Kelani Valley Club

[2] The club gradually grew from a conventional meeting place to be the centre of fashionable social life, relaxation, entertainment and interaction amongst the British Raj and planters alike.

The Kelani Valley Club was originally established as a single-storied thatched-roof clubhouse in 1884 and remained so until the 1900s when local planters took over the management.

It still retains an authentic Ceylonese-British architectural outlook, in spite of the detrimental 1947 and 1989 floods that rampaged through the low-lying zones and at one point submerged the club.

[3] Also remaining is the elegant teak bar which, as legend recalls, was originally transported by raft down the Kelani River from the Grand Oriental Hotel in Colombo.

[5] The club's motto is Usque Ad Tertium Diem meaning All the way to the Third Day, an apparent reference to drinking sessions that would begin on Friday, continue following rugby matches on Saturday, and finishing with picnicking on Sunday.

In 1997 the KV Club grounds and the pavilion were taken over by the Urban Development Authority (UDA),[1] who have plans to construct a modern sports stadium on the land.