{{Short description|Bar or pub, originally unlicensed}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} [[File:Shebeen in Joe Slovo Park.JPG|thumb|Shebeen in [[Joe Slovo Park]], [[Cape Town]]]] A '''shebeen''' ({{langx|ga|síbín}}, "home-made whiskey") was originally an illicit [[bar (establishment)|bar]] or [[Nightclub|club]] where accessible [[alcoholic beverage]]s were sold without a licence. The term has spread far from its origins in Ireland, and is particularly common in South Africa.<ref name =sa1/><ref name =sa2/> It has also been used in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zambia,<ref>{{cite web |first1=Ulande |last1=Nkomesha |title=Most grocery stores turn into shebeens in the evenings, worries CUTS|date=23 August 2024 |accessdate=12 September 2025 |url=https://diggers.news/local/2024/08/23/most-grocery-stores-turn-into-shebeens-in-the-evenings-worries-cuts/ |website=diggers.news}}</ref> Namibia, Malawi,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mzungu |first1=Watiposo |title=Can Malawi succeed in regulating sanitation in shebeens? |url=https://mwnation.com/can-malawi-succeed-in-regulating-sanitation-in-shebeens/ |website=The Nation |date=18 November 2016 |publisher=Nation Publications Limited |accessdate=27 January 2019}}</ref> Zimbabwe, and the [[Anglophone Caribbean|English-speaking Caribbean]],<ref>Sansone, Livio. ''The Making of Suriland'', in ''Caribbean migration to Western Europe and the United States: essays on incorporation, identity, and citizenship'', Temple University Press, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-59213-954-5}}, p177</ref> including Jamaica. In modern South Africa, many shebeens are now fully legal.<ref name =sa1>{{cite web |url=http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=67816,1,22 |title=The Citizen: Liquor stores to register as liquor distributors |accessdate=2009-04-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409211150/http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=67816,1,22 |archivedate=2009-04-09 }}</ref><ref name =sa2>{{cite web |url=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=594&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060803103527865C521223 |title=News – Finance/ Labour: Zoning could legalise Western Cape shebeens |website=www.iol.co.za |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619194954/http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=594&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20060803103527865C521223 |archive-date=2009-06-19}}</ref>
==Ireland== The word ''shebeen'' derives from the Irish ''síbín'', meaning 'illicit whiskey' and was first used as far back as the late 1700s.<ref name=irishpost1>{{cite news |last1=Brent |first1=Harry |title=What is a shebeen and why are gardaí shutting them down? |url=https://www.irishpost.com/news/what-is-a-shebeen-and-why-are-gardai-shutting-them-down-195343 |access-date=24 December 2025 |work=The Irish Post |date=14 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Shebeens began popping up around Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic due to hospitality shutdowns and social distancing. [[Gardaí]] subsequently began conducting searches and raids to shut them down in late 2020.<ref name="irishpost1" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Beresford |first1=Jack |title=Gardaí shut down three illegal 'shebeens' seizing 'substantial quantities of alcohol' |url=https://www.irishpost.com/news/gardai-shut-down-three-illegal-shebeens-seizing-substantial-quantities-of-alcohol-195304 |access-date=24 December 2025 |work=The Irish Post |date=14 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
==South Africa==
Originally shebeens were operated illegally by women who were called Shebeen Queens and were themselves a revival of the African tradition that assigned the role of [[women in brewing]].<ref name="Fugard1993">{{cite book|author=Athol Fugard|title=The Township Plays: No-Good Friday; Nongogo; The Coat; Sizwe Bansi is Dead; The Island |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ybn4VLRLTMcC&pg=PA229|accessdate=9 September 2013|date=5 August 1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-282925-2|pages=229–}}</ref> The Shebeen Queens would sell [[Homebrewing|homebrewed]] and [[Moonshine|home-distilled]] alcohol and provided patrons with a place to meet and discuss political and social issues. Often, patrons and owners were arrested by the police, though the shebeens were frequently reopened because of their importance in unifying the community and providing a safe place for discussion.