After a week of reflection after the Pubcrawl its time to publish a roundup! Do you want to know how it went down, people’s responses and the lessons we learned? Then read further....The night began at Europa Cafe which demonstrated fine dining with a delicious platter accompanied by delicious sauces that went over well with the entire group. A number of revellers weren't aware that Europa served alcohol, they have a great cocktail list (sampled, tried and tested!), and they start serving at 1830 every day. With the bus running late, Europa was more than accommodating holding our frozen strawberry shots till the last minute, allowing us to kick off our pubcrawl with style.
Our next stop, Ribs and Rumps was truly a shot in the dark. I was told multiple times that I shouldn't take the chance with them, that they wouldn't be able to deal with a 35 people for an hour and a half. Sadly, despite my desperate desire to have this venue become successful they failed to deliver. Upon arrival, they were not ready for us, so we left.
This was the beginning of a great lull in our night; remind me never to let my memories and ambitions of a location influence my decision for the pubcrawl route. While that brings out hidden gems like Cattle Baron, check it out their Facebook page for events (insert shameless plug sign here), it can also lead misplaced faith in the institution that is Khwest. We have all enjoyed our time there, they have done great things for poetry and open mics, but there just isn't any way of explaining the experience we had there.
Despite giving the Khwest management an hour notice and multiple updates about our arrival, we found ourselves standing outside Kwhest, filling up the balcony as some event promoter named (I’m paraphrasing here) "Zulu Arseface" berated the revellers on not wanting to pay P30 to enjoy the pleasure of seeing him strut around Khwest with his night resistant sunglasses on. Rather than satisfy the large group of customers outside, management chose to placate him and didn't follow through with the promise of free shots...So we left.
The long ride out to Phakalane was full of drama, as anybody that has been on a pubcrawl knows; this is the stage of the crawl where EVERYBODY is friends with EVERYBODY. A few songs, a few stops, a case of Effect energy drinks and a mandatory O3 water break later, we arrive at Cigar Lounge ready to finally get our night started, and get it started we did! When we walked in it seemed like a slower night at the lounge, in fact someone tried to recruit me to take the party next door. (What’s up with that, do they get paid a commission?) Our crew rolled in, followed by a few stragglers, we only had trouble with one chap that decided to wear flip flops in winter (Cigar Lounge has a strict closed shoes, long pants policy). True to form, the owner accommodated us, gave us the free shots as previously agreed and Dj Six started up with the an epic mid-school set, working classic hip-hop and R&B hits from the mid-90s and early 00's. The kind of stuff that makes you go, "Oh no! He didn't." The kind of stuff that makes you think, "I forgot I even liked this song!" The kind of stuff that makes you dance back to back because it won you the Standard 6 primary school dancing competition.
We had a blast! The place filled up, we bought hookah and smoked it outside, the staff went through all the trouble to make sure we were happy on all fronts; there is literally nothing bad that I can say about our experience at Cigar Lounge that night, and honestly, it’s my new Saturday Night Hangout. The revellers were happy, I was happy. I bought a round of shots to make up for Khwest and Ribs & Rumps, but sadly out time was up...So we stayed.
40 minutes off schedule and we hopped on the bus again, Effect still coursing through our veins, we had another mandatory O3 water break. We arrived at Bull and Bush only to have a breakdown in communication almost ruin our long standing arrangement. Bull and Bush has been on all 10 Pubcrawls and dominated every single one. Due to hat arrangement, they let in the crew for free but we were disappointed about not getting our shots. The majority of the revellers didn't care; I looked around the bar and saw nothing but people from the bus buying drink after drink. I think the P100 pula bottle of whatever it they saved would have been worth it to keep the people happy. I love you Bull and Bush, but this Pubcrawl Championship goes to Cigar Lounge.
Cigar Lounge Are The Champions of Pubcrawl 10!!!!
In closing, I’m constantly astonished by the inability of individuals working in the entertainment industry to stand by the commitments that they make. When an agreement is made between parties it’s better to take a loss than to show yourself to be unreliable. PC10s losers showed an inability to cater to the basic needs of customers, to understand that customer is what pays the bills at the end of the day, and without that formula of pleasing the customer, you are just easily replaced in their gallery of familiar haunts. True to form, the venues that did not pull through are the places with a reputation for poor service, and I had really hoped that they would take this opportunity turn that perception around. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water...but when in Rome...
