Stephen Cox | Staff Writer
‘You mean clubs you go to actually have bouncers?’ I remember the shock in my father’s voice. I was only surprised that he was surprised. Things have changed since he was young. Some old style pubs may be exceptions, but it would be difficult, if not impossible, to name a Dublin bar or club that doesn’t employ some form of security on the door at night.
Going out is an important part of student life, but one aspect of this that gets little mention are the bouncers, who, in theory, are there to safeguard our nights out. While most would agree that their presence is necessary, the relationship between bouncer and punter carries an air of tension – a few smart remarks and you’re not getting in.
My recent interest in the world of nightclub doormen comes from an unlikely source. I don’t habitually watch documentaries, least of all ones as typically sensationalistic as churned out regularly by Channel 4 – in spite of this, after five minutes of watching their current series Bouncers, I was hooked. A fly on the wall look at club security guards in Newcastle and its environs, the insights into the job provided by the featured doormen, coupled with interviews with their customers and footage of beery nights on the tiles, make for compelling—if unchallenging—television. While the footage is certainly biased in favour of the documentary’s subjects, the programme nonetheless raises questions as to our own attitudes to drinking and going out.
The relationship between bouncer and punter carries an air of tension – a few smart remarks and you’re not getting in.
Clubs and bars depicted in popular culture are typically seen from the point of view of the customer, because this is how most of us experience them. In turn, we are used to interacting with doormen on nights out, but this rarely amounts to much more than a cursory greeting and an ID check. Kissing a stranger or dodgy dance moves will not raise many eyebrows, but how many of us have forcibly ejected a rowdy reveller from the door? Seeing a nightclub from a bouncer’s perspective is eye-opening. The security men featured in Channel 4’s documentary all agree that their job lets them see the worst in people; politeness shown on entry can vanish and turn nasty after a few drinks. It is worth remembering that the programme was never going to make quieter, less eventful nights ‘on the Toon’ the focus of its attention; a certain level of scepticism is needed to watch any factual TV show. That said, common drunken obnoxiousness one notices regularly in Dublin on Saturday nights is bad enough without having to deal with it for a living; I am certainly not sure how well I would be cut out for working the door.
Perhaps the reason for my dad’s disbelief at the continuing presence of bouncers lies in the stereotypes associated with them. Nightclubs and doormen contractors alike have been eager to move away from the image of the bouncer as an aggressive brawler more interested in violence than in customers’ well-being. Security agencies are now more likely to look for a candidate’s ability to defuse situations as opposed to pure physical intimidation. According to an article in The Independent, one in nine UK bouncers in 2006 were female, as part of ‘a deliberate attempt by the club industry to promote a softer, more customer-friendly image’. A FETAC Level 4 certificate, training and Garda vetting are mandatory in Ireland for a ‘Door Supervisor (Licensed Premises)’ permit, though this has not been without problems in itself. In 2011 there was controversy as Anthony Ryan, brother of the late Real IRA boss Alan Ryan, was awarded a bouncer’s licence from the Private Security Authority in spite of having a previous criminal record. While he did not reapply when the certificate expired, the Real IRA’s influence on the pub bouncer industry, their subsequent extortion of landlords and drug dealing taking place in certain pubs has done little to help to get rid of the violent stereotypes long associated with the club doorman. Furthermore, in past years there have been several criminal suits filed against nightclub security employees on grounds of violence; how long it takes for the threatening preconception of bouncers to really be a thing of the past remains to be seen.
The security men featured in Channel 4’s documentary all agree that their job lets them see the worst in people; politeness shown on entry can vanish and turn nasty after a few drinks.
At the time of writing, Arthur’s Day is only hours away–surely one of the busiest and messiest days of the year for doormen. At the end of Bouncers’ second episode, one of the men featured comments disapprovingly on the drinking habits of the British public. He goes on to recognise, however, that the norms regarding alcohol consumption keep him in employment.
Bouncers are not employed to prevent people from drinking; it would be naive and untrue to claim that nightclub security wouldn’t be necessary in a country with a less pathological relationship with alcohol than Ireland or England. Nonetheless, maybe some of my dad’s incredulousness about the need for bouncers is understandable; I, for one, don’t envy them their job.
