Durban - The Durban Public House Trust was originally established in Umgeni Road. In 1903, it moved into a picturesque timber building known as the Bluff Hotel. Built on wooden piles over the waters of the bay, it was situated at the end of a pier with splendid views of the Bluff and the Point.
Just a year later, in October 1904, it accidentally caught fire and burnt down in a conflagration which could be seen as far away as Pinetown. A new building was erected in 1906, this time on dry land.
The trust was established, in part, to counter the abuse of excessive consumption of alcohol. Teas and non-alcoholic beverages were sold as cheaply as possible, while beers and spirits were much more expensive.
Once the new public house was established on the Bluff, the trust acquired another property at 19 Lancers Road. Running from Berea Road to Warwick Avenue, Lancers Road seems to have been named after one of the British regiments stationed in Natal. The 9th Lancers and the 5th Royal Trish Lancers were encamped at Fort Napier between 1896 and 1899, with a detachment of the 9th Lancers based at the Old Fort in Durban.
The trust’s property in Lancers Road must have been demolished and a new building later erected on the same site.
The first photo of the Durban Public House Trust was taken in about 1940. With hints of the Berea and art deco styles, the architecture suggests it was built in the late 1920s or 1930s.
It was ideally situated for trade, as across the road was the Lancers Sports and Recreation ground Downstairs was a tea room, a Private Bar and on the right, an Indian Bar. After the sale of the property, it was renamed the Hotel Normandie.
The recent photo of the hotel shows a busy Lancers Road serving taxi commuters. The downstairs street-front areas where refreshments were once served for the Trust’s patrons are now small shops including a doctor’s rooms. Inside, on the ground floor, is still a bar and a casual eatery. Upstairs are 21 rooms for which the daily rate is R300. The current proprietor has owned the hotel for about 21 years.