Gymkhana Horse Track Pavilion:The establishment in Galle that serves all

Much is written about Galle. What one can find about it in the literature is mostly about the Dutch Fort in the Southern Town. However, few know about one building which has become a popular hotel in Galle.

This particular building by the Galle Cricket Stadium was built by a local in the 1800s. The Galle cricket stadium was the Gymkhana Horse Race Club during the time Ceylon was a British Colony. This was built as a pavilion to view horse races and betting. Sri Lankans or Ceylonians, as Sri Lankans were known during that time, were not welcomed at the race course during that period.

Yoshan de Soyza, who is the owner of the Sydney Hotel, spoke to the Daily Mirror and elaborated on details and history about his family business.

“In 1921, my great-grandfather, J. L. Pimenda, started a bar in this building. He was catering to soldiers who came to Sri Lanka during World War 1. He called it the ‘Sydney Hotel’ because there were a large number of ships coming from Sydney, Australia, docking at Galle Fort. Later, my Grandfather, J. A. Pimenda, took over and then it was my father’s turn to run it. Finally, I took it over a year and a half ago after leaving the corporate sector.

“My years in the corporate sector gave me a foundation on how to run the hotel. It helped me develop my interpersonal skills. We had to face challenges when running the hotel. The hotel was affected by the Tsunami, during the pandemic and during the economic crisis”.

Our next question to Yoshan was what makes the Sydney Hotel special. He responded by saying, “We want to make it real, simple and authentic... Ours is a local establishment. Therefore, we want to cater to locals. However, that does not mean that hotels are out of bounds for foreigners. Foreigners are also attracted to our hotel. We have noticed that foreigners of many nationalities visit our hotel. They are attracted to the local cuisine and local drinks. We had the English cricket cheer squad, the Barmy Army. We also had Masterchef judges, Matt Preston and Gary Mehigan, visiting our hotel recently.

We also had a few events, such as the Galle Literary Festival, where a workshop on writing was conducted at our bar. We have become attractive, I think because we are affordable. We don’t inflate our prices when we see a foreign passport.

We have a bar, a pub and a restaurant where we cater to people of all social strata. We even welcome fishermen to our place. The most recent addition is the hostel. We cater to backpackers and others in this part of the hotel. The bar, pub and restaurant are open to those who stay at the hostel.

Our conversation with Yoshan then shifted towards the hospitality industry. He said the industry had picked up. However, he stressed that Sri Lanka could focus on quality more than quantity. “Sri Lanka can offer much, especially to foreign tourists. Sri Lanka can offer beaches, the chilly hill country. Then there is culture, especially when it comes to the North and, of course, historical cities. No other country can offer so much. Therefore, we should offer value to our customers,” he said.