Fire has destroyed one of Johannesburg’s most cherished landmarks, the Zoo Lake Bowling Club.

According to News24, the blaze broke out on Wednesday, 1 October 2025, with officials receiving a call at around 06:15. Firefighters from Fire Ops SA and the City of Johannesburg Emergency Services responded swiftly and arrived at the scene by 06:33, but by then the structure had already been engulfed in flames.

“One of our colleagues from Padel saw smoke. He immediately contacted one of our employees on site to try to get to the scene where the smoke was coming from. It just started engulfing the place. It looks like it started somewhere in the kitchen,” said Divian Cooper, the tenant renting the building from the City of Johannesburg, in an interview with News24.

According to the Citizen, 25 firefighters battled the flames, which were fueled by the building’s timber structure and ongoing renovations.

The exact cause of the fire remains unknown.

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