Morten Andersen has watched a lot of celebrity rooms turn into music rooms and lose nothing in the trade. Lost Lane is the best Dublin example: the old Lillie's Bordello, reopened as a venue that puts the band first and the velvet rope nowhere.
Lost Lane occupies 1-2 Adam Court, a short lane off Grafton Street in Dublin 2, on the premises that housed Lillie's Bordello from the 1990s until it closed in January 2019. It reopened in April 2019 with a different brief, with music and emerging talent at the centre rather than the door policy (Lost Lane official site). The address still carries weight, but the programme is what fills it now.
The room holds roughly 320 for live music and reads like a proper gig space, low-lit, stage-forward, with the bar set back so the crowd faces the act. Dublin Town files it as a live music venue and late bar in the heart of the Grafton Street quarter (Dublin Town). The booking is deliberately broad: in its first year it ran folk, jazz, indie, trad, rock and metal alongside comedy and panel nights.
What to order is the late-bar standard, kept simple so the set stays the focus. Take a pint of stout or a cold lager for a standing gig, or a whiskey if you have a seat for a quieter trad or jazz night. The kitchen is not the reason to come, so eat first on Grafton Street and arrive for the support act. Cocktails are on the list for a sit-down before doors, but the room rewards a drink you can carry into the crowd. Morten's note: get in early for an emerging-act bill, because the small room is the whole appeal and it fills.
Who it is for is the gig-goer who wants a stage within arm's reach and a late licence to follow it. It is right for a Friday or Saturday night built around music, and wrong for a midweek quiet pint, since the venue is largely given to gigs on Fridays and Saturdays and exclusive hire midweek. For the rest of the city's stages, our guide to the best live music bars in Dublin maps them, and The Button Factory in Temple Bar is the larger room a step away.
Best time to go is a Friday or Saturday when the main programme runs, ideally for a rising Irish act on the way up rather than a sold-out headline. The central location means you can pair it with dinner off Grafton Street and walk in for doors. Avoid treating it as a daytime drop-in, because the doors follow the gig calendar rather than pub hours.
Lost Lane took one of Dublin's most exclusive old rooms and handed it to the bands, and the city is better for it. For a late night that starts with a support slot and runs to a 2:30am licence, it is the Grafton Street call. For the wider scene, start with our Dublin bar guide, and for a singer-songwriter night see Whelan's on Wexford Street.
Sources: Lost Lane official site; Dublin Town listing; Gotobeat venue page.
