PubTrade: A nightclub and restaurant fronting on to O'Connell Bridge is one of the city's most successful night spots, writes Patricia Weston

From Westmoreland Street it's difficult to tell Redz is a bar and nightclub. But step inside the small anteroom cocktail bar and you're led down chrome walled stairs to a bar and nightclub that radiates a warm crimson sultry atmosphere.

Suffused in a kaleidoscope of colourful lighting, Redz is a subtle and dazzling delight to the eye. "There's a low ceiling so we had to use lighting on the walls," says proprietor Declan Doyle. "We ran lights along the walls to take the emphasis off the ceiling. The lights move and change colour to the beat of the music so you can both feel and see the music."

On parquet wooden flooring the seating area is divided into three different styles. Once inside, the eye is drawn towards elegant customised brown leather and wooden seating accompanied by low claret-red tables. A funky wall of lighting stretches out behind, resembling the "Connect Four" board game; wooden frames dotted with different coloured circular spots.

Around the corner the seating changes to plastic red-glittered curved stools with brown wooden tables. The lights behind resemble an old-fashioned camera flash; big bulbous lights embedded in concave hollows.

To the right the punter can take a seat in the 1960s-style scarlet boudoir area. Cushioned cream leather rolled-up and ribbed bench-style sofas ensure intimacy between customers as, in order to sit back comfortably, you have to lean against the person sitting behind.

Colourful love beads drip from behind the glass wall in this space emanating soft, sexy lighting. This area is very restful and relaxing, it's no wonder the designer suggested calling the venue Bed.

"The designer wanted to call Redz 'Bed' because he thought it would be an advertisers dream. But there was a court case on at the time over a lap-dancing club in the city and I thought this name would attract the wrong clientele," says Declan Doyle.

The dance area is not an entirely separate area from the rest of the bar. Punters can dance the night away in front of the DJ box but they're not restricted from dancing anywhere in the club.

Changeable disco lights surround the whole nightclub. "We flooded the whole area with lights so that customers can dance everywhere," says Declan Doyle.

The island bar sits in the middle like a veritable Buddha around which distinctly different designs emanate. Veteran publican Declan Doyle, who also owns Doyle's on the corner of College Street and Fleet Street, decided to place the bar in the middle because women can walk around it.

"Women get dressed up when they go out to a bar and they're not going to sit hiding in a corner all night, they want to walk around and show themselves off so they have to walk around the bar to access the toilets," says Declan Doyle.

Walking into the toilets is a delightful experience. "We have the finest ladies' toilet in Dublin," says Declan Doyle. The walls of the toilets are covered in large embossed chrome tiles that act as prisms to reflect and absorb the lighting outside. Beige marble tops surround the stainless steel hand basins.

Open seven nights a week and aimed strictly at a smart 21-plus clientele, Redz bar and nightclub continues to attract the punters and with plans underway to transform the upstairs area - which was formerly the Manchester United store on Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street - into a café bar,

Dubliners haven't seen the last of this vibrant red venue.