<ref>{{Cite book| first= Sonjah | last= Stanley-Niaah| author-link=Sonjah Stanley Niaah|title= "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto" Black Geographies and the Politics of Place | editor= Katherine McKittnick and Clyde Woods | place= Cambridge | publisher= [[South End Press]] | year= 2007}}</ref> During the [[apartheid]] era, shebeens became a crucial meeting place for activists, some attracting working-class activists and community members, while others attracted lawyers, doctors and musicians.<ref>{{cite web|author=Vusi Mona |url=http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/mg/saarts/pop-shebeens1.htm/ |title=Shebeens |accessdate=2008-02-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810101927/http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/mg/saarts/pop-shebeens1.htm |archivedate=August 10, 2007 }}</ref>
Shebeens also provided music and dancing, allowing patrons to express themselves culturally, which helped give rise to and support the musical genre [[kwaito]].<ref>{{cite news| author=Richard Poplak| url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/kwaito.html| title=Words Are Weapons | accessdate=2008-02-26| work=CBC News}}</ref> Currently,{{when|date=December 2025}} shebeens are legal in South Africa and have become an integral part of South African urban culture, serving diverse commercial beer, cider and whisky brands, as well as [[umqombothi]], a traditional [[African beer]] made from [[maize]] and [[sorghum]].{{cn|date=December 2025}} Shebeens still form an important part of today's social scene. In contemporary South Africa, they serve a function similar to [[juke joint]]s for African Americans in the rural [[Deep South]] of the US. They represent a sense of community, identity, and belonging.{{cn|date=December 2025}}
Today, most alcoholic beverages' target market is the affluent black African class (particularly male), whose persona is perceived to be educated, tied to the high end job market and a step up in the social ladder. As well as appealing to South Africa's youth, most shebeens are owned by black men. Shebeens are bouncing back as South Africans try to aspire to better economic conditions in order to preserve some of their cultural and economic affairs.<ref>Stanley-Niaah, Sonjah. "Mapping of Black Atlantic Performance Geographies: From Slave Ship to Ghetto." In Black Geographies and the Politics of Place, ed. by Katherine McKittrick and Clyde Woods, 193–217. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2007</ref>
==United States== In the [[United States]], the word ''shebeen'' saw general use by Irish immigrants who worked in the [[anthracite]] patches of [[Pennsylvania]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}
==Newfoundland== Like many traditional Irish words, ''shebeen'' has persisted in [[Newfoundland]], Canada. The ''Dictionary of Newfoundland English'' defines ''shebeen'', also ''{{Not a typo|sheebeen}}'' and ''{{not a typo|sheveen}}'', as an "unlicensed place where illicit liquor is sold."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary of Newfoundland English - shebeen |url=https://www.heritage.nf.ca/dictionary/#4089 |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador}}</ref> In the 1880s, the proliferation of shebeens was a hot topic, pitting temperance advocates against those who considered the shebeens harmless fun.{{cn|date=December 2025}}
On 5 January 1888, the ''[[Twillingate Sun]]'' reported: "A policeman entered a shebeen and found a number of persons drinking. A panic ensued, and there was a general stampede. The transgressor of the law, on being brought before the magistrate, pleaded that he was merely entertaining a few friends. The Judge duly remarked he thought it a strange way to entertain friends, when the said friends tried to hide themselves and their drinking utensils away, on the approach of a constable."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twillingate Sun 1889 January - February |url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/Newspaper-Obits/twil-sun-1889-jan-feb.shtml |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Newfoundland Grand Banks}}</ref>
In April 1898, the Chief Steward of the S.S. ''Bruce'' raged in response to a ''[[St. John's Evening Telegram]]'' story querying whether his ship was "a floating shebeen".{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
==See also== * [[Bothy]] * [[Cuca shop]] – a similar establishment in [[Namibia]] * [[List of public house topics]] * [[Speakeasy]] * [[Sly-grog shop]] (or shanty) * [[Tea house]] * [[Third place]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Drinking establishments}}
[[Category:Types of drinking establishment]] [[Category:Culture of South Africa]] [[Category:Culture of Zimbabwe]] [[Category:South African English]]