In 1899, southern Africa slipped into the cataclysmic Boer War, also known as British high commissioner Sir Alfred Milner's 'Little War'. At the end of the conflict in 1902, Milner had a meeting with the strong-willed commander of the British forces General Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, at a small, newly built hotel in what is now Braamfontein. This inn, whose name is lost in the mists of time, served as a watering hole for British troops and as a stopover for postal riders between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
It is not clear if Milner had by then won Kitchener over, or what they discussed. What is know is that they met in the hotel's carvery bar: an intimate room with a small, leather padded elbow-rest wooden bar, pressed-steel ceiling, smoked-glass-partioned kiosks, sash windows,heavy drapes and velvet-patterned wallpapper. Soon after, this establishment changed it's name to the Milner Park Hotel, and the pub's to Kitchener's Carvery Bar in acknowledgment of the honour bestowed on them. Today this hotel and pub are respectively the second oldest in the city after the Booysens Hotel and the Guild Hall.
Little has changed on the Milner Park or the Kitchener, which imbues them with a certain creepiness. It is probably this, or over indulgence, which has given rise to a number of ghost legends.
There are cold spots in Room 2 and mysterious footsteps in Room 14. And in the pub there have been reports of the wallpaper suddenly distorting and morphing, while others claim to have seen the apparition of a high ranking, red-jacketed British officer at the bar. Text from 101 beloved bars of Southern Africa
Always under the watchful eye of the law then...
I've taken a bit of interest in the history of Johannesburg since we found out that our house in Melville turns 100 in 2012. Turns out Joburg has been rebuilt at least three times in it's 120+ years of existence with scant regard for any historical value. There are very few buildings that remain. I spent some time driving around the older suburbs over NY and found a surprising amount them in various states of repair. I plan to document a bunch of them and perhaps add to the FUNERAL SONGS group on Facebook where I posted some info and pictures on the history of the Brixton and Braamfontein cemetaries.
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