After months of delays, one of the iconic landmarks of Sea Point’s skyline is finally reopening to the public this week.
In addition to clearing the Ritz Hotel of asbestos, hotel management also had to replace the motor on the revolving restaurant – which involved bringing in a specialist from Germany to make sure the engineering was certified.
It is one of only two revolving restaurants in the country, the other one being at Durban harbour.
Lisa Carey, marketing and PR manager at the Ritz, said they were very excited about re-opening. “You’ve got lots of staff who’ve been here for 20 years as well as a lot of new staff. It’s the most incredible thing to see this project come together after such a long time. To reinvent an icon after 45 years is also very a very exciting thing. It’s been a staple of this area and of the skyline for 45 years.”
Ms Carey added that it was the only revolving restaurant in the Western Cape.
“One of the challenges was repairs to the revolving restaurant. There was no one in South Africa who could certify it. They had to apply to someone in Germany. The view is everything,”she said. “We’ve had teams here working through the night to finish it to make this happen. It’s been closed for a year and we are just hoping to become part of the neighbourhood again.”
