The Workshop, a popular Hout Bay watering hole, will be calling last rounds for good this Sunday after 24 years.
Owner Caronne Nebe says the landlord declined to renew her lease without giving a reason.
Ms Nebe’s ex-husband, Siggy Nebe, started the pub and she took over as manager in 2001 and owner in 2014.
Her husband jumped at the chance to start the pub at what was then the Takamaka clothing shop because the rental was affordable, she says.
“He called it The Workshop pub because it was for local guys who were plumbers or electricians so when they were sitting at the pub they could say tell their wives they were: ‘at The Workshop’.”
It was also promoted as “Africa’s smallest pub”, which appears to have been an apocryphal claim at best.
Early on, the pub shared the building with the Oven Door restaurant, which later became Dario’s Cafe.
Standing in front of a grove of protected milkwood trees, the bar is shrouded in urban myth, with some saying one of its cold rooms was originally a holding cell for prisoners.
“I think this building was founded between 1941 or 1942. In the past when we’ve cleaned the bar, we stumbled upon really old bottles, which may have been dumped from the old Hout Bay Hotel or Chappies Hotel,” says Ms Nebe.
The building was originally a police station, and the bar’s lounge was once the police station’s garage, she says.
“When we first moved in, we found shackles in the kitchen, so there must have been a holding cell there. So in my mind, its quite a historical building.”
Hout Bay Museum spokesperson Jonty Dreyer confirms the building was a police station in the early 1940s, and Hout Bay: An illustrated profile, by Tony Westby-Nunn, published in 2005, says: “The third police station was built in the early 1940s on the site where the Oven Door restaurant is today. Constable Le Roux was in charge. On the left side, was the police station and on the right side, was the house where Constable Le Roux and his family lived.”
UB40, James Blunt and Orlando Bloom are among the celebrities who have visited the pub over the years, says Ms Nebe.
News of the closure has caused quite a froth in the community with some wondering whether complaints about noise, drunken fights, revving engines and under-age drinking could have led to its undoing.
Commenting on Facebook, Denise Claassen, agreed that all of those issues could have been handled better. “That said,” she added, “The Workshop is a Hout Bay institution; it’s easy, relaxed, friendly, has affordable drinks, has camaraderie amongst its patrons. It’s a place to pick up great gossip on the ‘Hout Bayans’. It has the best ‘gees’ for any important sporting game, warmest fire in winter, and dedicated staff who know you by name or by your favourite drink.”
Gabriella Lupini started a petition on Friday May 24 to halt the bar’s closure. So far, 3673 people have signed it and expressed their views.
“The Workshop is a long-standing heritage site in Hout Bay. It would negatively affect many if it were to close. I sincerely hope that the landowners reconsider,” said Taryn Smith, from George.
The Sentinel was unable to source comment from the landlord or Ms Lupini by time of publication.
One of the pub’s six employees, Tatenda Marenga, of Imizamo Yethu, has run the bar for the past decade.
“I started in 2014 and initially knew nothing about bar-tending but learnt quickly on the job that same day I started. It’s sad for this place to close. The Workshop isn’t just a bar; it’s a social place. It’s where the old and young can socialise after work. I’m going to miss meeting new people here at the pub because you end up making friends.
“Eventually you start to know your customers, what’s their favourite drink. I’ll have to see in two months’ time where I’ll find work, but, sadly for me, there’s no place like The Workshop in Hout Bay.”
