
Which begs the question - how many times do you have to be refused before you can get in. An infinite ammount cos they just don't want to let you in, perhaps they are just on a power buzz at this moment.

"You've had too much to drink!"
Another very popular one that you normally hear if partaking in a pub crawl, of course you may not have too much to drink, you may well be fine at least in your minds eye (which is lying on the kerb outside the pub) ,but it still is annoying to hear it, no matter how true it is. Generally, if you hear this you have had too much to drink and talking to them will just validate their point.

"ID, please!
Pubs have the right to decide what age restrictions they wish, as long as it is prominently displayed outside the premises. All people aged between 18 and 21 must carry I.D. to be allowed to drink in a pub.

"No! This is usually what you hear (or some variation of it) if you have been told you are not getting into a pub and insist on the fact that you can talk your way in.

As a general sort of rule the late a pub stays open the more pickier the bouncers get, which is understandable in a way. Our feelings however is that Bouncers, should really be like referees on a football pitch, unnoticable. They should be able to sniff out trouble before it occurs and get it sorted before a melee starts. The should not however be going on ego trips and power buzzes and be stopping people for stupid reasons. If a pub is packed, fair enough, (you can probably see it is from outside) but if you hear any of the above excuses they give, you're just better off leaving cos like the referees on the football pitch, they're not gonna change their mind.

Of course, having said all this there are a couple of suggestions we have:
If you have been drinking, never look a bouncer in the eye, instead just smile politely and walk on by.
& Say good night when leaving.

Oh and at the end of the night you will hear bouncers screaming their lungs off about how they have to get you out with some of the following:
"Have ye no homes to go to?"
Yes but we'd rather stay here boozing

"C'mon finish them off at the bar"
Well that's basically the quick rundown on bouncers, send any comments or stories you might have to us and we'll put them up like this one sent in by a drinker in Temple Bar.

Reader's Comment
"So I was drinking in ******** one night and we were standing quite close to the door where we could see the people entering and leaving and could hear the grunts of the bouncers on the door. And, get this, they were actually taking scores on the amount of people they were refusing, I swear. We seen one of them refuse three young women, say they were about 21 and the guy that refused them simply said to his mates (after the girls had left) "Well that's 6 for me - looks like I'm in the lead".

And on that note, goodbye.

PS If you do start sending stuff in about bouncers, we'll post it here.

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