Hill Club is a private club, open to the public only when "not in use" by members. British colonial history adorne the building walls; the general mood is very much of colonial Ceylon, when the Hill Club was "strictly" men's and white's only until the 1960's. A time when the main question "room boys" (room butler) would ask at night would be "Sir, would you like a hot water bottle with ears?". I'll leave it to your imagination! Thankfully times have changed, well and truly for the better, women no longer have to enter via the side entrance and natives (Sri Lankan's) can actually join the club without having to play at being subservient servents.
The Hill Club is well worth a visit to re-live history and see how Ceylon was not so long ago. Experience hot water bottles (without ears), brandy by the fire, billiards in the afternoon and perhaps reval in the classic old "men's only bar" strangely adorned with photographs of Sir Robert Menzies and the Queen. As tradition dictates men must wear jacket and tie after 7pm. The club provides loan jacket and tie circa 1942 "do yourself a favour ask for the purple suede jacket?". Food is "tres ordinaire" as is much of the service. This is still a stuffie old club, not a hotel. The Hill Club is a very pleasant place to stay, very-affordable, well looked after and conveniently located next to the Nuwara Eliya golf club. If you have the time and inclination ask the General manager if you can take a peak at the old complaints book, dating back over a 100 years. He keeps it in his safe these days! It's a great laugh to read men in clubs were just as non-sensical (bluntly "stupid") a 100 years ago as they perhaps are today; "honestly who complains about vegetables planted in the front garden and women seen entering through the front door"; long live the experience: in limitation! It's well worth staying here to understand what Sri Lanka as a country has been through!
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