Tabletalk (Cape Town)
Cape Town newspaper
Tabletalk (formerly Table Talk and Table Talk & Mail, founded 1987, is a weekly local newspaper in the West Coast region of Cape Town, South Africa. It is published once a week by Cape Community Newspapers, a division of Independent Newspapers Cape. The newspaper is distributed free to West Coast suburbs including Milnerton, Table View, Bloubergstrand, West Beach, Parklands, Sunset Beach and Big Bay.
History
Tabletalk was founded by Milnerton resident Heather Brenner under the name Table Talk in February 1987. She had no previous experience in journalism. In June 1988, it was bought by Unicorn Publishing, who merged it with the Milnerton Mail under the title of Table Talk & Mail. In 1991, Unicorn Publishing was purchased by the Argus Group, which was itself purchased by Independent Newspapers in 1996. In the mid-1990s, the paper's title was reverted to its original title under the spelling Tabletalk. Brenner was the paper's sole journalist until her retirement in 2005.
“Tabletalk (Cape Town)” enters the record as cape Town newspaper. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tabletalk, Cape and Town can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tabletalk (Cape Town)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tabletalk, Cape and Town provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7673172. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1996.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tabletalk (Cape Town)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tabletalk (Cape Town) primary sources, Tabletalk (Cape Town) archive and Tabletalk research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tabletalk (Cape Town)”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tabletalk (Cape Town)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.