Our next stop, Ribs and Rumps was truly a shot in the dark. I was told multiple times that I shouldn't take the chance with them, that they wouldn't be able to deal with a 35 people for an hour and a half. Sadly, despite my desperate desire to have this venue become successful they failed to deliver. Upon arrival, they were not ready for us, so we left.
This was the beginning of a great lull in our night; remind me never to let my memories and ambitions of a location influence my decision for the pubcrawl route. While that brings out hidden gems like Cattle Baron, check it out their Facebook page for events (insert shameless plug sign here), it can also lead misplaced faith in the institution that is Khwest. We have all enjoyed our time there, they have done great things for poetry and open mics, but there just isn't any way of explaining the experience we had there.
Despite giving the Khwest management an hour notice and multiple updates about our arrival, we found ourselves standing outside Kwhest, filling up the balcony as some event promoter named (I’m paraphrasing here) "Zulu Arseface" berated the revellers on not wanting to pay P30 to enjoy the pleasure of seeing him strut around Khwest with his night resistant sunglasses on. Rather than satisfy the large group of customers outside, management chose to placate him and didn't follow through with the promise of free shots...So we left.
The long ride out to Phakalane was full of drama, as anybody that has been on a pubcrawl knows; this is the stage of the crawl where EVERYBODY is friends with EVERYBODY. A few songs, a few stops, a case of Effect energy drinks and a mandatory O3 water break later, we arrive at Cigar Lounge ready to finally get our night started, and get it started we did! When we walked in it seemed like a slower night at the lounge, in fact someone tried to recruit me to take the party next door. (What’s up with that, do they get paid a commission?) Our crew rolled in, followed by a few stragglers, we only had trouble with one chap that decided to wear flip flops in winter (Cigar Lounge has a strict closed shoes, long pants policy). True to form, the owner accommodated us, gave us the free shots as previously agreed and Dj Six started up with the an epic mid-school set, working classic hip-hop and R&B hits from the mid-90s and early 00's. The kind of stuff that makes you go, "Oh no! He didn't." The kind of stuff that makes you think, "I forgot I even liked this song!" The kind of stuff that makes you dance back to back because it won you the Standard 6 primary school dancing competition.
We had a blast! The place filled up, we bought hookah and smoked it outside, the staff went through all the trouble to make sure we were happy on all fronts; there is literally nothing bad that I can say about our experience at Cigar Lounge that night, and honestly, it’s my new Saturday Night Hangout. The revellers were happy, I was happy. I bought a round of shots to make up for Khwest and Ribs & Rumps, but sadly out time was up...So we stayed.
40 minutes off schedule and we hopped on the bus again, Effect still coursing through our veins, we had another mandatory O3 water break. We arrived at Bull and Bush only to have a breakdown in communication almost ruin our long standing arrangement. Bull and Bush has been on all 10 Pubcrawls and dominated every single one. Due to hat arrangement, they let in the crew for free but we were disappointed about not getting our shots. The majority of the revellers didn't care; I looked around the bar and saw nothing but people from the bus buying drink after drink. I think the P100 pula bottle of whatever it they saved would have been worth it to keep the people happy. I love you Bull and Bush, but this Pubcrawl Championship goes to Cigar Lounge.
Cigar Lounge Are The Champions of Pubcrawl 10!!!!
In closing, I’m constantly astonished by the inability of individuals working in the entertainment industry to stand by the commitments that they make. When an agreement is made between parties it’s better to take a loss than to show yourself to be unreliable. PC10s losers showed an inability to cater to the basic needs of customers, to understand that customer is what pays the bills at the end of the day, and without that formula of pleasing the customer, you are just easily replaced in their gallery of familiar haunts. True to form, the venues that did not pull through are the places with a reputation for poor service, and I had really hoped that they would take this opportunity turn that perception around. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water...but when in Rome...
| Winners! Cigar Lounge Europa Cafe Effect! It Really Works! O3 Water | Participants! Heinken Mafia Soul Bull & Bush | Losers! Ribs & Rumps Khwest Zulu MonkeyLips |
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