Chigarapasi: Inside the country’s largest beer garden

08 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday News

TO many, the small town of Chiredzi in Masvingo Province does not have much significance save for the huge sugar cane plantations and hot weather conditions. However, to those who have been resident in this sugar cane-rich town for the better part of their lives or those entering the town for the first time, the town has one of the country’s unique landmarks – Zimbabwe’s largest beer hall.
Located in the town’s suburb of Tshovani, in between dirty and dusty streets that were clearly last rehabilitated ages ago, is Chigarapasi beer garden, arguably the country’s largest beer garden, owned and controlled by Chiredzi Town Council.

On face value it can be dismissed as any other council building with vast premises for various business undertakings but alas this vast structure is actually one big beer garden.

Upon entering the largely popular nightspot this news crew discovers that it is divided into four large structures with a total of 16 bars or serving points within, all that are clearly a hive of activity, with music blurring from each of the serving points.

The beer garden is so big that the local authority is using it as a temporary garage for its refuse collection trucks, which are parked on one of the perimeter halls but still leave a large area for patrons to dance the night away.

Inside each of the bars, patrons mix and mingle, dancing to their favourite music, which they choose according to bars and also drink their most favoured beer, be it local, opaque or foreign.

As this crew continues to savour the scene, taken aback by the vastness of this beer garden, which is one of the first things the locals tell you about when asking them about their town, it is quite a surprise that considering the huge crowds in each of the bars that patrons interviewed claim that the bar has since lost its lustre and might face possible closure because of a decline in revellers.

While the Shona name Chigarapasi is translated to a place where one can sit down or an instruction for one to sit down, depending on the tone, the state of the beer garden itself can now spring a different meaning as literary the largest beer garden in the country is sitting down – it is grounded and business is now almost at zero.

Most of those interviewed claimed the beer garden had over the years failed to sustain competition from other bars in the business centre – which is less than five kilometres from it – and more people were now shunning it for the upmarket night clubs.

The reasons advanced were the failure by the local authority to refurbish, clean and basically give the beer garden a modern look.
“My friends and I have been drinking here for the past nine years but I don’t remember the local authority ever saying they want to renovate it, it has been the same, no upgrades, no new set up not even some promotionals so as to add value to the beer garden, things have been stagnant while business continues to plummet.

“With the way things are going, even us the regular clients are considering shifting base because clearly council is putting such a clear landmark to waste, we are a small town but we have the largest bar in the country, something has to be done as a matter of urgency,” said Mr Kudakwashe Ushe.

One of the barmen interviewed claimed that business was so low that at times they had no choice but shut some of the bars as the small crowds did not permit them to operate all their bars.

“I have been here for over 15 years but I tell you that business is at its lowest, just early this year we had to throw away some of our opaque beer as it had gone bad after going past its shelf life and was not consumable, with the manufacturers, Delta, now wanting their containers meaning on our part we had to suffer a loss.

“I can tell you that during its heyday this beer garden would at one go have more than 100 patrons and most of these people did not even want to go to town, to the bars there but nowadays they would rather go to town than come here as there is not much activity,” said the barman who declined to be named as he was not cleared to talk to the media.

Outside the bar there is a hive of activity, as partakers of the oldest profession in the world – prostitution – are up and about, all with one aim in mind, to get the few patrons coming out of the bar.

“Days are not the same, at one point business is high, at the other things are very low but you don’t go home empty handed, like today I have had three clients, each paying $10 plus buying drinks hence I am not complaining at least I can feed my two kids and fend for myself,” said a prostitute who identified herself as Tafadzwa.

Another business that is largely linked to this beer garden are the numerous houses that have been turned into lodges right next to it.
According to residents, this was a phenomenon started by a Tshovani resident noting the high business being brought by the once booming beer garden by turning his residential home into a lodge. Now the suburb has close to 10 lodges a walkable distance from the beer garden, with prices ranging from $10 for an hour’s bed rest to $90 per night.

The town’s financial director, Mr Kusirai Rukara, who recently acknowledged at a full council meeting that the former council cash cow was facing major problems, said they had since passed a resolution to inject some funds that would see them revamp the beer garden.
At one point it was reported that the beer garden used to enable council to pay some of its workers.

“It is unfortunate that this former cash cow is now operating at a loss. As part of efforts to ensure that we effectively revamp it, council passed a resolution that will see us revamping some of the facilities including the cold rooms,” said Mr Rukara.

The town council chairperson, Mr Francis Moyo, said it was painful that the beer hall, which once had a good record in terms of financial performance, is now failing even to pay its own workers due to poor management.

“We have to bear in mind that the beer hall used to be the leading one not only in Chiredzi but in the country as a whole. Furthermore this beer garden project used to be self-sustaining and further positioned itself as the council cash cow but now Chigarapasi is failing to pay its own workers and there is an urgent need to improve things there.

“We are also told that people have resorted to bringing beer from other beer halls and drink it from Chigarapasi, this is a clear indication that we are not moving with the trends as we are failing to give patrons the beer that they want, we must seriously consider modernising this beer garden,” said Mr Moyo.

So with all having being said and done one point that has been agreed on is that indeed Chigarapasi is the biggest beer garden in the country but with current trends this clear landmark needs serious cash injections that would see it being revived and its survival ensured.

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