When Oughterard native Francis Conneely emigrated to England in 1997, there was no gay bar in Galway. When he returned in 2002, Galway’s gay scene was booming.

Dating apps like Grindr were not a thing back then, nor were social networking sites like Facebook, which meant bars were the place to meet other LGBT+ people.

Strano’s on William Street West was his gay bar of choice, but Francis and friends tick-tacked between it and another gay bar, Zulus, at Raven Terrace where the Salt House is now, and a gay nightclub in Salthill.

Strano’s changed hands and names, and evolved into Nova, Galway’s only gay bar for several years, until it closed for good in September 2024.

Now, almost 30 years after Francis left for the UK, Galway is without a gay bar — but it doesn’t feel like a regression, he says.

“Personally, I don’t think a gay bar is needed in Galway, because you can go into any bar in Galway with your partner and nothing is going to be said. It was like that even before the Marriage Equality Referendum (in 2015). Galway’s bars were always welcome to everyone,” says Francis.

Terry Fitzpatrick believes it is ‘terrible’ that Galway no longer has a gay bar for its LGBT+ community.

The Shantalla native, who managed the popular gay bar in Woodquay, the Stage Door, until it closed for good during the economic crash, says a gay bar was essential for a modern city like Galway.

“There’s always going to be a need for a gay bar. People say, ‘we don’t need gay bars because you can go into any bar and they’re all gay-friendly’.

“Most of them are, but gay people need their own community, too. They need to be able to go into a bar where they feel safe. There are people who don’t feel safe in straight bars, if they are in looking for other gay people,” he says.

Terry ran the Stage Door — where McGinn’s now is — for four years until September 2010. During the Celtic Tiger, his weekly rent was €2,000 and it was buzzing most weekends. But turnover dropped by €150,000 in 2008 when the Recession hit. By 2009, turnover was down a further €100,000 and it didn’t survive.

Galway’s only gay bar for many years, Nova, closed for good 18 months ago, which was a loss, says Terry.

“We had a few men who used to come into the Stage Door every Friday and Saturday, without fail. They would arrive in, at 9.30pm or 10pm, and go into the disabled toilets, change into women’s clothes, come back out and sit at the bar for the rest of the evening. They can’t do that in a regular straight bar,” he says.

“Some of them were trans, who would not be going through with an operation. Others just liked to dress up as women. Some men came in fully dressed up (as women), and that’s how they spent their weekend.

“They were absolutely lovely people. They loved the Stage Door. They were comfortable. There were no stares, no laughs, no comments, and they felt completely at home,” he recalls.

Terry, 64, now a full-time carer, believes anxiety and depression among the gay community is quite high — and gar bars offer solace and support.

“A lot of people, who were loners, came in because they felt it was a safe space. They didn’t have to speak to anybody, but they were completely accepted there. They felt secure, they felt safe, and they felt it was a community,” he says.

Terry agrees apps have replaced gay bars as a place for same-sex people to meet, “but I still think if there was a gay bar in Galway people would use it”.

He also believes, however, that “people never used the gay bar as fully as they should have”, which was a feature of the gay scene in other international cities, too.

Terry believes that a Galway gay bar, that was a café by day, would help “build a sense of community among the gay community”. It would also boost tourism.

“That’s a major issue. We had a regular clientele from Dublin every weekend. On average we might have 20 or 30 people from Dublin down to the Stage Door every month, plus the Midlands and Cork. It was somewhere new to go.”

Darren McMahon, who used to run monthly events for the gay community in regular Galway bars like the Cellar, says there was, “no point having a gay bar in Galway if it doesn’t serve its community first and foremost”.

“I think the nature of gay bars have changed in the last ten years, just like the LGBTQIA+ and Queer community has changed,” he says.

“For me, community is defined by our common goals, not just solely our sexuality. People are finding their community through gay sports clubs, Tribes FC, the Emerald Warriors, Dublin Front Runners, and LGBTQIA+ spaces like Queer Sheds and Common Knowledge,” Darren adds.

Francis Conneely, who turns 48 in July, feels GASS — a monthly LGBT+ night in Róisín Dubh — doesn’t appeal to him.

“We could do with a club night for our age group. Galway needs a night where the (gay) community comes together and has a club night or eighties night. It’s not that we don’t like GASS, it’s just it doesn’t suit us. Everyday pubs are struggling as they are, so I don’t think a new gay bar would work, but Galway does need something for the middle-aged,” says Francis.

Amach! LGBT+ Galway, a community development charity that supports LGBT+ people locally, did not respond.

Pictured: Francis Conneely: ‘Galway doesn’t need a gay bar’.