“A New Beginning Without Horses”
Colombo Racecourse was a harness racing course in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. During the Second World War, it was used as a temporary airfield. In 2012 it was redeveloped as the Colombo Racecourse Sports Complex to become the first International Rugby Union ground in Sri Lanka to host all the national rugby union sides home matches.
In 2014 the ground went through a major renovation, which included installation of floodlights and the conversion of a substantial part of the grandstand into a shopping and dining complex.
It's a pleasant place to relax, and you can walk through the shade of the covered colonnades without much hustle or bustle. The pavilion where spectators used to watch horse racing from is still there.
The Colombo Racecourse was acquired by the Government and the land distributed: the grandstand became a wing of the University of Colombo for a while, the Department of National Archives was established, and several sporting clubs accommodated.
The racecourse area has been modified into an international rugby ground, which will become the main venue of the sport in the country with facilities that conform to international standards. While the spacious grandstand undergoes preservation to service future rugby spectators, an adjacent mini-pavilion, built in 1923, which housed the jockeys' rooms, stewards' rooms, inquiry rooms and betting offices, has been fully refurbished.
This pristine white building is an excellent example of British classic-style colonial architecture. It has fine ornamental detail adorning the façade, exquisite windows, and large circular skylights. Along the side facing the street there is a corridor obscured by an impressive colonnade with triple columns, of which the large racing rooms were located. Now they have been renovated into shops.
The others include the clothing shops Planet Fashion, which specialises in formal men's wear, in particular Le Bond shirts; Colours, which mostly stocks very young children's wear but also adult's clothes; and Origins, where a panoply of shoes and handbags can be found. The most curious shop is ProMate stationers, which apart from stocking an astonishing diversity of notebooks has an intriguing interior design. Finally, there is a branch of the long-established Laksala, the sales outlet of the Sri Lanka Handicrafts Board, where all conceivable Sri Lankan handicrafts and ornaments are available.
There is an extension mid-corridor with a spiral staircase that leads to the R n R restaurant with its inviting cosmopolitan menu (another restaurant, Tsing Tao, has yet to open on this floor). R n R also has a lounge bar, one further flight of steps above, which provides an excellent view of the rugby ground and allows access to the tiered seating where it will be possible to watch internationals.
It was also used by Sri Lanka's Army and Air Force. But the Racecourse, in particular the grandstand, became neglected and an eyesore of the capital. So it was decided to restore this example of colonial architectural heritage under the Government's modernisation and beautification of Colombo project, under the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry, an earlier similar example being the preservation of the Dutch Hospital at Fort and its transformation into a discerningly integrated shopping and restaurant complex.
At other times from this advantage point there is the chance to dwell on the illustrious history of the Colombo Racecourse, and enjoy the satisfaction of a visit to the capital's latest and most intriguing destination.
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