African Beer Emporium: End of an Era

After 8 years of running, one of Pretoria's most popular and cherished venues is closing its doors on the 4th of November 2023. African Beer Emporium, the brainchild of the founders of Capital Craft and Park Acoustics, is situated right in the center of the city's central business district and is the spearhead of the 012 Central initiative which is a conglomerate of venues and small businesses placed within a single enclosed space. This precinct houses the Foreal Music Academy and Wing Republic franchises and has been home to various events and corporate functions by different key players like Easy Agency, Black Labone and Homecoming Events. ABE, however, has always been the most popular shop at the precinct and is arguably the reason behind the kind of pull the precinct is popularly known for. African Beer Emporium has been the home of acclaimed events like Tshwanefontein, The Breakfast Club, Black Labone, Trancemicsoul Sessions, Mogale Festival & Corona Sunsets Festival Pretoria, and it has hosted local and international acts like Atjazz (UK), Rocco Rodamaal (FR), Msaki, Bongeziwe Mabandla, Nadia Nakai, Riky Rick, and many more. Apart from events, ABE has been a firm favorite in the CBD for hosting corporate and private functions, with the venue boasting amenities like boardrooms, projectors, outside patios, an indoor garden, smoking lounges, Wi-Fi, two large bars and an open kitchen.

As an avid audience member at this venue and precinct attending several shows like Black Labone, Mogale Festival & Market@thesheds, and also as a freelancer whose favorite restaurant to host meetings at was The Wing Republic, I mourn not only the loss of this important and historic space but the ideas that will most likely take a serious knock due to the abrupt drying of this glue that kept all together, flocking in unison. I mourn the loss of creative agilities that flourished in this space, the anxieties and existential crises that were kept at bay, the businesses that grew through weekly and monthly markets hosted there, the love affairs that evolved into beautiful flowers, the talents that flourished and reached greater heights, and the general brevity of creatives I always sensed whenever I was there. Only a few venues give you that, be it as an ordinary partygoer or as a creative with ambitions of working in the creative industry.

I wonder what is next, and who will be a vessel through which brave ideas get to have a place to call home, the same way Trancemicsoul Sessions and Black Labone have both had a place to call home since 2018, subsequently growing into entertainment giants cemented in the history books of Pitori entertainment and culture forever. Whatever the case may be, I pray and hope for better days for us lovers and supporters of the arts in the city. Perhaps, as the saying goes, when one door closes another will indeed open.

Keep the faith, and may peace be upon you.