DUBLIN, Ireland: Live DJs on Dublin's Exchequer Street defiantly performed as hundreds of people danced to protest against the legal action against Yamamori Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant that holds music events.
An organiser of the protest said it was virtually "the straw that broke the camel's back" for Irish nightlife.
The management of the Hoxton Hotel, situated nearby, said it has had to shut about a fourth of its rooms because guests complained about loud late-night music, deep bass, and vibrations from next door.
Last week, the leaseholder, Trinity Hospitality, asked the court for an order to reduce what it called excessive noise coming from Yamamori Izakaya into the hotel.
Protest organiser Blew, a local DJ, said the city has already lost many late-night venues to hotel chains and apartment developments, and that social and cultural spaces are being pushed out.
She said she is not connected to the venue but organised the protest because it is one of only two places left where people can hear good music five nights a week, support local DJs, and enter for free. She added that the venue is important because it helps many local DJs keep working.
Speaking to the crowd on February 17, musician Abdullah Al Bayyari said it was a good moment to show that people "deserve better." He urged the government to invest more in culture and in things that matter to local communities.
He also said late-night venues across the country have declined sharply, from thousands in the past to only hundreds now. Al Bayyari added that helping large international companies may once have made sense, but now that the economy is stronger, the focus should shift to supporting Irish people, businesses, culture, language, and history.
In a statement, Trinity Hospitality said it is not trying to shut down the Yamamori Izakaya restaurant or nightclub. Instead, it said the goal is to carry out testing and find a joint solution that works for both sides.
The company said it knows the restaurant has long held its "Izakaya Basement" late-night events, but during the hotel's renovation, DJ events began taking place on the ground floor five nights a week in an area without proper soundproofing for nightclub-style music.
In an Instagram post, the restaurant said it had hired an expert to produce a sound report in 2023 while the hotel was being renovated, to help it install the right sound-reducing measures. It said the noise levels recorded were much lower than those of normal late-night venues.
The restaurant also said that when the hotel raised concerns soon after reopening in November 2025, it immediately agreed to meet and asked for details about the soundproofing installed, but only received that information on the morning of February 17.
Trinity Hospitality said it had no choice but to go to court because progress was too slow. It added that the detailed structural information requested by Yamamori Izakaya should not have stopped both sides from having discussions or doing joint sound tests earlier.
Joint testing was finally carried out over the weekend, and the hotel said sound experts will now review the results.
