ThinkTank

I just spent my Saturday night here and it was great! There was no entrance fee, the pints were 5.50 and there was a good rock n’ roll band on stage (called TIO), with other great music being pumped through the speakers when they were on a break. Never a dull moment.
The friend that brought me here has told me that the vibe and the music changes every night, so it may not be your scene. Some nights it’s reggae, other nights salsa or rock n’ roll.
You have been warned.
I loved it the night we were here. AND we got to see a woman being kicked out of the club, assaulting the bouncers and the Garda that came to arrest her and being shoved into the back of (I’m pretty sure this is an English term but whatever,) paddy wagon.
I wish I had my camera!
There were two things that annoyed me. Some drunk people broke a few glasses on the dance floor and the bar crew were SOOO SLOOOW to clean it up and the ladies bathroom sinks stopped supplying water halfway through the night.
So I washed my hands with some left over beers that were sitting on the bathroom counter.

I haven’t been here since it was The Hub. I was here when my cousin’s friend was DJing. The actual pub didn’t make too much of an impression on me, but the atmosphere was full of life! The lighting was suiting to the rave-​style music. There were certain parts of the pub which were deserted, but at the same time the dancefloor was full! I would go back again on a busier, perhaps weekend night, as we were here mid-​week — I think it was a Tuesday — which might explain why it was pretty empty.

First and foremost, the most important thing to remember is that this is NOT the Hub. Unfortunately. There was always something comforting about the dinginess of the Hub, all underground and tatty and that (not to mention the fact that there were definitely drug deals going on down by the ripped sofas at the back!). But still and all, it was a kind of a safe haven (and oddly enough that’s not a contradiction!).
ThinkTank isn’t. It’s grand, and if I didn’t have such a soft spot for sketchy clubs, or if I’d never been to the Hub, then I could even like it. The décor is (and I say this grudgingly) actually kind of cool, with a black and white mural running around the whole place. They’ve moved the stage to the back and gotten rid of the disease-​ridden (OK, so that’s conjecture, but I’m sure it’s true) couches. The bar’s in the same place, though it too seems to have undergone some kind of spring clean.
The main problem with this place is that it’s just not the Hub. And that’s its main flaw. Just wait ’til you see how I react if they dare to touch the Mezz…

For a Saturday night, The Think Tank in Temple Bar wasn’t hopping. In fact, there were more people outside in front of The Mezz than in the club.
If my friends and I hadn’t gone to a few places beforehand, we might not have settled here. But because we were merry, the club satisfied our need to dance and keep the party going. The music that night was a mix of dance and techno and there was a DJ on stage, trying to look cool as he mixed records.
Depending on the night, the music and buzz changes. I’ve been here in the past and had an amazing time because the club was packed and the music was great.
Drinks tend to be expensive because it’s Temple Bar. For example, a round of 4 Tequilas cost 22 Euro plus you have to pay a 10 Euro entrance fee. Be prepared to empty your pockets. It’s ridiculously easy to spend all your money.

This very negative review must be taken with a pinch of salt in light of the fact that the night I went was one of the first nights that this nightclub was open; perhaps it has improved since then. A friend of mine was at ThinkTank recently and said it was very good (although he is the one who recommended it to me in the first place; perhaps he was attempting to justify it to himself. Or perhaps he was simply telling the truth).
Anyway, just bear the above in mind before writing this place off completely, because this is going to be a very scathing review.
It was just after Christmas, and we had a visitor over staying with us, and some friends of mine were just back from Berlin after spending New Years there. We were all sitting in my house drinking, trying to think of a good club to go to. Somewhere a bit different.
Then I recalled a conversation that I had had earlier: a friend of mine (who hears about such things) told me that The Hub had closed and had been replaced with a new nightclub called ThinkTank.
They were going to play techno, opening night blah blah blah…
So we decided to head to ThinkTank. Hell, it was the festive season, there would be decent crowd there, surely.
WRONG. When we got there, it was much different to The Hub (do I recall an escalator?) Those of you that remember The Hub will recall that it took the form of one big open-​plan room. The owners of ThinkTank have endeavoured to create the look to of two distinct areas: a bar/​lounge area in the front, and a dancefloor in the back.
Their attempts at this makeover involved putting up a white sheet as a partition between the two. This was not very effective, and looked rather silly.
There were literally about 15 – 20 people in the place (which includes our group of four), and we’d all just paid in € 10 each, and were all justifiably raging about this shit faux-​trendy lounge bar.
You can’t turn a grungy rock-​pit like The Hub into a pretentious minimalist techno haunt with a few UV lights and a white sheet. It just doesn’t work. We left the place sharpish.
Remember, this was a while ago, and I’ve heard that it has got better since. Just, you know, caveat emptor.

Formerly The Hub, Think Tank plays host to small to mid-​sized gigs and indie clubs.
It depends entirely on the night — sometimes there’s a good crowd, sometimes the atmosphere leaves much to be desired. When it’s empty the danceflower is a lonely place.
Sister venue to The Mezz upstairs.