See you in Coppers!

If you haven’t been in Copper Face Jacks then you’ve certainly heard of Ireland’s most iconic nightclub. Between seven and eight million people have passed through its doors since it opened in February 1996 and it must be the only nightclub in Ireland that can boast a roaring trade seven nights a week – closing only four nights a year: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The numbers 29-30 Harcourt Street were home to the original premises, but proprietor Cathal Jackson has since bought numbers 31 and 28. Is it possible that some day Coppers will stretch the length of Harcourt Street?

“I don’t know, that’s his dream probably,” muses Coppers’ manager Darren Power. “We do have number 35 up the street as well.”

We’re dizzy at the prospect of a bigger Coppers as the place already sees anything up to 2,500 people darken its doors on an average Saturday night. Darren contends, however, that any other Harcourt Street properties attained would probably be used for bedrooms, as Coppers is just one part of the Jackson Court Hotel, an establishment which attracts many (unsuspecting) tourists due to its prime city centre location.

So first things first, what’s the criteria for getting your hands on the much-coveted VIP gold card?

“Knowing the main man,” laughs Darren. The main man (who doesn’t like to talk to the press) can be found on the door alongside the bouncers three or four nights a week. Cathal Jackson has been involved with the nightclub industry since the 1980s.

They’ve seen a lot on the Coppers front steps over the years, but one common reoccurrence is revellers who are told the dreaded “not tonight” and think the bouncers won’t remember them five minutes later.

“[Jackson] saw an opportunity here,” continues Darren. “I mean, the luck in picking Harcourt Street. Leeson Street would have been the main hub in the 1980s and 1990s, but then Camden Street and Harcourt Street area was beginning to be the happening place and now this area has kind of taken over as a destination. Fortunately, we were busy from the start. We got into the market at the right time, it was the beginning of the upturn in the economy. It was always traditionally guards, nurses, teachers early in the week. They started having more money and went out spending and enjoying themselves.”

Copper Face Jacks is named after the Earl of Clonmel who lived down the street in the 1700s. Rumour had it he had a penchant “for drinking and women and stuff like that” and with Cathal being a guard in a former life and with a surname like Jackson, the Earl’s nickname “was too good to let go”. So why do people love Coppers?

“People know Coppers now and it’s down to the entertainment and the service they get here, and the craic they have,” says Darren. “We’ve changed very little here in terms of what we give our customers. The music is the same, it’s a bit cheesy. We modernise it every now and again, but it’s not a dancy place. The staff can tell you what song is next most nights.”

The two main DJs in Coppers have been there since day one “so they know the crowd inside out”.

Darren notes that two other elements that make Coppers popular are the likelihood of meeting your “friend from home” and “you’re nearly guaranteed hooking up with somebody”.

“It’s a good combination of things to be able to give customers. If you miss any one or two of those things the place won’t work. There’s no magic switch that we can turn on and turn off. And it’s continuity. It’s known that we always have a crowd in the place.”

But why does he think punters are more guaranteed to hook up in Coppers than anywhere else?

“It’s probably the last place you go to at nighttime. Some of the hook ups mightn’t be out of choice, it might be out of who you know, when the lights come up you take the first person that’s beside you.”

The fact that there are rarely fights in Coppers is another reason the club is popular says Darren.

“We’re proud ... that it’s a safe place to be and we put that down to the security staff on the premises. We’ve literally every corner covered ... we might overdo it sometimes, but it’s with customer safety in mind.”

One slip up on their record, however, took place last year when there was a crush outside Coppers which saw one girl taken to hospital in a critical condition.

“We knew it was going to be busy, we were set up for a busy night,” explains Darren. “That was a freak five-minute spell. The crowds arrived, up and down the street, hundreds of them from the laneway, all at the same time. I’ve never seen anything like it ... they weren’t even trying to join the queue, they were trying to get to the front door.”

The scramble for the door may be attributable to the fact there was free entry before midnight and this was the first (and last) night Coppers ran a drinks promotion. There’s no doubting, however, that Coppers is serious about its security. The nightclub has a panel of 55 security staff and 45 of those would be there on any given Saturday night.

Between the nightclub, hotel, food service staff and cleaning service staff, Coppers employs 170 people and the sole task of one employee is to deal specifically with lost property.

“On a Saturday night we could have two to three black bags of jackets not collected. And everybody thinks they’re the only person who’s left their jacket and that we have it hanging up, pressed and everything, with their name on it.”

What’s not collected usually goes to charity shops on Camden Street, which could be well worth a visit as Darren notes that “the best of stuff is left behind”.

Darren says the strangest thing ever found in Coppers was a set of dentures, but a lot of young women must be leaving the premises Cinderella-style because single high heels are often found. If Coppers could ban high heels they would.

“You can spot a mile away that they’re not used to wearing them.”

You’re almost guaranteed to see a rugby star or a GAA star every time you visit Coppers, but Darren claims stars are not paid to appear there. Woody Harrellson was in Coppers once and Leanne Rimes was there last year.

“We don’t take photos of them and put them on the wall. It’s not a big deal, if they want to be left separate we can arrange that, but generally they end up in the middle of the dancefloor.”

Coppers doesn’t need celebrity endorsement as Cathal Jackson is already laughing all the way to the bank having made pre-tax profits of €5.5m last year. Darren partially attributes the success to the fact that during the boom Cathal never ventured into other properties.

With such a savvy and sensible businessman at the helm, we’ve no doubt this national institution will be around for a good while yet.