“RIP Our Beloved Pink Elephant”: Boksburg Says Goodbye to Their Beloved Landmark

• The iconic pink elephant outside the former Pink Elephant Liquor Store in Boksburg North is no more
• The beloved landmark had served as a community meeting point and navigation reference for Boksburg North residents for decades
• Residents flooded the comments mourning the loss, with many sharing personal memories tied to the pink elephant

Boksburg North residents took to social media to mourn the loss of one of their most recognisable landmarks. The @Boksburg North Facebook page shared photos on 27 March 2026 of what remains of the former Pink Elephant Liquor Store. The building was destroyed by a horrible fire in the early hours of 17 December 2025. Unfortunately, this brought a long chapter of local history to a painful end. The cause of the fire remains unknown, and it is not yet clear whether the building will be rebuilt.

The pink elephant that stood outside the store on the corner of Trichardts and Cason roads was far more than just a shop sign. For decades, it was one of Boksburg North's most loved landmarks. The store opened in the early 1980s under the ownership of Portuguese brothers Tony and Ralph Farrinha, and was remembered by former staff as a warm and community-focused workplace.

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Linda Blignaut, who worked there from the early 80s to 1990, described it as her first job. She said that it was one where the owners' wives would cook lunch for staff, and the whole place felt more like family than work. The pink elephant itself was crafted by a man from Brakpan and became the store's trademark.

The Boksburg North page questioned whether the area would ever be cleaned up.

View the Facebook post here.

Boksburg residents mourn the pink elephant

People shared their grief and frustration in the comments section on the Facebook page @Boksburg North:

@Maylene Tiervlei said:

"Sometimes I would tell taxi drivers I am getting off at the pink elephant. Now I can't anymore 😭"

@Rynard Doherty added:

"My father, mother and grandmother always spoke about the pink elephant."

@Nicky George wrote:

"Our icon has gone. Did pink Dumbo make it to a museum, or was it burnt and destroyed in the fire?"

@Carol Mendes shared:

"So sad. Jumbo Liquor Market Boksburg was owned by my late dad in those years. The way life has changed 🥲"

@Preciuos Mokgabudi said:

"Even for directions, it was simple with the pink elephant."

@Bru No simply wrote:

"Boksburg is gone."

@Dudley James joked:

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"Let's see what gets restored first, the bottle store or the sinkhole on Ronderbolt."

More fires making headlines

• Briefly News recently reported on a TikTok video showing township residents carrying on as normal while a house nearby burned down.
• A Limpopo woman was sentenced to seven years in prison for burning down her former lover's home in a jealous rage.
• A Johannesburg father shared a chilling account of the morning his daughter's school caught fire.

Source: Briefly News