Pride Month: Shirley Temple Bar, Ireland

1997

Shirley Temple Bar has astonishingly been calling the balls every Sunday night at Dublin’s largest LGBT club, The George, since 1997! Sunday night bingo was established by Shirley herself in The George and over 1,000 shows later it’s still going strong.

Bingo with Shirley Temple Bar is the original, longest-running and best-known show on the Irish gay scene. For 25 years, this show has made The George the place to be on Sundays for generations of the Irish LGBTQ+ community and thousands of people from all over the world have seen it. The show kicks off at 8pm and runs for about 120mins. Afterwards you can dance your hearts out till closing time.

1997 was Shirley’s breakout year, having first appeared as a schoolgirl contestant in Alternative Miss Ireland, which she went onto win. Subsequently, Shirley worked the local cabaret and club scene for a few months until she was offered her career-defining role as bingo-caller in The George Bar in Dublin.

Fame

Bingo with Shirley Temple Bar quickly became a cult success and the show garnered a lot of media attention. Features in newspapers and on TV shows soon became personal columns in magazines and newspapers, which then led to appearances on TV and radio chat shows and panel shows.

Two television documentaries have been produced about Shirley: an IFTA-nominated Irish language documentary and an English language documentary. She’s also featured on radio and TV programmes for multiple networks, including ITV, BBC, MTV, CNN, Bravo, Channel 4 and all Irish stations.

In 2001, Shirley was asked to host the Irish National Lottery’s Telly Bingo programme on daytime television. Shirley fronted the show (and sang her own theme tune) for three years.

Declan Buckley

So just who is Shirley Temple Bar? Clearly the name is a play on both Shirley Temple and a cultural area of Dublin city called Temple Bar. But the creation of the name and Shirley herself comes from Declan Buckley – a broadcaster, writer and creator.

Declan is also a spokesperson for LGBTQ+ Rights. He’s contributed to many books, podcasts, TV programmes, documentaries and films over the years including Another Country, Queen of Ireland, and In The Name of Love.

He is also a a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), and has been a life-long advocate and spokesperson on deaf issues. Having literally spoken on behalf of his parents since he was a small child, Declan is fluent in Irish Sign Language (ISL) and advocated for ISL to achieve official language status in Ireland (which deaf rights organisations accomplished in 2017). Additionally, he’s spoken regularly about his own experiences as a CODA and highlighted the needs of the Irish deaf community.

You can catch Shirley Temple Bar every Sunday at The George from 8pm for a chance to win some cash, but more importantly to have some fun with like-minded individuals in the heart of LGBTQ+ Ireland.

As part of Dish Cult’s Pride month celebrations, we are proud to be supporting Stonewall – the largest LGBTQ+ charitable organisation in Europe. Stonewall work in each nation of the UK and stand for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace people everywhere.

Stonewall’s campaigning work drives positive change in public attitudes and public policy, helping transform the day-to-day experience of all LGBTQ+ people. The work continues until the world we imagine is the world we live in.

If you can imagine a world where there is freedom, equity and limitless potential for every LGBTQ+ person – stand with us. Donate to Stonewall now.

*All donations made will be donated directly to Stonewall