Bar Code: Hobnobbing on the cheap in Harfield

29 July 2015 - 02:24 By Andrew Donaldson

Our road to Hobnobs is down Second Avenue - a thoroughfare once name-checked in a Bright Blue song - and our route takes us through the cosy heart of Harfield Village, a place choked with sidewalk cafes, bistros and bars in a cottagey way. Hobnobs is at the end of the road, however, and some distance - literally and figuratively - from all that yup-scale buzz.It's an appropriately named establishment. To "hob and nob", according to Eric Partridge's A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, is to drink together and be convivial. The expression dates to the mid-18th century and, although Hobnobs is not quite that old, we get the sense, after a few moments in its deceptively large and warm interior, that the place has been around the block a bit. The wooden tables and chairs have the scars to prove it, but they're still four-square on their legs in the sturdy department.One room doubles as a pool hall with two tables, and there's a sealed-off smoking room for those who wouldn't want to fire up in the outside seating areas (front and back). The bar itself, though, is rather small, and we wondered if it didn't get a bit like the Greek coastal passage of Thermopylae when the place was crowded. But the waiters were attentive and friendly and there was no risk of building up a thirst here.The decor is a wee bit olde Englishe pub bric-a-brac. But that's not a bad thing, and merely adds to its rough-hewn atmosphere. The huge hearth with blackened railway sleepers has, for example, its fair share of horse brasses and there are framed replicas of old county maps here and there amid the posters advertising the specials. The drinks, it must be said, are very reasonable. Cheering news in these trying times.Second Avenue, Kenilworth, 021- 671-8235, 10am to 2am daily..

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.