Ronnie's Sex Shop – Breede River DC, South Africa - Atlas Obscura

Ronnie's Sex Shop

Breede River DC, South Africa

“The oddest pub in South Africa,” inspired by a practical joke. 

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Ronnie’s Sex Shop, located in the rural bush of South Africa, is known as the “oddest pub in South Africa,” and not without reason. Complete with odd decor, a ceiling covered in clothing, and a strange name born out of a prank, the bar attracts pub-goers from around the world for its weird etymology and sense of humor.

One day in the 1970s, in the Western Cape province of South Africa, Ronnie Price decided to open a farm stand on Cape Route 62 to sell his fruits and vegetables. To announce his farm stand to passerby, Ronnie painted “Ronnie’s Shop” in red paint on the white facade of his roadside cottage.

But as a practical joke, a few of Ronnie’s buddies bought some red paint and renamed the cottage “Ronnie’s Sex Shop.” At first, Ronnie wasn’t pleased with the prank, but his mind changed when a friend of his suggested, “why don’t you just open a pub?”

When Ronnie realized the brilliance of his friends’ idea, he converted the farm stand into a fully stocked bar, serving coffee in the morning and booze at night. Hung across the bar’s ceiling are over 100 t-shirts, bras, and pairs of underwear with writing on them for decoration. Strewn across the pub are a variety of random objects, including teddy bears, clown wigs, and baby dolls.

Today, nearly four decades later, Ronnie still runs the bar. The interior of the bar’s white building is covered from wall to wall in graffiti with personal sex stories of its visitors, with “I had sex here” written on one of the benches. Home to road trippers and motorcyclists from around the world (as well as a handful of local farmers), Ronnie’s Sex Shop even offers accommodation for those who’ve had one too many.

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