A devastating fire tore through the Zoo Lake Bowls Club on Wednesday morning, destroying a structure that had undergone renovation worth R1.25 million.
For owner Divain Cooper, who was renting the building from the City of Johannesburg, the timing could not have been worse. He had been pouring money into extensive renovations since April.
“The unfortunate part is that I spent more than a million rand in renovations,” the owner said. “We were budgeting R2 million.”
The business was on the cusp of a grand reopening, planned for later this year, after completing 65% of its renovations.