Six Cocktail Bar

Six Cocktail Bar is one of the longest-standing bars on 7th Street, the main road through Melville, a bohemian suburb west of the centre close to the University of Johannesburg's Auckland Park campus. It has been a fixture of the street for years and is often described as a Melville institution, popular with students, young professionals and locals who have been coming for a long time.

The menu runs to dozens of cocktails, from classics to sweet, playful house creations, with favourites including the Excitabull and the June Bug. A daily two-for-one cocktail happy hour runs from midday until 19:00, which makes Six one of the best-value places in the city for a drink. The music is mostly old-school hip hop and R&B, played at a level that still lets you talk, and the kitchen serves food until late.

The bar suits groups of friends, students and anyone wanting a relaxed, inexpensive evening, and it makes a good starting point for a night along 7th Street, which has a cluster of bars, restaurants and cafés within a few blocks. It is casual and unfussy rather than a polished cocktail lounge, so come for the atmosphere and the prices rather than mixology.

Six opens daily from 12:00 until 02:00, with the kitchen closing at 01:00. Weekends are the busiest time. Call ahead if you are coming as a large group.

Because the happy hour runs from midday until 19:00, Six is a good first stop before dinner elsewhere on 7th Street. Melville's bars are close together, so it is easy to try two or three in one evening and still head home by ride-hailing car. Ask the bartenders about their current favourites from the long list, as the menu has dozens of options.

Melville is one of the city's most walkable nightlife areas, but as anywhere in Johannesburg, keep your belongings close, stay on the busy part of the street and use a ride-hailing app to get home late at night. During the day, combine a visit to Melville with a Sunday morning walk on Melville Koppies or a look around 44 Stanley, which is a short drive away.