IN MEMORIAM: 8 Reasons Everyone Hated Going To Ryan’s, Even Though They Were There Every Weekend
It was the place to be every Sunday for many years, at one point “Ryan’s Fridays” were a thing too, and you couldn’t take two steps without bumping into someone you know. And now it’s being turned into a BBQ/Sushi crossover restaurant.
But let’s be honest; aside from an exciting playlist of sing-along classics like ‘500 Miles’ and ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, there wasn’t anything too enjoyable about the whole experience. Here are eight reasons you’re glad you don’t have to go to Ryan’s anymore.
1. The ridiculous queue
Perched atop a ridiculously steep hill, Ryan’s was always packed to the brim. So sometimes before you could get in you had to queue outside, in the cold, on a slope, for at least half an hour.
And no matter what time you arrived; there was always a queue. No amount of precise time-based calculations could help you avoid it.
2. The crowd
And I don’t just mean the size of it. If you and your friends were Ryan’s regulars, you probably bumped into quite a few other regulars on a weekly basis. Sometimes that meant you made new friends, which is nice.
But sometimes that meant you had to come face-to-face with people you didn’t really want to; exes, family members, your arch-nemesis. And there was no avoiding them in there.
3. The music
Initially one of the key selling-points of Ryan’s was definitely the music, but there’s a limit to how many times you could jam out to Macklemore’s ‘Thrift Shop’ in a month.
And then there was that awkward time when they tried to include heavy metal nights, live bands, and heavy techno events into their raison d’être. That was weird.
4. An inability to exit
If you ever wanted to exit Ryan’s, you had to plan five minutes in advance. Because making your way through the dense sea of people packed into all four of the pub’s walls was nearly impossible.
And then you probably had to get back in the queue when you decided you wanted to go back inside.
5. It’s the only place your friends wanted to go
You may have been there every weekend, but only because you had to because your friends wanted to go. And they probably didn’t really want to go anyway, but their other friends would be there so they had to.
Repeat that phrase 50 times and that’s entire Ryan’s Sundays crowd.
6. There was nowhere to sit down
The only seats available were the sofas by the front door, or the stools by the bar tables. But unless you were one of the first 20 people inside, you had no chance of sitting down all night.
Unless you went outside, and we’ve already been over the problem with that.
7. You couldn’t speak to anyone
I know people don’t really go to clubs to speak, but Ryan’s wasn’t a club so there was a bit of that social aspect in there. Only you couldn’t ever hear anything anyone was saying over the sound of everyone else inside trying to shout over the music.
Also, it was so packed that you could never really look at someone properly. Unless that’s just a short person problem. In which case, move along.
8. The bathrooms
Ryan’s was a tiny bar full of people. That had tiny bathrooms full of people. You had to queue to get into Ryan’s. You had to queue to get into the bathroom. You also had to deal with very drunk people in there.
And you had to deal with the lack of toilet seats, toilet paper, and functioning flushing.