Just a few years ago, Kabalagala, a city suburb in Makindye division, was the face of Kampala’s nightlife; so much so that it influenced the tourism sector’s decision to include the city’s nightlife on tour packages.
From Capital pub to Al’s bar, De Posh and Half London, among others, Kabalagala was the ‘it’ rendezvous; the new ‘Bermuda Triangle’ for a generation that was conversant with Wandegeya’s now defunct party zone. In Kabalagala, the lights never went out and bars never shut down until the last customer staggered out at dawn.
Affluent clubs, shisha, pool tables, giant screens, gambling rooms, theme nights, celebrity invitations, sexy waitresses and not forgetting cheap sex workers, all debuted in Kabalagala bars before spreading elsewhere.
Some people’s hearts were stolen (and mostly broken) in joints such as De Posh, Punch line, Club Cyclone, Club Venom, Timeless bar, Gazebo pub, Virgin bar and restaurant, Chuchyz bar, Mikom bar, Vision Congo, Executive restaurant and The Point. Unfortunately, all these have since closed down.
When The Observer visited Kabalagala recently, the once thriving suburb was a shadow of its former self. A quiet place where only a few obscure bars were still in operation. De Posh, which was the biggest bar, closed business in February 2019 after eight years.
A few metres from the famous Kabalagala junction at Tirupati Mazima mall, Club Venom opened its doors in 2013 to partygoers, earning its spot as one of Kampala’s most sophisticated and high-end nightspots. The following year, Club Cyclone opened up at the same mall.
The two posh clubs added pomp and glitz to Kabalagala’s night scene which was now extending its arms to cover the entire Ggaba road; they were the hub for artistes who wanted to premier their new music and socialites who threw lavish parties. However, by 2017, both clubs had closed.
Kabalagala is now host to a large number of Congolese, Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans, and the party has since moved to elsewhere. In fact, currently, most of the bars and restaurants still operating in Kabalagala are owned by Somali and Ethiopian nationals.
CURRENT SITUATION
Hard to believe, if you once partied in Kabalagala, the music has died out and the night fuss is no more. The premises where De Posh bar was located are now occupied by a furniture showroom and a dental clinic.
The bars, clubs and restaurants still operating along the main roads struggle to get customers. The ones that have persisted, including the two Capital pubs on Muyenga road and Ggaba road, which once commanded a big chunk of revellers with three bar counters and eight pool tables, now look deserted with only a handful of customers.
The situation is the same at Ethiopian Village restaurant along Muyenga road, infamous for the 2010 World Cup bomb blasts. Others where one can grab a drink and watch football, such as Al’s bar, 3 Monkeys bar and grill, and Hidden Agenda bar and restaurant, are rather quiet and don’t live up to the vibrant and notorious party scene the location was known for.
However, not all nightlife is dead in Kabalagala; shack bars in the slum areas opposite the Muyenga road are still vibrant. This is perhaps the remaining vibrant part of Kabalagala with food vendors and retail shops working till the wee hours of the night.
The tiny bars may not be classy to attract big spenders or an expat and celebrity crowd, but they have their own class of customers that throng there every night and drink till dawn. The bars are fully stocked with all kinds of cheap liquor supplemented with mairungi (khat), which is sold openly along the potholed slum road.
In one bar, The Observer found revellers at a pool table while others watched sports on a TV screen. A bit further into the slum, there is an inn that stages a strip show (kimansulo) every Saturday night, which I was told is a big crowd puller. It also plays the loudest music in the area, with an MC screaming on top of his voice.
One thing which has not left Kabalagala’s night life, however, are the sex workers. Clubs or no clubs, the area is still infamous for its huge number of prostitutes and as early as 9pm, they start positioning themselves along the roads.
The “classy” prostitutes stand along Muyenga road around Capital pub, while the “not-so-classy” parade themselves in Kikubamutwe; you cannot move through without one or two women calling you out with “hello uncle”.
A rolex guy in Kikubamutwe said: “The sex workers are never going to get away from Kabalagala and during the holidays, it becomes worse, because the students also join in the trade. Being close to Kampala International University (KIU), Kampala University and International University of East Africa (IUEA) has also led to an increase of prostitutes, as university students also indulge in the act.”
