The Colony was a purpose-built nightclub located at White’s Hotel on North Main Street in Wexford Town. It opened on Friday 3 June 2005 and operated until early 2008.
Earlier Wexford nightclubs included The Junction in Redmond Square, which opened around April 1993, along with Harper’s and Cairo’s on North Main Street, both former ventures of White’s Hotel.
When The Colony opened, its main competitors were the established Centenary Stores, situated just around the corner on Charlotte Street, and Renaissance, a relatively new nightclub located above the Chocolate Bar.
The Colony and La Speranza formed the first phase of a €45 million redevelopment by construction firm Cleary Doyle that transformed White’s Hotel into a 4-star property. The two inter-linked venues opened in June 2005 at a combined cost of approximately €6 million. A spokesperson for the hotel said the new venues would “see a new pulse being brought to the heart of this historic town.”
Together, the venues comprised six bars, a dance floor, bandstand, and smoking balcony. At the time, it was the biggest licensed premises in Leinster, with a capacity of up to 2,200 people. The nightclub was laid out over two floors, with three bars and a glass-walled VIP section.
Michael Burke, part-owner of White’s Hotel, described the Colony as “futuristic,” and stated that the scale of the nightclub would allow bigger acts to come to Wexford.
The venue featured a digital sound system and “probably the most sophisticated galaxy lighting rig in the South East.”
In its early days, the Colony employed “shot girls” who walked around with trays of shots. The interior featured a life-size replica of the Predator from the sci-fi franchise. Smokers could use two designated areas: a ground-floor access corridor connecting the nightclub to North Main Street and La Speranza, and a top-floor pedestrian walkway linking it to White’s Hotel.
On busy nights, staff would open the door between the smoking area on the ground floor and La Speranza.
The opening night began with a cheese and wine reception at La Speranza for the public, followed by an outdoor performance by a street theatre company. The nightclub opened at 10pm. Singer Carol Anthony was among the attendees, accompanied by her boyfriend Jamie Belton, who played Ross in the television series Fair City.
Thousands of clubbers flooded the streets over the Bank Holiday weekend, prompting local newspapers to liken Wexford to Ibiza and Newcastle.
Large crowds queued outside the Colony, the Centenary Stores, and Renaissance, while revellers packed the upper floor of La Speranza, dancing and waving from the balcony as a continuous stream of taxis and minibuses stopped on the street below.
Large numbers of Gardaí patrolled the area. A garda spokesman reported no major public order incidents and said arrests were no greater than over a normal weekend.
On 17 August 2005, the Colony hosted a Leaving Cert Results Party featuring DJ Leigh Doyle, promoted as “the southeast’s biggest graduation party of 2005.” The party offered an exclusive prize of a “mini moto” (mini motorcycle) that night.
In February 2006, more than 200 people were evacuated from the Colony in the early hours of a Sunday morning after a fire broke out in a builders’ car park next door. At about 1:30am, the DJ cut the music and announced it was not a drill, instructing patrons to make their way to the nearest exit. The fire exit nearest the alleyway was closed, so everyone was evacuated through the front door. The evacuation was orderly with no panic.
The fire was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault and was quickly brought under control by the County Fire Service.
Although the Colony initially proved popular with clubgoers, it later developed a more polarising reputation, as some people felt that the venue attracted “the wrong crowd.” There was a general belief that the Colony’s door policy was less strict than that of the Centenary Stores, and that people who had been refused entry to, or banned from, the latter could often still gain admission to the nightclub.
Gradually, attendances declined, while the Centenary Stores went on to dominate Wexford’s nightclub scene.
The Colony was replaced by The Music Factory, which opened on 24 May 2008. Co-owned by Peter May and Peter Wickham, it too closed permanently in early 2010, with May citing the recession and poor performance.
The Music Factory was later replaced by Metropolis, which operated at the venue until its closure in April 2015.
The venue has remained vacant ever since.