Dundee’s Lost Tales – Patronising The Purple Pig

A long road trip is not the same without a pit stop at one of the numerous Ultra Cities that line the country’s national highways.

Well, in Dundee at around the turn of the century, there was also a kind of Ultra City. This one rejoiced in the colourful name of The Purple Pig.

In those days a trip to ‘town’ was an infrequent yet important event. In fact it was an occasion. For the farming folk of Malonjeni and beyond , towards Nquthu, Dundee was the closest thing to civilisation. The family would be loaded up on to the ox wagon. Everyone would be dressed in their ‘farm clothes’ while the ‘fancy town garb’ would be carefully packed on to the wagon.

The trip to Dundee would be broken by a stop over at The Purple Pig. This is thought to be around where the research station now is on the Nquthu road: possibly near the old bridge that can be seen from the main road.

The bridge would have been a natural place for a stop-over. Here, the family would disembark and enter ‘The Pig’ to freshen up. The family would change into their town clothes before continuing their trip to Dundee to see the bank manager, buy supplies or even sell produce.

On their way back, the process would have been reversed, with the family changing back into their ‘rough’ farm clothes. How The Purple Pig came to be names as such appears to be a lost tale. Interestingly enough, searching for The Purple Pig on the Internet throws up a host of information.

Holidays resorts and smoking bars at Niagara Falls all appear to have been named The Purple Pig. So those Ultra City owners of long ago must have been onto a good thing.