Pop-Up Bar: Kings Yard a refreshing social leveller

Whether beer-pong was meant to be or not, it was definitely the big selling point at The Kings Yard.

The Kings Yard opened at the weekend, and is a somewhat hidden pop-up bar in Parktown North, Johannesburg.

The approach is not as regal as the name suggests - you walk through a large parking lot to get to the entrance.

The bar scores much lower on the coolness scale than the Union, Illovo's recently closed pop-up. But, hey, the crowd isn't going to be the same craft beer-sipping hipsteresque yuppies. The Kings Yard is a boytjie hangout, where commercial beer is sold by the bucket-load. To be fair, The Kings Yard does stock craft beer. But to be even more fair, it ran out sometime around noon on Saturday.

The pizza's pretty good. The afternoon DJ was a champ. But a heatwave could turn the tented outside area into a humid mess over the next two months. Rather go for sundowners.

We ducked inside, where a manager had set up a table for beer-pong. It was my mate Guy's birthday party and he insisted that we play the intoxicating game based on rapidly declining hand-eye-coordination. (Team #Closies was obviously unbeatable.)

Midweek, The Kings Yard puts aside an entire evening for beer-pong. For the rest of the week there are movie nights, pizza specials and live music. Friday afternoon's after-work drinks start Capetownishly early at 3.30pm.

It could be a good spot to warm up before your real party destination. Just bounce a few ping-pong balls into a cup of lager - and force someone to down it - before you leave.

• The bar is open from 10am until 11pm until November 30. 32 7th Avenue, Parktown North