The claim
A Louis Botha Avenue institution that began as a tea room in 1929 and became a beerhall once licensed in the early 1940s. In the apartheid era it was notorious for quietly serving Black patrons in a whites-only suburb. Its century-old bar counter was rescued from a Ferreirasdorp hotel, and live music keeps the place lively.
What the records show
The 1929 is the local press's, and it dates a tea room: ShowMe says the Radium was established in 1929, and Wikipedia has the Kalil family's tea room taking a malt and liquor licence about 1942. It calls itself Johannesburg's oldest surviving bar and grill. We could not reach a working website for it in September 2026, but ShowMe reported in February 2025 that its doors remain open, answering the closure rumours directly.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Claimed founding | The press |
| c.1929 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1942 | First record of a drinking house here | Wikipedia |
What to look for inside
- Claims Johannesburg's oldest surviving bar
- Bar counter salvaged from the Ferreirasdorp Hotel
- Frequent film and advert location
Visiting
The Radium Beerhall is in Johannesburg, South Africa, at Cnr Louis Botha Avenue and 9th Street, Orange Grove, Johannesburg. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
Run this pub? There is a badge for it
Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
