In Galle, delve into some fascinating history with a side of arrack shots and kothu at Sydney Hotel

Walking into Joe’s Pub in Galle, Sri Lanka, feels like travelling back in time. The glass tables, covered with chequered bright-green tablecloths, must have seen many pints of beer, shots of arrack, and rounds of steaming hot plates of kothu over the years. It is the promise of a local bar experience that takes us outside the walls of Galle Fort to Sydney Hotel, where Joe’s Pub is. The hotel building stands tall right outside the fort, and is a slice of formidable history, located right next to the Galle bus stop, surrounded by fruit shops, lottery ticket stalls, snack vendors and more. Operational since 1921, Sydney Hotel is probably the oldest-functioning bar in Galle, now run by the fourth generation of the same family. Yoshan’s family at the bar, in a photograph from the mid-1960s | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement At Joe’s Pub, we are sandwiched between two distinctly different spaces - on one side is the Sydney Arrack Bar, an old-fashioned standing bar with a long counter, a grilled partition and a few scattered tables; on the other side is the modern, recently revamped, 1921 by Sydney Galle restaurant. Joe’s seems like the appropriate mid-point. There is also a fourth space; Snooz Station, a premium travellers hostel on the first floor. Yoshan De Zoysa introduces himself as the fourth-generation owner of the hotel. He hands us a menu with their “Signature sips”. “I do not like calling these drinks, cocktails,” he chuckles. From the menu at Joe’s Pub | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement But first, we partake in a history session. “In the 1800s, the building was constructed by a local who wanted to see the races at what is now known as the Galle International Cricket Stadium. He wasn’t allowed by the British to enter the Gymkhana horse track club to watch the races, and decided to build his own space with a great view,” says Yoshan. Fast-forward to 1921, and his great-grandfather JL Pimanda took over the building soon after the first World War was over. The harbour at Galle then was bustling with activity. “There were many soldeirs and sailors, and many of their ships docking into the harbour had ‘Sydney’ emblazoned on the hull. My great-grandfather decided it would be fitting to start a bar, and thus the name as well,” Yoshan says. The family, over the next few decades, made part of the building its home with the bar and later, a restaurant and rooms for guests. In the 1960s and 70s, post-Independence, arrack began to get popular and Yoshan says this was the time when people switched to this local liquor. “I have heard that we used to have six barmen just to keep pouring these drinks for the crowds that kept coming in. We were probably the only bar in this area and we had people travelling distances just to have a drink here,” he adds, narrating stories that he has heard from his family, especially of long queues outside their...

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