With the national alcohol ban reinstated, on 27 July, students will return to find that the doors to the bars and pubs they normally frequent, remain shut.
Popular student bars, Bohemia, Aandklas, Die Mystic Boer and The Happy Oak were all still closed at the time this article was published.
Students filling up The Happy Oak during the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. PHOTO: Timon de Freitas.
Although these establishments could make money from food and non-alcoholic beverage sales, it is not feasible to remain open on this alone, said Timon de Freitas, owner of The Happy Oak.
Timon believes that most pubs and bars have been “devastated” by the pandemic/lockdown.
“To put it simply, most places cannot afford to pay rent, or their employees full wages as well, as utility costs if all they can sell is food, because that’s not why people go to a bar, and that’s not where we make our money,” said De Freitas.
The Happy Oak is one of the Stellenbosh bars whose doors remain closed during lockdown. PHOTO: Byron Latham.
According to De Freitas, liquor sales constitute the majority of most Stellenbosch bars’ income.
De Freitas recently placed an advertisement on the selling platform, Gumtree, for The Happy Oak, although he only used it as a means to “gauge interest should it ever come to that”. De Freitas does not, however, intend to sell The Happy Oak and intends to keep the bar.
The ad for The Happy Oak on Gumtree posted by owner Timon de Freitas. The ad has since been removed as Timon does not intend to sell. PHOTO: screenshot/ www.gumtree.com.
Stellenbosch bars: A first for many
Donald Ofentse Dahvie, a final-year BA Humanities student at Stellenbosch University, remembers the independence he experienced having his first beer away from home, and is sad that friends will no longer be able to socialise as they once did.
“So many memories were made like that. You meet new people. You make lifetime friends. There are still ways to socialise without alcohol though. We are exploring new ways of socialising that students don’t usually do,” said Dahvie.
Peter Joubert has worked as a waiter, bartender and manager at a Stellenbosch pub, and is sad to see how the pandemic has affected his friends.
“They (his friends) loved being part of the vibe, being part of the student lifecycle,” Joubert said.
According to Joubert, it is heart wrenching to know some of his friends in the industry do not have student lives to fall back on – and now find themselves jobless.