A part of Cape Town’s city centre, known as the East City, has undergone many changes over the past 60 years. Once a thoroughfare to District Six, it lost its soul when apartheid bulldozers destroyed that vibrant community. Today new life is emerging in the precinct that stretches from Plein Street to Harrington and beyond and is bordered by Roeland and Darling.
Where a motorbike repair shop once stood, a restaurant has opened. Coffee shops, bars and hotels now share the area with state institutions, the police station and a magistrate’s court among them.
It’s a neighbourhood where “the cool factor far outweighs its size”, says the Cape Town Central Improvement District (CCID) in its “State of Cape Town Central City Report 2023”.
About five years ago it started transforming into a creative hub, with art, film and animation studios, says CCID CEO Tasso Evangelinos. Today it has 32% of the retail outlets in the city and about 1,500 residential units — 21% of the 7,188 in the city centre.
Harrington Street is the main artery and the address for Downtown Ramen, Fyn, Ramenhead, Galjoen and Belly of the Beast restaurants.
Belly of the Beast was once the motorbike workshop, with windows bricked up. Today it’s a 20-seater restaurant with large, street-facing windows in a modern-industrial dining room with an open kitchen.
Nearby is Truth Coffee Roasting, a “steampunk-inspired” artisanal coffee shop, with metal piping and quirky old machinery. The UK’s Daily Telegraph named it among the best coffee shops in the world.
Swan Café, reminiscent of a French sidewalk café, serves crepes “as thin as a French mademoiselle”.
Among the establishments that moved in early are the Lebanese Bakery, New York Bagels and Charly’s Bakery to join an old stalwart, the Dias Tavern.
“[It] was very much us and the homeless people and anyone who was going to court,” says Charly’s co-owner Alexandra Murphy.
Just Like Papa is an outdoor store with a whisky offering, and Tommy’s Chop Shop bar is at the back of the shop. Both sell high-end gear. “We want someone to come in and buy their husband an axe for his birthday that he can one day pass down to their kids,” says Just Like Papa manager Rick Traviss. He says customers come from as far as Worcester and Ceres to check out “all the cool stuff”.
Also in the precinct are leather and upholstery store Woodheads and The Book Lounge.
On the cultural side, the District Six Museum pays tribute to those who were forced out from the 1960s to make it a whites-only suburb. It has collections of photos, artefacts and stories from that traumatic time.
City Hall, the Old Granary (a heritage site now called Desmond & Leah Tutu House) and the District Six Homecoming Centre (previously the Fugard Theatre) also form part of the East City.
The area is being punted for its investment potential. According to the CCID report, the property development investment value increased from R205m in 2022 to R325m in 2023.
Among recent developments in the area is the R180m Neighbourgood at 84 Harrington, a 12-storey building constructed from industrial hemp, with the distinction of being the world’s tallest “hemp hotel”. It has 50 fully equipped self-contained apartments with communal and residential living spaces — ideal for those who want fully furnished, flexible accommodation, such as digital nomads.
There’s also Spindle, a R120m mixed-use building being developed by architect Robert Silke on the corner of Spin and Plein streets. It’s a slender 16-storey building on a site that used to house silk-spinning businesses in the 19th century
According to Evangelinos, when a precinct has a growing residential population, it provides foot count, a nightlife and more open living. That means an area more assured of success and vibrancy.
The precinct has been uplifted as more businesses have opened, says Charly’s Bakery co-owner Dani Green. “The arrival of office workers helped to bring attention and investment and more money and people wanting to spend time here.”
Still, there’s a way to go. Belly of the Beast owner Neil Swart tells the FM: “At the moment it’s a day area. At night there are still these dark areas and sections — there are streetlights, but you need business lights, you need places that are open and trading, and that creates a vibe at night. It’s getting there.”
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