Cafés in Fort & Pettah

The Dutch Hospital and Hospital Street

The Old Colombo Dutch Hospital is believed to have stood since 1681 and is considered the oldest building in Fort; its five wings enclose two courtyards.¹ It later housed the Colombo Apothecaries, served as Fort’s police station from the early 1980s into the 1990s, and was badly damaged in the attack that followed the 1996 Central Bank bombing.¹

Restored, it reopened in December 2011 as a shopping and dining precinct with 12 commercial spaces, and a second two-story block behind it, bordering Chatham Street, followed in June 2013.² HarposColombo Fort Cafe is at 62/6 Hospital Lane, Kafenio Colombo at 32 Hospital Street, and Java Lounge has a branch at 7 Hospital Street.

Chatham Street, from the Pagoda Tea Rooms to Radicle

Chatham Street ends at the Clock Tower, which was 158 years old in 2015, and the Dutch Hospital stands just behind it.³ Its oldest eatery, the Pagoda Tea Rooms in the De Mel Building, opened in 1884 and is known for rice and curry, cream buns and pineapple gateaux; Duran Duran filmed part of the “Hungry Like the Wolf” video there.³ Colombo Café was already one of the street’s lunch stops in 2015.³ The Colombo Cafe is still on Chatham Street.

The newest arrival is Radicle, opened in 2025 by Mahesh Alkegama at the back of an art gallery, in a historic building where Duran Duran also filmed. He set it up as a platform for local artists and a way to promote Sri Lankan coffee.⁴ It has Wi-Fi and outdoor seats. Divide Speciality Coffee and Matcha has a Fort branch nearby as well as its café on Ward Place.

Pettah: Old Moor Street and the Floating Market

Pettah is one of the busiest commercial districts in Sri Lanka, a maze of wholesale and retail streets around the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque, the Khan Clock Tower, the Cross Street bazaars and the Central Bus Station. Moors, Bohras and Memons are its largest communities.⁵

The Beans Coffee Roastery, at 24 Old Moor Street, buys arabica from Uva and Central Province, cleans, grades and hand-sorts it, roasts in small batches for espresso, filter and milk drinks, and tastes each batch over two days before it is packed.⁶

In October 2026 a 250 g bag of its Daily Grind medium-dark roast was on sale at Rs 2,990, down from Rs 3,250, ground to order.⁷ The shop opens Monday to Saturday 09:00–18:00 and closes from 12:00 to 13:30 on Fridays. Caroma Elite is at the Floating Market on Beira Lake.

Getting to Fort and Pettah

Colombo Fort railway station, built on land reclaimed from Beira Lake next to both districts, is the main rail gateway to central Colombo and the terminus of most intercity trains. The Main Line and the Coastal Line run through it, and it handles about 73 million passengers a year.⁸ Barista’s Fort branch is at 1 Bank of Ceylon Road.