Pubs with an escape route.

[Jim Brady]

Peter,the bar in Durban as I remember was the Criterion I think.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Doc Vernon]

Here is a good old Pic of the Oriental Hotel in Southampton!
See the writeup for before etc!
Great!
Cheers

25 - 31 Queen`s Terrace - PortCities Southampton

[Graham Evans]

If its by the Bargate, it's GATTI'S

[Colin Hawken]

You've got it right Vern. Like I said,Long gone.

[Colin Hawken]

Sorry Graham you've got that one wrong.Different part of the City or Town as it was then. Gattis is also long gone unfotunately.Just like all the good places we knew in the 50s and 60s.

[robpage]

It was the original Smugglers , it moved iun around 1963 ish I think , I never saw it but there were a lot of fond memories of it

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Rob
Not to put a damper on this,the Smugglers Inn was actually on the opposite side of the road to the Docks,so it couldnt have been that!
I cannot recall any Pub that was built into the wall of the Docks in Durban,and i lived there (Gillespie Street)too after i left the UK.
In 1958//9 when Shipping in and out of the South African Ports it was there allready!

I may be wrong,but then perhaps someone could refresh my old ageing memory!? (but i dont think so)

There was a Pub next to the Entrance of the Smugglers as well(Right on the Corner it was actually connected to the same Building),and that could well have been the Criterion??
Will have to get on to someone at home to ask!
Cheers

As you will see in the attached Pic looking at the old Smuglers Inn Point Road (now renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road)from the Dock Gates opposite!
If you drove to the left that would take you back to the City! (Durban's) West Street
The Docks were on the Right hand side going the other way! Toward the end of Point Road!

The old Seamans Mission was close to the Smugglers but at the back,a few Streets away!

This is talking about 1956 onwards and i think it was there long before that too!

[happy daze john in oz]

Sounds very much like the Criterion on Point Road. In the old dock are before the UCL moved up closer to town and the new docks in about 1963. It was not actualy built intot he dock but was used as a customs post for all leaving or entering the dock or ship therein. It was the atrium between the bar and dinning room that was the actual entrance. I know I spent so much time in there, see a previous post about smoked fish that I wrote some weeks ago.

[Doc Vernon]

News from good source Durban!

There is a new Hotel Complex (Langa Sun Hotel)32-storey, 315-room hotel either allready built or in progress,on the old site of the Alexandra Hotel (This is the one that i wasnt sure of,next to the Smugglers Inn!)
The Smugglers will be incorporated into this project .

Quote:

"Importantly, the landmark Smugglers' Inn, a listed building, will be incorporated as part of the development.

So the oher one that is in question and i didnt know about this one,may then have been as said the Criterion on Point Road
Funny i never saw a Pub on the same sie as the Docks!??
There was a Criterion Hotel near the end of West Street on the right ,where the Point Road began!
Attached Pic shows the Buildings(Alexandra Hotel/Smugglers Inn etc) in Point Road opposite the Docks! (and ship)
No Buildings on the right as far as i recall!?? ( Like Hotels etc)
Thanks
Cheers

[robpage]

As I said Vernon it was before my time , so I am only going on what I think were fond memories , of the old docks , when I was with U-C we3 were in teh new docks . I berthed with Clan Linme in the Oold docks , and remember the Smugglers well , but that one was opposite as you rightly said . Some of the Old hands on the Pendennis had been with U-C since the War , and the custom's post in the middle of the pub between teh bars was always well remembered . I thought it was a previous Smugglers though . The age I dont have a clue , some of those guys were getting on then . I remember q post here from Happy Daze , back at the end of 2008 , he named that as the Criterion , having just looked back on the post. I remember the Steak in the Smugglers , I think it was 1 Rand for a huge steak and chips , was not the tenderest steak I ever ate thougfhg .