Malcolm Wilson returns to tell the fascinating story of an historic road just a few kilometres from the Sandton CBD. He unpacks the layers and personalities associated with Panners Lane and reveals the big changes that have happened in the area over the last few decades. [Originally published in 2014)
Long before the establishment of Sandton as a municipality in 1969, the area was managed by the Transvaal Board for the Development of Peri Urban Areas. The Board developed rudimentary maps and in the absence of names for roads, designated the name Road 202 to what is now Panners Lane. The road branched off Shiel Ave (now Coleraine Drive) and became a dead end near the Braamfontein Spruit.
In the 1920s the Pilkington family ran a popular tea garden named Pilkyvale which was located in what is now Benmore. Later they bought the property located on the eastern side of Road 202. In the late 1940s the family divided the property into four smallholdings for sale to the public.
Panners Lane (The Heritage Portal)
The first stand (Riverclub Ext 5) on the corner of Shiel Ave, was bought by Hugh and Florence Walters.
The property was later bought by the Goldfields Mining Group. Various proposals for development including a hotel were considered.
The property fell into disrepair and old stables on the border of...
