Masjidul Jamiah Road, Colombo 2
This place has closed down
The Castle Hotel is the finest of dodgy bars.
The Castle Hotel is the finest of dodgy bars. This is an active working class bar in a beautiful, crumbling and soon to be demolished building in Slave Island. It's worth visiting while it's still around, but please read on so you know what you're getting into.
This is actually an old picture of the location. Castle Hotel (in the center) is still standing but everything to the right of it (your left) has been demolished. TATA is building a residential/commercial properties there and the Castle Hotel, also, will be demolished soon, we think in about a year.
We will miss the place. The building has been around since the 1800s, being named the Castle Hotel in 1875. It has the solid simple architecture of that time period. Everything is roughly symmetrical, there are two big halls on either side and a staircase right up the middle which splits into two as you climb. It's a beautiful structure.
The building, however, is not very well maintained. It's actually crumbling and rot is seeping through the walls. The Castle Hotel has a good soul, but the body is ancient and falling apart.
Note that this place isn't especially clean (though it isn't dirty). There's usually a cat roaming around, sometimes thrown paper on the floor and it can smell like sweat and get a bit loud.
The Castle Hotel is an actively working class bar. They serve mainly arrack and beer (you may find local gin or brandy, but this really isn't the place to have a cocktail). We didn't note down the prices cause we never use a menu here. The prices here are basically as cheap as a bar gets. We ordered three rounds of arrack and beer for Rs. 900 among two people, along with soda and ginger beer chasers.
They also do nice chili fries and deviled bites for Rs. 200 and up.
This place won't hit your wallet much as it's meant for the cheapest of cheap drinkers.
Solomon (ask for him) is a young waiter here and he's always smiling and quite charming. The other waiters are quite functional and at this sort of place they serve you efficiently and fast.
Note that the clientele here is usually 100% male. You can come here as a mixed group safely and, indeed, we know women that come here alone, but you would attract attention. They get a fair amount of tourists so we'd say it's safe, but it may feel uncomfortable for ladies.
The Castle Hotel is a beautiful building with an exceedingly simple and cheap bar inside. It's not especially clean or well-maintained, but the great charm to the place, especially since it will be bulldozed very soon.
The Castle Hotel is our favorite dodgy bar, a great place to have a cheap drink in a historic building while listening to drunken baila
The Castle Hotel is a beautiful building with an exceedingly simple and cheap bar inside. It's not especially clean or well-maintained, but the great charm to the place, especially since it will be bulldozed very soon.
The Castle Hotel is the finest of dodgy bars. It is housed in a beautifully ageing on Castle Street, near the Slave Island railway station. The windows have colored glass tiles and everything is a beautiful Matrix green or fading orange. Drinks, also, are cheap and the bites are usually excellent.
සිංහල කාසල් හෝටලය තමයි පහළ මට්ටමේ බාර් අතර හොඳම එක. එය පිහිටා තිබෙන්නේ සුන්දර, පැරණි කාසල් වීදියේ කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදිය දුම්රියපොළ අසල. එහි ජනෙල් වීදුරු වර්ණවත්. හැමදෙයක්ම කොළ හෝ මළානික තැඹිලි පාට රටාවෙන් යුක්තයි. මෙහි බීම ලාභයි. කටගැස්ම ඉස්තරම්.
Address
Masjidul Jamiah Road, Colombo 2
Directions
From Galle Face Roundabout, go up Macan Markar Mw, over the canal and turn left immediately after the rail tracks. From Colombo 7, head down Union Place, go straight at the junction and turn right before the trail tracks.
Report InaccuracyThis place has closed down
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Vindya
I really enjoyed the way it was written. made me laugh!
imy_izz
lol :D
the review just rocks… ''not a good place to take girls'' haha :D
KasunG
this is just an arrack spot every type of drunkards, Cheep price! not the place for a date ! ;)
DavidBlacker
i think this place has closed. maybe you should check and update the review.
indi YAMU STAFF
It isn't closed, not yet
Akbar
Its a beautiful structure from the outside and a pc of history that will succumb to some massive and gaudy (indian) real-estate dev or the other.
Had it been properly maintained and doing decent business it would have attained some real iconic status to warrant at least its own survival no matter what conglomerate local or multinational set its sights on the surrounds.
There is no way fwd for keeping something in a prime location in such a junk state and hoping that no one will ever notice.
We march on in the name of progress!
Thilak
The owners are entirely to blame. They could have easily found an investor who was willing to restore the building and market/promote it for what it really is (there is no other way forward with heritage buildings) and instead chose to maintain it like junk in the name of "tradition." Long may Castle rest in peace. Although with today's government, it may not be demolished any time soon.
Madushan
9th October 2015 read this review and wanted to go to a cheap place for a drink with my buddy. With the latest tax increase on alcohol budget is pretty tight. Ordered lion strong beer. Well chilled so nothing to complain. Ordered the mixed grill 990rs. UNBELIEVABLE! Plenty of beef, pork, cuttlefish, fish, jumbo sausages sliced, chicken. Surprisingly with a side plate of French fries dusted with salt and chillies. I'm a hearty meat eater but sadly I'm finding it difficult to finish this mixed grill with my friend. This is DEFINITELY going to be my New found watering hole.
Ishan Abeyagoonesekera
Lecturer in Tourism & Hospitality
Madushan Jayathilake
It is called the laaba bar(cheap bar) by the local daily crowd. Yes it is noisy. Your might need a PA system to talk to your neighbour chair. But something awesome is their MIXED GRILL that you should try out. 900grams of awesomeness on a sizzling platter for 990 rupees.Yes I mean it. No one will imagine that a place like that offers a sizzling platter. Consecutively four days I could not finish it with my friend. One day even with three. I vist that place specially for that. Facts : it's a 140 year old property which is not well maintained. Cheers……
kottu_roti
I thought of adding some comments on the subject since this place holds some great memories for me and a bunch of guys who in our youth (yes, I'm almost 50!) were probably the pioneers to visit this place as even back then (90's) it was a gritty workmens club with most who frequented were well past their "sell by" date!! So happy that some others have followed in our footsteps to truly savor the character of the joint and the no-nonsense straight up service. Now i'm domiciled overseas but follow the social scene in SL in the hopes I would soon return for good. So sad that we as Sri Lankans only consider archaeological sites as worthy of preserving. Slave Island has great character and sub-culture that is so unique. I can attest to it having spent almost all of my professional life working in the vicinity. I was a trainee at a leading audit firm and then at a pioneering IT firm within stones throw. Finally, Castle also made a fabulous lunch curry with humongous portion sizes befitting the voracious appetites we had as school leavers.