Carlton Tower

"Two weeks later, Sol was back at the Carlton Tower to offer me a job as personnel director of Southern Sun. He explained that he had started a fledgling hotel company, but his goal was to develop a chain of resorts across South Africa and beyond. He needed a man who knew where to find – and how to attract – quality hotel management, and he believed that man was me. I was taken aback by the offer. I thanked Sol for his interest but politely explained that I had no intention of leaving my current managerial job and no interest in working in South Africa."

"What Sol and Barry created at the Landdrost was remarkable, especially considering that the basic structure had not been designed as a hotel. As usual, Sol was not shy to copy a good idea. The restaurant, Barnato’s, was a knock-off of the Rib Room at the Carlton Tower in London, with a brilliant innovation: a special dining table set up under a chandelier in the heart of the kitchen. Recognising the power of celebrity, Sol set out to position the Landdrost as the hotel of choice for the rich and famous in Joburg. He loaded the new hotel with sumptuously decorated suites and a fabulous nightclub, cheekily called Annabel’s after London’s celebrity-packed disco nightclub. Annabel’s boasted columns around the dance floor that, when the cabaret acts appeared, miraculously disappeared into the glass ceiling."