Julie Helen: 'I'm glad we can be visible.. glad to enjoy what our city has to offer'

I can’t believe that, at 40 years old, I’m telling you about my first-ever trip to Cyprus Avenue in Cork.

For many years, I felt going to a gig there was off the cards because the stage was upstairs, and when I was a teenager and in college, there was no lift that I was aware of.

There were definitely acts I wanted to see, but with events like Live At The Marquee in our lives, I could get plenty of musical fixes each summer.

Back in October, my great friend Edel and I made a trek to Ballydehob to see an artist, Ryan McMullan, who hails from Belfast. He was doing a pub-crawl style set of gigs to promote his album Redesign.

That small, intimate gig where he was literally 2ft from us was something special. It was so lovely that, immediately afterwards, Edel set about seeing where he was playing next and, you guessed it, it was Cyprus Avenue.

I initially dismissed it, thinking it would not be accessible to me, being the creature of habit I am, but Edel is someone not to give up easily and went about checking what the story was. 

Everything on Google told her there was a lift and that wheelchair users could access the venue, so we booked tickets with glee.

On the day itself, I got a serious case of ‘The Fear’. This particular fear rises from the pit of my stomach and stems from the fact that on too many occasions, I arrived somewhere and was not able to get in, or got in but ended up really uncomfortable without being able to use a wheelchair accessible toilet.

I didn’t want to ruin things on Edel. It’s one thing to avoid a place because I feared it might not be accessible to me, but it’s totally different to build up hopes only to have them dashed.

We set off early and decided to have dinner beforehand in the Kingsley Hotel.

We were both driving so a couple of colas were the order of the day.

Then we made our way to town, remarking on how the city had changed since our teenage years. We parked in Grand Parade and were strolling to the venue with ample time, so we stopped for a scrumptious scoop of Gino’s ice-cream, another staple of our youth.

We joined the queue for Cyprus Avenue and made our way to the top quickly. Once there, one of the staff took my phone to scan our tickets and another opened a door for the lift. It was small, and I must admit, it didn’t look brand new, so maybe I had truly missed it for all these years.

Once we got upstairs, we settled near the edge and Edel had a tall stool. All the tables were high so I decided not to have drinks so I wouldn’t be reaching too much. I knew my view was going to be obstructed by the crowd but really didn’t want to be up at the very front so I settled in.

Edel went on a scout to check if there was an accessible bathroom, and there was, guarded by friendly staff, which actually meant it was super-clean too. Nobody could just decide to use it on a whim.

I saw another girl using a wheelchair and we joked amongst ourselves that I wasn’t the only one any more because there was many a night out back in the day when I was.

I’m glad to have company, glad we can be visible, and glad we can enjoy all our great Rebel City has to offer. Well done, Cyprus Avenue. We’ll be back.