Greenside village life

The Johannesburg suburbs between Sandton in the north and the city centre in the south include Parkhurst, Parktown North, Hyde Park, Parkview, Craighall Park and Greenside. They are collectively known as "The Parks". Somehow all these neighbourhoods still manage to have their own village feel, most of them with “high streets” where interior design shops rub shoulders with pavement cafés and good restaurants. They also have the obligatory butchery, bakery and bicycle shop.

During the last week or two, we ended up in Greenside a couple of times. We spent one of the public holidays having sushi for lunch, another trip for coffee at the popular Doppio Zero and a lazy Saturday morning brunch, plus a trip to one of my all-time favourite shops. It was also the first time that I went into Paco, arguably the best carpet shop in Johannesburg, for a browse around their extensive shop.

Greenside was initially part of the Braamfontein farm and a portion belonged to Louw Geldenhuys and his wife, Emmarentia. When he died, she subdivided the farm further into Emmarentia and Greenside. The latter was laid out in 1931 and the name refers to the adjacent Parkview Golf Course (the club has an very interesting history, but I’ll save that for another post). Today many of the streets are named after Scottish golfers and golf courses, such as Gleneagles, Braeside, Mowbray and Greenway.

It is a fairly tranquil neighbourhood and the main “strip” used to be home to many of Johannesburg’s best restaurants. That changed a bit in the last couple of years when most of these restaurants moved away and were replaced with nightclubs changing the village atmosphere. Never mind, there are still a few wonderful gems in between. This week I want to take you along to my favourite spots in this Johannesburg village.

 Image credits: All photography by me