Another club space? How on earth are these dominating a list of the closed venues in Dublin that I visited...
Well, this didn't really start as a club space as such. In the actual vaults of Connolly Station, this started life as a trendy cafe bar that opened late with its own DJs; but it didn't take long for it to be rented out to promoters for ticketed events.
Opening in mid 2002, as the IFSC expanded towards this side of Connolly, the bar was primarily food-led, and this continued pretty much until it closed - I had a fully catered work Christmas party here; and also became a common location for supporters clubs to watch football matches. I only remembered actually going here for this purpose when checking the newspaper archives for listings - my first drink here was probably watching Brighton play in the FA Cup or similar in 2003 or 2004.
Laid out with two (or was it three?) bar areas to the front of the premises, and a number vaulted function rooms to the back, the food, sports and events business did continue; but most of my trips here were to trance nights; using anywhere from one to three vaults for different DJs. These were primarily promoted by Letrik but I did attend events here with other promoters over the years.
The venue had its problems, but I'd be quite happy to jump off a train and head down the steps in there for a gig again - although I'd probably not make it to 3am anymore!
The Vaults finally closed in 2012, a ten year lifespan that I would have sworn was more like 15-20 had I been asked without checking the dates.
That closure, which the operator blamed on uncontrolled water ingress, pretty much ended any chance of another venue coming in to the space. CIÉ eventually gave up on another bar opening here, and converted the space to relocate their staff medical centre; in what is an odder re-use for a Dublin nightclub.
For those keeping count, that's one hotel, one still empty (January 2025) and one medical centre on the "dead club afterline" tally.
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