Baillie Street Merchants was a concealed speakeasy bar in Colombo, entered discreetly through a functioning coffee shop and unlocked daily by a changing code.

Designed by Annika Fernando (AF Design), the interior combined restrained luxury with hand-finished textured walls inspired by traditional Tuscan plasterwork. The space balanced intimacy and drama—low light, deep tones, and precise detailing—creating an atmosphere that unfolded gradually as guests moved through the rooms.

Though the venue closed during the Covid period, the interior remains widely remembered as one of Colombo’s most distinctive bar spaces of its time.

Photographed by Sandun de Silva