Hen Nights

These three hairdressers call themselves “The Murrayfield Crew”. While I photographed them they sang a song that went: “Linda Green is a sex machine”. There was a split in the gang because some of them wanted to go home and the others wanted to wrestle.

PHOTOS AND STORY BY LINDA BROWNLEE

The Temple Bar area of Dublin city centre is where gangs of women from Britain and Ireland traditionally go to celebrate their hen nights. The hen nights involve dressing up in fancy costumes, getting very, very, very, very drunk, flashing your tits at strangers and then ending the night sitting in the gutter with a kebab, crying about how much you love your husband-to-be. They yell, they scream, they down pints of tequila, dance on tables and party harder than Russian sailors with one day to live. It is like an Hieronymus Bosch painting but with more chaos and booze. They make men’s stag nights look like wakes. I went there a couple of weeks ago and hung out for one night in the town centre. These are the girls I met. Disclaimer: We’re not saying any of the people in these photos were drunk, but some of them told us they were.

This one said she was a bank manager from Newcastle and when I asked her what her name was she said: “Kiiil”.

Linda Green’s bum.

Kelly is 26 years old and works in admin. Her friends were slagging her off for her manly voice. She kept saying that she has one phrase for her fiancé which is “the flash in the gash.”

Claire, Divina and Jamie are all 27 years old. Claire looks after kids, Divina’s a shop assistant and Jamie is an accountant. They promised me they are “way too sober”, that Temple Bar “rocks” and that Irish boys are “incredible”.

Mary is 48 and works an operations director. She told me she’d drunk “one and a half pints of Guinness and 46 shots of vodka.”

This is Lou from Nottingham. She was quite sweet. She told me: “I just love life, that’s all! And Robin Hood…we’ve all done him!” What?

This is the backside of a hairdresser from Crumlin.

This is a hairdresser from Crumlin attacking a bouncer.

Triscal is a “house technician” and doesn’t drink. She was in the minority.

Triscal and Jo called themselves “The Barrach Babes”. Jo told me she drinks “a gallon of alcohol a day”. I think she was joking.

Ailish from Dublin works in an accounts department. She said: “the bride deserves to be married. They are a match made in heaven!” Awww.

Catherine Duffy and Margaret Nugent told me: “We’re at the hen party of Pauline Sinnot of Droichead, and we’ve lost our gang, How are ye?” We’re fine thanks ladies!