Grove Social Club

The Grove Social Club was an Irish alternative discothèque social club started in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. It opened in 1967 on Mount Prospect Avenue in Clontarf, in Belgrove Football Club (from which the club got its name). It moved to St. Paul's College, Raheny in 1975 when the old pavilion was burnt down.

The Grove was known as the Northside's (of Dublin, Ireland) original alternative disco, because the music being played there was different to anything being played in any discos in Dublin throughout the whole 30 years of its existence. (e.g. Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Jackson Browne, Focus, Deep Purple, Wings, Black Sabbath, Steely Dan, Golden Earring, Queen, The Eagles, ZZ Top, The Boomtown Rats, Supertramp, Guns N' Roses, Rory Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac, Stiff Little Fingers, Thin Lizzy, Sex Pistols, Horslips, Roxy Music, Joy Division, UFO, Genesis, U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Ramones, Whitesnake, Simple Minds, The Cure, Metallica, The Cult, Neil Young, Nirvana, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, AC/DC, B52s, Pearl Jam, Talking Heads, plus many others).

Cecil Nolan was the DJ for the whole 30 years at the Grove until it closed in 1997. Cecil influenced the musical taste of three generations of young northside Dubliners, and shaped their record and CD collections as well. The list of Grove alumni that went on to successful careers on radio and TV is truly impressive, and many of Ireland's best known media personalities regularly wax lyrical about their time at the Grove and acknowledge the debt they owe Cecil.

In 2001 Andy Colbert began running Grove tribute nights at The Isaac Butt Venue in Dublin's city centre. In late 2004, he eventually persuaded Cecil Nolan to make guest appearances, hence these tributes became reunions and relocated to The Sheiling Hotel, Raheny. These reunions ran four times a year - Easter, Summer, Hallowe'en and Christmas, until the beginning of redevelopment of the Sheiling Hotel into an apartment building in Spring 2008. The Grove Reunions now happen twice year at Clontarf Castle and attract huge crowds of people who want relive a little bit of their youth, meet old and new friends, and listen to fantastic music.

The spirit of the Grove is also kept alive all year round on the grove social club website (see link below)

A documentary about the Grove was commissioned by Raidió Teilifís Éireann and televised in 2006.

External links

• Grove Social Club.com

Over thirty years many wonderful characters were known to frequent the Grove....most notably, the Legend that is Biker Pat ( who featured heavily in the documentary referred to later in this article )Ten Year Cindermella,The Famous Fagan Sisters,The Mad Monarch and Marcus the Flute. Several delectable ladies could also be seen regularly at the Grove,among them ( and in no particular order ) a Bluebell,a Star,a little Blondie,a Carlagh Witch,a Whitby Goth,a Mexican Mins a Stevie Nicks a right Eejit,a gaggle of beauties now banished to the far reaches of NCD, ( you know who you are ) and an X ( not a FourX or an X Squared,just an X).These young ones (sic ) were forever trying to attract / divert ( delete as applicable ) the attentions of such dubious characters such as The Floyd Ranger and Tonto,Compo,Clegg,Foggy and the rest of the Crusty oul fellas from Last of the Summer Wine,a Black Russian,Rolo the invisible man and Whippersnapper,a Hippy with short hair ( God between us and all harm ), a Danish Teacher in a kilt,some fella who would one day be known as Two Kaks and several High Density photographers ( you also know who you are ).