Yangon’s The Strand, a slice of colonial heaven, dress code included
The heritage hotel smacks of a BBC period drama and, while there’s no pool or gym, the restaurant will provide underdressed gents with a jacket
Let’s All Go Down the Strand, eh? If it’s Cockney music hall you want, duckie, enjoy the swim – Yangon’s about 9,000km from London.
Are we being a little sarky? Yes, in a manner of speaking ... The Strand was built by the famous Sarkies family, who provided well-heeled travellers with such colonial-era lodgings as the Eastern & Oriental, in Penang (1885), and Raffles, in Singapore (1887). When it opened in Rangoon in 1901, The Strand was on the waterfront of the third largest harbour in the Indian Empire. A lot’s changed since but the hotel hasn’t moved.
It must be pretty dusty by now ... It’s certainly had its ups and downs, including equine guests when it was used as a stable by the Japanese during the second world war. Major renovation work had reinvigorated it in the late 1980s but it definitely needed a further nip and tuck. Last May, it closed for an extensive – and expensive, but grande dames don’t discuss money – six-month refurbishment.
Is it looking good, now? Very. The hotel has managed to keep those colonial trimmings – the teak floors, the ceiling fans, the wicker chairs, the lacquerware – so favoured by directors of BBC period dramas without falling into the dreaded kitsch trap. This is a proper grown-up establishment that’s making a virtue of its heritage.