The Cape Town bar has a colourful history and long may it prosper after the fire
Kevin McCallum’s article on the fire at the Fireman’s Arms brought back memories of the pub from the 1960s . I was devastated to hear about the fire. Fortunately, the original bar area was saved.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s Cape Town offered many options for a pleasant lunch, all within walking distance of our office in Monte Carlo building on the Foreshore opposite the old Barclays Bank. We were spoilt for choice between places such as The Omelette Bar at the Tulbagh Hotel in Thibault Square, the men’s bar at the Metropole Hotel in Long Street and, our favourite, Fireman’s.
In those days, before the gentrification arising from the Waterfront development, Fireman’s was on the somewhat ropy edge of the harbour. It was a men’s-only pub run by Ernie Zammit and his faithful, smiling, Morris, who doubled as barman and waiter, serving simple pub lunches such as Bockwurst with chips and a fried egg. Hobos were discouraged from bothering customers by Ernie’s huge black Alsatian, who held station behind the bar.
A nice touch at the pub was the custom of providing regulars with a glass pint mug engraved with their name and hung from cup hooks on a shelf behind the bar. Many regulars were sailors whose ships plied the route past Cape Town, for whom Fireman’s was a “home from home” with a pint served in your own mug.
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