Shebeen

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Shebeen in Joe Slovo Park, Cape Town

A shebeen (Irish: síbín, "home-made whiskey") was originally an illicit bar or club where accessible alcoholic beverages were sold without a licence. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, and is particularly common in South Africa.[1][2] It has also been used in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zambia,[3] Namibia, Malawi,[4] Zimbabwe, and the English-speaking Caribbean,[5] including Jamaica. In modern South Africa, many shebeens are now fully legal.[1][2]

Ireland

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The word shebeen derives from the Irish síbín, meaning 'illicit whiskey' and was first used as far back as the late 1700s.[6] Shebeens began popping up around Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic due to hospitality shutdowns and social distancing. Gardaí subsequently began conducting searches and raids to shut them down in late 2020.[6][7]

South Africa

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Originally shebeens were operated illegally by women who were called Shebeen Queens and were themselves a revival of the African tradition that assigned the role of women in brewing.[8] The Shebeen Queens would sell homebrewed and home-distilled alcohol and provided patrons with a place to meet and discuss political and social issues. Often, patrons and owners were arrested by the police, though the shebeens were frequently reopened because of their importance in unifying the community and providing a safe place for discussion.[9] During the apartheid era, shebeens became a crucial meeting place for activists, some attracting working-class activists and community members, while others attracted lawyers, doctors and musicians.[10]

Shebeens also provided music and dancing, allowing patrons to express themselves culturally, which helped give rise to and support the musical genre kwaito.[11] Currently,[when?] shebeens are legal in South Africa and have become an integral part of South African urban culture, serving diverse commercial beer, cider and whisky brands, as well as umqombothi, a traditional African beer made from maize and sorghum.[citation needed] Shebeens still form an important part of today's social scene. In contemporary South Africa, they serve a function similar to juke joints for African Americans in the rural Deep South of the US. They represent a sense of community, identity, and belonging.[citation needed]

Today, most alcoholic beverages' target market is the affluent black African class (particularly male), whose persona is perceived to be educated, tied to the high end job market and a step up in the social ladder. As well as appealing to South Africa's youth, most shebeens are owned by black men. Shebeens are bouncing back as South Africans try to aspire to better economic conditions in order to preserve some of their cultural and economic affairs.[12]

United States

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In the United States, the word shebeen saw general use by Irish immigrants who worked in the anthracite patches of Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

Newfoundland

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Like many traditional Irish words, shebeen has persisted in Newfoundland, Canada. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English defines shebeen, also sheebeen and sheveen, as an "unlicensed place where illicit liquor is sold."[13] In the 1880s, the proliferation of shebeens was a hot topic, pitting temperance advocates against those who considered the shebeens harmless fun.[citation needed]

On 5 January 1888, the Twillingate Sun reported: "A policeman entered a shebeen and found a number of persons drinking. A panic ensued, and there was a general stampede. The transgressor of the law, on being brought before the magistrate, pleaded that he was merely entertaining a few friends. The Judge duly remarked he thought it a strange way to entertain friends, when the said friends tried to hide themselves and their drinking utensils away, on the approach of a constable."[14]

In April 1898, the Chief Steward of the S.S. Bruce raged in response to a St. John's Evening Telegram story querying whether his ship was "a floating shebeen".[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "The Citizen: Liquor stores to register as liquor distributors". Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
  2. ^ a b "News – Finance/ Labour: Zoning could legalise Western Cape shebeens". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 19 June 2009.
  3. ^ Nkomesha, Ulande (23 August 2024). "Most grocery stores turn into shebeens in the evenings, worries CUTS". diggers.news. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  4. ^ Mzungu, Watiposo (18 November 2016). "Can Malawi succeed in regulating sanitation in shebeens?". The Nation. Nation Publications Limited. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  5. ^ Sansone, Livio. The Making of Suriland, in Caribbean migration to Western Europe and the United States: essays on incorporation, identity, and citizenship, Temple University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59213-954-5, p177
  6. ^ a b Brent, Harry (14 October 2020). "What is a shebeen and why are gardaí shutting them down?". The Irish Post. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  7. ^ Beresford, Jack (14 October 2020). "Gardaí shut down three illegal 'shebeens' seizing 'substantial quantities of alcohol'". The Irish Post. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  8. ^ Athol Fugard (5 August 1993). The Township Plays: No-Good Friday; Nongogo; The Coat; Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island. Oxford University Press. pp. 229–. ISBN 978-0-19-282925-2. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  9. ^ Stanley-Niaah, Sonjah (2007). Katherine McKittnick and Clyde Woods (ed.). "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto" Black Geographies and the Politics of Place. Cambridge: South End Press.
  10. ^ Vusi Mona. "Shebeens". Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  11. ^ Richard Poplak. "Words Are Weapons". CBC News. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  12. ^ Stanley-Niaah, Sonjah. "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto." In Black Geographies and the Politics of Place, ed. by Katherine McKittrick and Clyde Woods, 193–217. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2007
  13. ^ "Dictionary of Newfoundland English - shebeen". Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Twillingate Sun 1889 January - February". Newfoundland Grand Banks. Retrieved 15 February 2024.