The Guildhall Pub, left foreground, in the early 1900's

THE historic 115-year-old Guildhall Pub and Restaurant in downtown Johannesburg will be "pumping" in three months' time.

So says owner Kurt Tille, who recently took over and renovated the charming pub on the corner of Market and Harrison streets, probably Johannesburg's oldest pub, established in 1888. Although he was after buying the whole five-storey building, which has been in the hands of the same owners since 1935, he had to settle with second best: renting the pub and restaurant.

He's been open for three weeks, and is drawing on the surrounding banking community as his clientele, at this stage mostly for lunches. But future plans include drawing people in by offering jazz, particularly on Sundays.

The Guildhall Pub after renovation

"It's pre-programmed, in all modesty, to be pumping in three months' time," he says, with a smile. There are several reasons for this, he adds. It's in a good location, with Bank City and other banks and businesses within easy walking distance. Several nearby pubs have recently closed, and those customers have come over to the Guildhall. And, says Tille, he's hoping to convert the first-floor terrace into a coffee shop, where people can walk in off the street and sit sipping coffee while enjoying the view over the square across the road, and the hubbub of the city centre.

That square used to be the city's first market square, and has seen a range of changing faces. In the early years of the town, it was filled with muddy, overloaded wagons and teams of oxen, pulled up offering the week's farm produce. This was before the Rissik Street Post Office was built in 1897, and way before the City Hall and Public Library made their appearance on the square. So it was a large area, running from Rissik Street in the east through to Sauer Street in the west.

In time trestle tables were erected for selling goods. These later became little carts on wheels from which vendors sold their goods. Later photographs of the square show a row of rickshaws lined up in the square, and horses and carriages. Later the square was grassed, and interspersed with fountains and trees.

In the meantime the buildings surrounding the square progressed from tents to tin shacks to stone and plaster, at first of one or two storeys, then taller buildings that now dwarf the original post office and city hall.

One of those early buildings was the Guildhall Pub. It was built in 1888, just two years after gold was discovered on the Reef. It was a simple one-storey building in a town that had a preponderance of pubs to serve the mostly male population.

Market Square with rows of rickshaws

Within ten years the Pub was demolished and a new two-storey building went up, with an attractive balcony overlooking the square. In 1913 four storeys were added to the building, built by Mattheus Meischke, who had constructed several other buildings around town. The building then became known as the Meischke Building, still its name today. In 1935 Meischke died in London (he'd left South Africa in 1926) and the building was sold to the Amoils family, who still own it.

The Pub has had its fair share of ups and downs and with the exodus of businesses from the city since the late 1980s, has been in the doldrums for over a decade. In recent years it has had numerous caretakers and just before Tille took over it was the local shebeen in the area.

It still retains most of its former grandness. Tille has done some serious sanding to get the magnificent long bar counter back to a spot worth leaning up against with a beer. He has covered the walls of the pub and the restaurant above in period-style wallpaper. The wood-panelled pub and wooden ceiling, together with wooden tables, red-leather stools, farmstyle lamps and blown-up old Johannesburg photographs and portraits, complete the pleasing ambience.

Parking is available at the Harry Hofmeyr underground parking garage under the square. Otherwise, parking in the street is available. Tille provides car guards, in addition to the usual street guards.

Tille plans to roof the terrace with canvas or tin, with an edging of broekie lace, to shelter patrons from the rain and the sun. At present you can grab a lunch on the terrace, or in the adjoining restaurant, or a quick pub lunch on the ground floor. The place can seat up to 250 people, and last Saturday Tille estimates he had around 200 people in the pub and restaurant, staying till 1am. He envisions this becoming a regular on weekends, and he hasn't even advertised yet.

These days the market square is called Beyers Naude Square, and it's not a terribly attractive place. The City Hall was built in 1915 and the Public Library opened in 1935, both buildings taking up half of the square's space and now part of what's called the "government precinct". The market square was moved to the market building in Newtown, now the MuseuMAfrikA (the fresh produce market moved to City Deep in 1974). In the mid-1980s the City Council constructed walls in sections down the north and south sides of the square, closing the space off from the surrounding buildings and shops. The walls are still there, looking untidy, and still just as uninviting.

So, head down to Guildhall Pub and lean up against that beautiful bar, and lift your glass the way the early gold-rush pioneers did. And go up to the terrace and enjoy a meal while taking in the view over the square.

The pub and restaurant are open every week-day from 11am till late, Saturdays 11am to 7pm, and closed on Sundays. Phone 011 833 1770 for bookings.