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. The 1942 wants one caution, found on reading Wikipedia again on 10 October 2026: the article never prints that year. It says the tea room opened in 1929 and that thirteen years later the house acquired a malt and liquor licence and became a beerhall, so 1942 is arithmetic rather than a date anybody records, and the sentence carries no footnote of its own. The bar's own history page and a 2012 report in The Star are among the article's references, but neither is attached to it.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Claimed founding | The press |
| c.1929 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1942 | First record of a drinking house here | Wikipedia, on a licence thirteen years after the 1929 tea room |
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
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