Radium fans cry into their beer as auction looms

In little more than a month, the auction hammer is set to go down on one of Johannesburg’s oldest and most beloved watering holes: the Radium Beer Hall in Orange Grove.

The buzzing bar and grill — which began life as a tea room in 1929 and now offers all manner of live music and gigs — was bought 40 years ago by Manny Cabeleira, and continues to be a family-run business. 

Manny died during the Covid lockdown and the pub is managed by his son Marco. “We’re open to possibilities, but it’s time for change. It will be sad to see it go, just five years before we mark the centenary. But it’s also a huge responsibility and things have been different since we lost Manny,” Marco Cabeleira told the Sunday Times.

Marco is the oldest of Manny’s three sons and has been running the Radium along with his mother Lena Cabeleira. “My dad bought this place back when it was a gentleman’s bar. He turned it into a restaurant, pub and music venue, and it became hugely popular,” he said. 

Marco said the family had been trying unsuccessfully to rent the business out and were now at a point where they wanted to move on. “A restaurant is long hours and hard work, and I want to be free to carry on with my own sports business full time, and it’s time for my mom to retire. But we want the place to be taken over by the right person. Maybe someone younger, with new ideas and different energy,” he said. 

The original Radium tea room was an elegant spot with a fountain and a courtyard. It was built by the Khalil family from Lebanon and disguised a shebeen that ran from the back, where beer was sold to blacks, which at the time was prohibited.

It obtained a liquor licence in 1942 and was turned into a men-only bar. Manny became the third owner when he bought the place in 1984. He converted the pool section into a restaurant and turned it into a unisex bar. 

Today it retains the early Victorian features, with pressed steel ceilings, strip wooden floors, French windows and an impressive Burmese-teak bar counter. Manny decorated the olive-green walls with pictures of sailing ships, cartoons, soccer teams, jazz musicians and a collection of vintage and newer newspaper posters, such as “Boobs and the economy”, “Lesbians lose appeal” and “SA loses its sense of Zuma” from the Sunday Times. 

One of the Radium regulars was Kevin McCallum, then sports editor for The Star, who got married at the venue.

Back then, the Radium was a destination pub. But the area has gone down, and now it’s not so much of a destination any more

—  Kevin McCallum, regular patron 

“Back then, the Radium was a destination pub. But the area has gone down, and now it’s not so much of a destination any more,” he said, speaking about his disappointment about his old Louis Botha Avenue haunt ending another era. 

His friend Charles Leonard — a journalist, broadcaster, DJ and record collector — did the music. “It was a magnificent day,” said McCallum. “A wedding in a pub on a Sunday with Radium chicken, chips and prego rolls made from a Portuguese-roasted silverside Manny had slow-cooked. It ended with me standing on that old bar counter for the first time toasting, well, everything.” 

Marketing manager Andy Darlington, who has handled the Radium’s music bookings for the past 15 years — more than 800 gigs and going strong — says the Radium diary continues to be booked up. “Musicians love playing at the Radium. It’s intimate, the stage is the perfect height, and Barry Hilton rates it as the best live comedy venue in Joburg,” he said. 

Things changed three years ago when Manny died after a stroke. “That Saturday morning, I got an early call from Barry Hilton, who told me Manny was gone. More than 50 people called me that day to find out what happened and if I was OK,” Darlington said.

“It was lockdown and there was social distancing and alcohol bans, so I stored all those numbers. Sometime after that I called everybody and we put together the most magnificent wake for him at the Radium. It was great, with live music and it was all streamed.”

Today, the Radium is still a going concern with live music, but a slowly dwindling patronage. 

“There are still times when the place absolutely rocks — like two weeks ago when the Springboks played at Ellis Park. The Radium was booked out weeks in advance by people who would come here for lunch, Uber to the stadium for the game and come back here and carry on celebrating,” Darlington said. 

Leonard said his biggest wish was that whoever bought the Radium would continue to keep it as a pub, restaurant and entertainment venue with a political edge. “It’s important that it retains that rebellious and subversive spirit, where like-minded people meet and be with people who think like them.”

Agent Jayson-Lee Collins of Broll auction house said adverts for the Radium auction will go out tomorrow and a lot of interest was expected. He said he was not permitted to disclose the reserve price. “The auction will take place on October 16 at the Wanderers Club at noon. We’re looking to sell it off to anyone in the pub and nightlife scene that is looking to carry over a legacy.”