I can’t give it stars because I’ve never stayed there, but it’s included in our HOTELS section because it had such an impact on me – and it recently reopened after a two-year renovation that cost so much they won’t put a figure on it.

I was in Singapore with my then boyfriend (this was years before I met Colin). I was travelling with him on his way home to Sarawak after his 10-year stay in England for his education. A Singapore Sling at Raffles was on my list, but in fact I fell in love with the Long Bar and the whole atmosphere of the hotel.

I was starry-eyed and the staff didn’t disappoint; the barman posted a postcard I wrote to my mum and dad while I was drinking my cocktail, which I found in their attic many years later when I helped them to move house.

The famous Sikh doormen, in their immaculate white uniforms, spent ages talking to me, and one of the receptionists took me upstairs for a sneaky peek at one of the rooms.

The thing I remembered about the Long Bar was the feeling that you could stay all evening and just make yourself at home.

Fast forward quite a few decades, and Colin took me to Singapore – just a short hop from where we live in Hong Kong – for a much more advanced birthday.

Raffles was, of course, on our list and we duly had a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar. Except this time around, the place was packed and the advent of the mobile phone camera had turned it into a bit of a zoo.

The luxurious old wicker chairs had been replaced with garden furniture, and some of the tables were reserved as parties of people kept arriving. And it might be my imagination, because I can’t verify this, but I think the bar had moved.

However, the star of the evening was my birthday dinner in the Tiffin Room, and as soon as we walked into the hotel lobby I felt the atmosphere that I remembered from all those years ago. The friendly doormen, the smell of wood polish and an air of quiet luxury were all still there.

It wasn’t until the waiters brought me a small birthday cake that we all got chatting, and then we realised we’d made it to Raffles just in time. The hotel was shutting two or three weeks later for a total renovation, and the waiters would all need to find new jobs!

They seemed incredibly relaxed and cheerful about it, and the meal was about as good Indian food as you’d find anywhere. To top it off, as a surprise Colin (who paid for this treat in full) chose a Chapel Down sparkling to toast my old age, produced a few miles down the road from where I grew up in Kent, England.

Raffles is one of those hotels that you can visit almost like you would a stately home; steeped in history, it’s a National Monument and every corridor and verandah is deliciously designed.

And it was lucky enough to have a barman in 1915 who realised ladies were frowned upon if they were seen knocking back alcohol in public. So, bless him, he made the famous cocktail a long drink in a delicate pink colour so it looked like a harmless thirst-quencher. For some strange reason, it took off straightaway.

So there it is, my Raffles story. I won’t recommend a hotel I’ve never stayed in, but it’s pretty much one of the great hotels of the world. I’m just hoping the renovation hasn’t taken away any of its old charm. Some things should never change too much.

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