THE inclement New Year's Eve weather kept all but the hardiest revellers indoors on the last night of the year. One venue that was completely packed was John Reynolds's Chocolate Bar. The club was a venue for the Boyzone party, so their manager Louis Walsh was there as were Ronan and Steve from the band. Concert promoter Peter Aiken dropped in with his wife Mary, as did Eddie Irvine, the Dalkey based racing driver.
The liveliest table in the packed venue was made up of people who had flown into Dublin for the evening because they heard it would be the best place to ring in the new year. It included onetime boy band Take That's manager Nigel Martin Smith Robbie Williams, who earlier appeared on stage at the RDS with the Boyzone boys Nick Moss, supermodel Kate's younger brother Leeds footballer Lee Sharpe and drag queen Lily Savage.