Pleased to meet you. Sir Henry is my name…

From 1978 to 2003, generations of young people dancing like their lives depended on it — along with a host of roadies, rock stars and DJs — passed through the labyrinth of bars and dance floors that was Sir Henry’s nightclub in Cork city.

Evolving from a restaurant into a bar and then a night spot, the venue on South Main Street was home to every overlapping trend of the era from folk to blues, rock to rave, and everything in between.

Whether the main attraction was Nirvana (who played the venue just as they were about to break big time) or The Fall (who went through one of their innumerable break-ups live, on stage) many a visitor must have paused and asked the obvious questions: Where did this place get its name? Is there really someone called Sir Henry?