1001118 Belvedere Hotel

Great Denmark Street continues on from Gardiner Row, just off the top of Parnell Square, and in a relatively short stretch along the two streets there are no fewer than four hotels - well, you could say four and a half, as The Castle Hotel has merged through the buildings to Waltons Hotel on North Frederick Street.

The wider area has some of Dublins cheaper hotels, but The Belvedere was at the higher end, and the highest on the street until the addition of Hotel 7 across the road recently (and more on it soon). From the outside, there is a substantial section which is clearly a bar/pub, and also nearly always clearly closed - but this is not the hotel bar, it is the dinner-and-a-show Irish dancing and music night which seems to run at least weekly year-round. 

I believe this may have been a nightclub in the semi-recent past, but the noise levels from these are putting hotels off offering them, along with the reducing spend due to pre-drinking. The Irish dance shows are usually over much earlier and have a hefty ticket price. They are an increasingly popular part of the tourist sector in Dublin with bars in - and out of - the city offering it, ranging from Riverdance-lite events down to full on fright wigs and nearly luminous dresses. The photos here place it towards the classier end of the scale at least. 

The hotel bar is instead two cosy rooms off to the other side of the lobby, featuring a small serving area with a relatively limited range of drinks and a very traditional pubgrub menu. Its was even quieter, noise-wise, than the Academy previously so could be perfect for finding somewhere for a quiet pint and chat on a weekend evening - once you are bringing the person to chat with along with you!