On Yer Bike! A Look Back at Thunder Road Café’s Wild Opening Week .....
- Thunder Road Cafe Accounts
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
Updated: May 2
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Before brunch was a thing and Instagram didn’t exist, there was Thunder Road Café — and in 1995, it roared into Temple Bar with more horsepower and head-turning swagger than Dublin had ever seen.
In this absolute gem of a write-up, Aileen O’Reilly from the Evening Herald captures the moment the city got its very first biker café. Think YMCA dance parties on tables, Harleys parked next to your burgers, smoke machines, and action flicks on giant video screens.
More than just a themed restaurant, Thunder Road arrived with attitude — unapologetically loud, larger than life, and ready to shake up the scene. Whether you were a die-hard biker or a family looking for a fun night out, the message was clear: everyone was welcome, and the only rule was to have a good time.
So buckle up your boots, zip that biker jacket, and dive into this blast-from-the-past snapshot of Thunder Road Café’s high-octane launch.
As we celebrate 30 years of Thunder Road Café, we’re revving up the nostalgia and inviting you to relive these wild early days. Were you there for our opening week? Do you remember the cow-fur walls or dancing to YMCA? Share your memories in the comments below!
🏍️ Dive into the full article below for a trip back to where it all began!
Evening Herald, Saturday July 1, 1995
BUCKLE up those boots, zip up that biker jacket, grease back that quiff and slap both your legs round that engine, baby - there's a new place in town for all you easy riders. Keep your Planet Hollywood and your Hard Rock Café —DUBLIN has got its first ever bikers cafe.
Thunder Road Cafe has arrived in Temple Bar (taking up a lot of Fleet Street in the process), complete with a mouthwatering collection of Harley Davidsons and Kawasakis inside. You can stare lovingly at them while you're chowing down those man-sized meals with your posse to the tune of plenty of good ol' gut grinding rock'n'roll.
Forget the usual grit, grime and exhaust fumes associated with bikers' meeting places, Thunder Road Cafe is first and foremost a restaurant - albeit one with a difference. "I've never been in a restaurant like this before," says general manager David Ryan. "It's so different, it's brilliant and it's rockin' — especially at night.
"I mean, where else do you get the entire staff and most of the customers jumping up on the tables at 10.30 every night singing and dancing to YMCA?
Aileen O'Reilly gets her motor running up to Temple Bar's ThunderRoad Café, the very latest in biker chic
"Honestly, they're on the tables, they're on the chairs and the counters - everywhere and anywhere they can get a foothold.
“The music’s loud and we’ve got four 8ft x 4ft giant video screens which are lowered every 20 minutes when they show crashes and clips from action films."
And that's not all. The 200-seater eaterie also houses a Harley Davidson shop - so even if you go in feeling less than hip, you can get an image overhaul while you're deciding what you want off the menu.
And if you're worried about missing the last bus home, you could always ask if you could borrow one of the mean machines gracing the interior (not that they're going to lend you out one of these babies).
Let's face it though, arriving home on a Harley Davidson has so much more street cred than the 16A.
And just for seasoned bikers who get withdrawal symptoms when they're off the highway, there's smoke machines installed as well - just to add to the atmosphere.
AND if you want a gasoline milkshake or an oil change while you're waiting for your main course well, no doubt that can be arranged too.
"Yeah, we have been getting a lot of bikers in," David laughs, "but we don't want to put regular customers off.
"Anyway, it's not as if the Thunder Road is like your typical biker's haven, is it? It isn't just for bikers — we get families in too."
Don't forget, we’d love to hear your memories in the comments!
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