Troyeville residents are rolling up their sleeves to give their suburb a face-lift.

A new music centre, an arts centre, a revamped movie house specialising in African films and a slicked-up Troyeville Hotel are all on the cards for the area located east of Joburg. Its residents include artists, architects and journalists who live side by side with working-class locals, Portuguese residents and immigrants from Mozambique to Morocco.

The no-frills Troyeville Hotel, with its legendary Flamingo restaurant and Tony's Sports Bar, was recently bought for about R3-million.

And the new owners promise they will keep its special charm and flavour.

Laurence Jones, the hotel's co-owner and new manager, said the motto is: "This is, as it always was, the Troyeville Hotel: only more so."

Jones, who is a partner in the Color Bar in Milpark, with his consortium of silent partners have taken over from Tony Diogo, who owned the hotel for 16 years.

"I walked around for a few weeks with the thought that my favourite place could be sold to someone who could mess it up," said Jones. "The only thing that frustrates me about the business is that I'm no longer a customer."

New features will include artists' studios and a rooftop terrace with a bar and grill overlooking the Joburg skyline.

The Flamingo restaurant, with its affordable Portuguese dishes, will stay. "We've added a bit of vigour to the dishes. There's more depth of flavour and the dishes are more rounded, with less oil," said Jones.

Tony's Sports Bar remains. Guests at the smokers' dining room can look forward to live jazz on Sundays.

Meanwhile, other Troyeville residents are also doing their bit for the suburb.

Late last year singer Jennifer Ferguson transformed the old Salvation Army building into a music centre. Jones's wife, Sarah Calburn, has drawn up a plan to
establish tennis and basketball courts and an amphitheatre at Bloemendal Park.

Two other residents, documentary film producers Guy Oliver and Ethel Williams-Abrahamse, are refurbishing a disused Art Deco cinema built in 1940 at the junction of Commissioner Street and Roberts Avenue. They are creating the GemBioscope, a 100-seater couch cinema that will showcase African films.

The space will also be used to house a fine art gallery, function rooms and a restaurant.

They have also bought a 1902 Edwardian-designed residence across the road from the bioscope, which will house The Red Line arts centre.

Sunday Times