8 minute read
The Legacy
The entertaining story of how Crawford's Beach Lodge came to be.
Advertisement
Old man Crawford, or Roy should we say, was a dairy farmer in what is now Sandton in Gauteng. Clearly having enough of what was rapidly becoming a concrete jungle, he and wife Joan, decided to relocate to the coast, and in so doing bought the Glengarrif Hotel, along the Eastern Cape coastline, in 1964.
The Glengarrif Hotel became one of the "hot spot" hotels along this coastline and became famous, or perhaps infamous depending on who you talk to, for its weekend disco’s hosted by Roy’s son, Ian. Tragedy struck in 1975 when the hotel burnt down and with Old Man Crawford never being one for great admin skills, all was lost for the family as the proper insurance cover was not in place.
With an astute eye for a bargain, the Crawford's family put down R15 000 as a deposit on a piece of seaside farm land in Chintsa East in 1976, that consisted of a main farmhouse and four cottages that were being used as chicken hoks.
This particular piece of land however had been repossessed and on arriving at the property, Ian was met with a couple warning shots and a friendly greeting from the previous owner, “Ek sal jou doodskiet, jou donder se Engelsman”,
Roy and Joan then opened a simple self-catering resort, and the iconic "Crawford's Cabins" was born.
During ths time, Ian and Lyn took up positions managing Trennery’s Hotel between 1976 and 1980, and then Umngazi River Bungalows between 1980 and 1988. In those days, most of the Wild Coast hotels were owned by the Transkei Development Corporation as the Transkei was an independent state. Ian took the income he made at these hotels to send home to Roy, to develop Crawford's Cabins. On one occasion Ian and Roy decided to spend R20 000 on the swimming pool and Pansy Cottage. Joan was furious that they had spent so much. As it turned out, it could have been the best investment they made, as they are the few remaining structures still in their original state.
Once the pool was built, Roy started the tradition of braaing prawns around the pool on a Saturday evening... and the legacy of the Saturday Seafood Extravaganza had begun!
n 1988, Ian and Lyn decided to relocate to Chintsa as they now had 2 sons in Komga School near East London and they felt a tad isolated, so they bought out Roy and Joan and proceeded to upgrade the resort.
Joan & Roy
It was during this time they built the Crawford's Restaurant and Bar, which for many holiday makers and locals, became an institution of a generation, and was instrumental in putting Chintsa East on the map.
At Lyn’s 40th birthday celebration, a local resident from the Chintsa village, decided that he would go toe to toe with the male stripper hired for the celebration. It ended with Dougie falling on top of the bands drum set. Ian and Lyn had made their mark on the business.
The old bar
Lyn & Ian
Around the early 1990’s there was turmoil in the Transkei that affected tourism along the coastline to such an extent that many Wild Coast hotels had to be temporarily closed down. The pinch was definitely felt in Chintsa too and Ian and Lyn devised a strategy to sub-divide and section off the cottages to sell on. By 1997 all the cottages as well as the restaurant were sold off to individual owners.
Before all this happened though, Roy Crawford had passed away suddenly in 1992. Roy was a popular man in the village, and was dubbed one of “the 3 crazy Scots that had founded Chintsa”, the other two being old man Campbell and old man Cairns of Cefani.
Known for his floral shirts and charisma, Roy was quite the character, he loved his guests and loved to entertain them, just as long as you were nice, because if you weren't, he'd have no qualms about showing you the way out.
Roy had always maintained that he never wanted a funeral, but Ian decided to host one for him anyway. It was a beautiful ceremony with the Crawford's staff standing and singing on the deck, when all of a sudden, the entire deck collapsed with all the staff on it.
There were no injuries thankfully, but Ian still wonders if that was a final word from Roy not to disobey his wishes.
More tragedy struck...
More tragedy struck In September 1998. The restaurant caught alight and burnt down along with a few cottages within the resort. Unfortunately the owners at the time, decided not to rebuild.
New beginnings...
The restaurant site sat vacant for many years and as a result the dynamic of the resort changed. It became more of a private holiday home estate and the name changed from Crawford's Cabins to Chintsa Chalets.
In December of 2002, Ian and Lyn Crawford, after falling on hard times and having suffered some ill health decided to re-establish themselves in Chintsa. They were able to muster up a bond of R260 000 and bought one cottage within Chintsa Chalets. They then decided they wanted to revive Crawford's Cabins.
Initially they started to manage and rent the privately owned cottages. They did so with relative success and built up enough capital to start buying back several of the units. In 2006 Ian and Lyn decided to convert a cottage into 6 hotel rooms and convert the living area of their own residence into a dining room. Crawford's now offered B&B and meals for guests again. This was essentially the birth of Crawford's Beach Lodge.
Crawford's Beach Lodge current day
By 2008 Ian and Lyn had been joined in the company by their two sons; Justin, the elder, and Mark, the younger brother. They had completed their studies and done stints overseas in the UK. Things were not easy at the time as another global recession had taken hold, so there was again talk of selling the business, as Justin had also shown an interest in farming.
A decision was made not to sell, but rather to try set up a second business, in the form of a farm for Justin, and carry on growing Crawford's. After some time in the farming business, Justin and his wife, Brenda started a self-catering business in Underberg, which is a favourite stay over spot for tourists, who visit the Drankensberg Mountains and Sani Pass.
A little bit of luck transpired when Ian was offered the property where the old restaurant used to be situated and they had the idea to build, what are now the Dolphin Rooms at Crawford's. This decision proved to be a masterstroke, as it elevated Crawford's into a new league and this was when they officially decided to change the name from Crawford's Cabins, to Crawford's Beach Lodge.
In 2011, Lyn and Ian decided to hand over some of the reins at Crawford's to son Mark, as they felt it was time for some fresh ideas and for the legacy to live on, as the 3rd Generation of Crawford's now took the helm.
Granny Joan, as she was affectionately known, unfortunately passed away in January 2012 after a Christmas with her family, and a few months after her 89th birthday, but not before being able to be a great grandmother to Marks twins, Tayla & Joshua who were born in 2011 and living at the lodge. She was a lady with a real zest for life and a feisty personality. Right until the end she managed walks on the beach and refused assistance to get back up the stairs.
It's not difficult to understand the generational success after listening to a story like that, and I have been assured that "I dont know the half of it"! I have my own childhood memories growing up in Chintsa West from the age of 5, and the communities from across the country that would converge in these welcoming coastal villages every year, meant you had holiday brothers and sisters that you got to grow up with and jol together every Christmas.
As 16yr olds we would walk 25min across the beach and sneak in to the old Crawford's Cabins pub, where our favourite barman, Kingswood, would always serve us a cold hunters gold. The river mouth used to flow back then and many a time we would get caught on the high tide, having to cross kalgat through waist deep water, but don't tell our parents that, because we told them we were playing pool at the rec centre... definitely not sinking Fanta Browns at the Cabins!
The Dolphin Rooms
So 25yrs later here we are, my daughter of 3 is growing up like I did, connected to the Wild Coast, and a welcomed new addition to the growing list of Crawford's guests who become family. For those of you who have visited this hotel right on the beach, you'll already know... for those of you who haven't... you just don't know what you're missing!
