Wexford Street's Opium is already home to a renowned restaurant, botanical garden bar, cocktail lounge and club space, but this month the venue will take on the live music market with a brand new space.

The club has undergone extensive renovations and refurbishment to cater for live music. The venue now boasts a bigger stage, hi spec sound systems and a sound desk, and the bar has moved to allow for bigger capacity and easier viewing. In addition, a 4x3 metre screen as been included above the staging area.

Head booker at Whelan's, Dave Allen, will be in charge of filling the new venue, which has a capacity of 550. "As sales of albums fall and the artists cut of live streaming for the smaller to mid size acts makes it hard to make ends meet, the demand for a quality, affordable mid size venue in Dublin is obvious," Allen says. "With more and more touring acts including Dublin on their itinerary and the health of its sister venue Whelan's, Opium will be a welcome addition to Dublin's vibrant music scene for both artist and music fan alike."

He's certainly right about that. Opium's general manager Brian Kennedy is also thrilled with the new venue. "Music remains at the heart of Irish culture, despite the closure of some of Dublin's great venues to make way for more and more hotels," says Kennedy.

The first shows to be announced at the venue will be China Crisis, on 12th March, and the Neville Staples Band on 15th March. There will be a host of shows announced over the next few weeks.