Halfway House Hotel, Kimberley

“The Half” as it is popularly known, has and always will be a Kimberley institution and is now the only licensed ‘drive-in bar’ in the world. Frequented by tens of thousands over the many years, the Half can boast some illustrious patrons from the early diamond rush days through to the modern post-democratic Kimberley of the early 21st Century.

Foremost among those patrons are Cecil John Rhodes, who normally remained on his horse outside the bar; Barney Barnato, Alfred Beit, William Pickering, and John Currey.

​‘The Half’ dates back to January 1872 when it was known as the Young America and advertised as “…an excellent framed house with bar stools and full stock…” It was sensibly positioned halfway on the main road between Du Toitspan and the New Rush mines, the latter of which became known as the Kimberley mine.  This is where the De Beers family started out their empire. This is where, within twelve months of the discovery of diamonds at Colesberg Kopje in 1871, 50000 fortune hunters crowded into the first little shanty town of New Rush that later became known as Kimberley. You will no longer find the Kopje here, instead you will find the biggest man made hole ever dug with a pick and shovel.