Loafers: Documentary at IndieCork traces history of famous gay bar
Derrick Gerety at Loafers bar on Douglas Street in Cork in the 1980s.
A documentary marking the fortieth anniversary of Loafers bar in Cork will have its premiere at the IndieCork film festival. Loafers, possibly the longest running gay bar in the country on Cork’s Douglas Street, was opened by former seaman turned gay rights activist, Buddhist and meditation teacher, Derrick Gerety in 1983 before closing under different ownership in 2015.
As the director of the documentary, Orla Egan says, Loafers was a very welcome addition to the city’s social scene. In its first five years, it attracted artsy alternative types, School of Art students, the staff from the Quay Co-Op and activists. It subsequently evolved into a more-or-less exclusively gay bar.
“It opened at a time in Ireland when gay sex was criminalised, where there was huge prejudice against gays, when you could be fired from your job,” says Egan. “Opening a gay bar at that time was unique. I was in Loafers the day it opened at the age of seventeen, and the day it closed. It was an incredible community space. It made all the difference. I came out as a lesbian in the 1980s. Having Loafers made it a really positive experience. I came out to this really vibrant thriving supportive community.”
Egan recalls people from outside of Cork coming to the city to visit Loafers. “One woman in the documentary talks of how going to Loafers was the highlight of the month when she would make the trip from Cahir. Someone from West Cork would pretend to her mother that she missed the bus home so she could go to Loafers for an hour before getting the last bus.”
Thursday night in the back bar of the premises was for women only. What marked the bar out was the mix of ages with young people, middle-aged people and elders feeling comfortable there. “You could go in during the afternoon and have a coffee there or a quiet pint. At other times, it would be heaving, with dancing and music. People would go to Sir Henrys from there. Seeds were planted for political activism at Loafers. We don’t have a place like that now.”
Egan, as founder of the LGBT Archive, leads walking tours that include stopping outside Loafers where they give a potted history of the bar. “Young gay people on the tour say they wished they had a place like Loafers.” Dublin-born Gerety, who ran Loafers for sixteen years, is interviewed in the documentary. “He tells stories in such a wonderful way. I couldn’t have made the documentary without Derrick. We also interviewed Rena Blake who took over the bar from Derrick for four or five years until it was run by Ted O’Connell who passed away a few years ago.”
Egan, author of Diary of An Activist, is “really grateful” to Derrick for opening the bar with his then partner, Seamus. “I’m grateful that as a young queer, I had access to Loafers which gave me support. I’m also really grateful to everyone who agreed to participate in the documentary, sharing photographs and memorabilia to help me tell the story.”
But the story of Loafers isn’t all one of liberalism and light. There was homophobic hostility from some quarters with people urinating into the letterbox and putting burning paper through the letterbox. “It was particularly difficult because Derrick lived over the bar. He said that when he opened at 5pm, it wasn’t all nice people that came in. There were some violent assaults. That hostility was counterbalanced by the positivity and support of the gay community. Derrick talks a lot in the documentary about the synergy which saw us all working together to create our community. We also supported one another.”
The documentary was made on a low budget, funded by the Heritage Council of Ireland. There was also a small grant from Cork City Creative Community. Una Feely, director of IndieCork says: “.This is a brilliantly made and important piece of social history, carefully assembled on film. The story of a venue becomes the story of a generation and a community. The immense value of Loafers is not only for those who frequented this much-loved bar, but also the entire history of Cork and Ireland.”
Using a combination of interviews, archival footage, photographs, illustrations and animation, the documentary gives a glimpse into “the legend and legacy of Loafers.” It also looks at the impact of the loss of such an important space for the gay community.
- Loafers will be screened on December 15 at 6pm as part of IndieCork at the Arc Cinema (formerly the Gate Cinema on North Main Street)
