Come in, take a cosy seat in our seductive enclave. We’ll pour you a drink. Feel at home as you let the hours unfold. Everything stays safe within the Negroni-tinged walls of the Billy Bar, your words absorbed by plush Persian carpets then filtered through decorative dried leaves capturing the atmospheric permutations of a moment in time, never to be repeated. Named after Billy Monk, whose black-and-white photographs speak of another period in history, the Billy Bar is dressed with the bouncer-come-photographer’s raw, honest portraits of a long-forgotten underground bar that existed on Cape Town’s docks, just a few kilometres away. The Catacombs Club, where Billy Monk worked in the 1960s, heaves and breathes in the Billy Bar, as the images shot by this amateur photographer – who never lived to know his fame – speak their secrets back into being. The Billy Bar opens itself up to the same honesty with which Billy Monk revealed his insider’s perspective, armed with a Pentax camera, small flash and fine-grain film. By revealing the graphic narrative of a bar that once was, Billy Monk portrayed pleasure beyond words. But, in case these walls can talk, it is worth stepping in to listen.
RECENT EVENTS
THEBAR plays host to a number or exclusive events, from product launches to private dinners. Get in touch via email to book the space for your next event.