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Ivan Kikomeko, the LC 1 chairman, Muzaala zone, Kabalagala parish, said the past three years have seen a huge decline of the nightlife scene in Kabalagala and the situation was worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic; most night spots and restaurants did not open up again after the lockdowns.
He also decried the high crime rate, which has grown over the past years especially among the youth who have formed gangs that rob and beat up revellers, causing many to fear being in Kabalagala at night.
“The area has become notorious for criminals and yet most of them are not even residents of Kabalagala. Sometimes when police comes and raids the area for criminals at night, when we screen them in the morning, we find no resident of Kabalagala,” Kikomeko said.
According to Kikomeko, the downturn of Kabalagala was also largely because of the actions of the city authorities, who made it a punching bag whenever there were enforcements.
KCCA would raid the area and demolish structures along the roads which they deemed illegal and being in road reserves. These structures used to house bars and food vendors. This made business owners and clients to flee the area.
Such raids also extended into the night when revellers would be having fun and suddenly police and/or KCCA would raid the bars accusing them of noise pollution, selling shisha, prostitution, and arrest revellers for drink driving and parking wrongly. It all got tiring.
“Bars in Kabalagala were the first to introduce shisha smoking in Kampala and this attracted a lot of people for them. However, the authorities said this was illegal and would raid the bars, arrest revellers and confiscate bar equipment; and honestly which person would come to party from here after such incidences?” Kikomeko said.
He added, “The drink driving operations by police (Kawunyemu) would always lead to a lot of partygoers being arrested. Because Kabalagala had a lot of bars and clubs, it was one of the target areas during such operations. Cells at Kabalagala police station would always be full of revellers.”
High operational costs especially in terms of rent fees is also cited as another reason for the closure of most hangouts spots in the area. Most bars along the main road have closed and the ones remaining no longer attract many customers because the rent fees are so high, which makes them expensive.
Kikomeko noted that a space for a bar on a building along the main road goes for not less than Shs 1.5m per month, while the same space in the slums goes for as little as Shs 180,000.
“We have seen new buildings constructed in the area but still most of them are empty due to high rent charges. The most common businesses in the area right now are boutiques but most of them also don’t last for long. Pharmacies are also becoming many in the area.”
Then of course there is the rapid growth of more urban centres in Kampala and Wakiso districts, where similar hangout places have been established and, therefore, people no longer need to go far from their residences to have fun.
WHERE THE PARTY HAS SHIFTED
When the Kabalagala night lights died out, they lit up in other areas around the city and further out. Areas such as Kololo, Ntinda, Najjeera, Kiwatule, Bugolobi and Kamwokya are now the go-to places for the kind of clientele that one would in the past find at De Posh.
Mushrooming suburbs such as Nansana, Kira and Gayaza have also seen establishment of nice hangout places, making it unnecessary to drive to the city centre for a good time. These places have also resurrected the kiduuka (grocery with a well-stocked fridge) concept.
John Babiiha road (Acacia Avenue) alone, has almost 10 clubs in a distance of about 1km. From Illusion and Cielo lounge at Kisementi, to Riders lounge, Catwalk, H2O, Atmosphere, Casablanca, Cask and Kush lounge, this avenue near the posh residential Kololo hill is now a favourite for party lovers.
At Bandali rise in Bugolobi, posh bars and restaurants have also mushroomed, attracting a good number of revellers. Thrones bar and lounge, Banana bar, Whispers bar, Picolo lounge, Gabz bar, Caliente bar, Mango Groove, Arena bar, Karibu Grill lounge, Shisha Nyama bar and restaurant, The Yard bar and grill, Bamboo Nest, among others, have turned this upmarket residential area on its head.
In Najeera another rapidly growing suburb, Nexus lounge and La Venti dominate the party scene, whereas Methods lounge, Isabella bar, The Patio and Chambers lounge are popular hangouts in neighbouring Ntinda.
With all these dynamics – not to mention neighbours Muyenga and Ggaba’s thriving nightlife – poor Kabalagala did not stand a chance and like it was with Bermuda Triangle, it is time to take a bow.
jjingoernest1@gmail.com
Source: The Observer
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