Cullinan Premier Hotel history from 1905

The exact date of the opening of the hotel is unknown.

Even the original plans for the hotel and boarding house have no date on them.

It is believed that the hotel and boarding house were built in 1905 with probably the boarding house being finished first.

The first reference to the hotel was made in 1907 when the Premier Mine Co-operative Society was formed.

At that time Mr Heymaan was running the hotel and shops.

It was stated in the minutes that the buildings would be bought from Mr Heymaan.

It is unlikely that the hotel was built by Mr Heymaan as the original plans of the hotel have Premier Transvaal D M Co. Ld. as a caption, the buildings being refereed to, were probably the shops.

The Co-operative Society continued to run the hotel until it closed in 1988.

Before the war, the hotel and especially its bar were enjoyed by the local miners.

In the evenings, the hotel bar seemed to be overflowing with mine workers, sometimes joined to their utter delight by Sir Thomas Cullinan for sundowners.

The beer was delivered in barrels and rolled down the ramp into the wine cellar.

The wine cellar and the ramp still exist today.

The hotel was Sir Thomas Cullinan’s destination of choice for meetings with mine officials and whenever he was in town, he would spend the night.

During the war the hotel was taken over by the army but access was limited to commissioned ranks only.

After much correspondence the mine eventually managed to get the hotel open to all ranks but only in 1941.

The army also built the annex to the hotel across the road.

Next door to the hotel, where the car park is now, was a garage called Nichol’s, he also ran a taxi service from there.

In recent years the mine has sold the hotel and the building has been re-furnished and it is once again been open for business.

William Mchardy, the first general manager of the mine was a Scotsman and it was on January 25 1905 when the traditional Scottish “Burns Supper” was held in the Hotel.

It was also the day that a 3106 carat diamond of the finest quality had been found.

The diamond was taken to the party and everyone at the party held the diamond for a short while.

The diamond was later to be called the Cullinan Diamond and was presented to the British royal family and the two largest diamonds cut from the stone are now in the British crown jewels.

The crown jewels are on display at the Tower of London.