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Tipplers at London's newest drinking hole will be politely asked to leave after only 45 minutes. And they will go, because the atmosphere is far from warm and cosy. The temperature is maintained at between 17F and 23F (-5C to -8C).
In the never-ending quest for novelty, a small corner of central London becomes a small corner of Lapland next Saturday with the opening of Britain's first "ice bar".
Lisa Baker peers at Nigel Reynolds through a wall of ice
It is a craze that has not caught on yet - as nobody other than Viscount Rothermere, who orders a temporary ice bar to be built at Claridges for his Christmas parties, appears to have thought much of them before.
But its backers hope that it will become a new fad and that before long bar-hoppers in the smartest cities of Europe will be standing around in sub-zero cellars, behaving like back-slapping Lapps, swapping great jokes about reindeer and igloos while knocking back vodka.
The fixtures and fittings of London's new nightspot - called the Absolut IceBar, a joint operation between Sweden's state-owned Absolut Vodka and the Ice Hotel, an outfit that constructs a hotel from ice every winter in Swedish Lapland - are made from 40 tons of crystal clear ice.
It was sawn in March from the Torne River, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle and renowned for the purity of its ice, and shipped to London.
The bar and even the glasses are made of ice
The walls of the bar are constructed from solid blocks of ice, and tables, stools, benches and bar counter are fashioned from large slabs.
Elegant hand-carved ice sculptures - a winged angel, naked torsos - are the only decoration. Even the glasses are ice, chunky 4in cubes with holes drilled in the top to hold enough vodka to make everybody Lapp-happy.
Giant refrigeration units above the ceiling maintain a constant temperature and guests enter through an air lock to prevent the cold air being lost. The floor of the bar is made from steel to prevent tumbles.
Similar bars have opened in the past couple of years in Milan and Stockholm, the latter attracting 100,000 visitors a year.
London's ice bar, in Heddon Street, off Regent Street, may not prove be a spot for high fashion. To keep warm, drinkers, be they Kate Moss or Joe Soap, will be given identical silvercoloured, 100 per cent polyester ponchos or capes that they are told they must wear. Gloves and overshoes are also supplied, but are not compulsory.
Agnetha Lund, the director of IceBar International, insisted yesterday that there was nothing hazardous about sloshing back vodka in sub-zero temperatures - not for 45 minutes, anyway. "People can get cold. It is cold but it's not that bad," she said.
It is well established that alcohol causes heat loss but Ms Lund, a native of Lapland, says her fellow countrymen drink in much lower temperatures and merely become "more talkative, more happy, more excited".
She added: "It is quite safe. The vodka warms up your body and you have a cape and you don't drink so much in 45 minutes.
"In our other ice bars, our guests don't come to get drunk. That is not our focus group like a normal bar. You come for the experience."
And for that experience, a visitor will pay £12, which includes their first vodka cocktail. A refill costs £6.
The 45-minute time limit, it turns out, is less to do with safety than turnover. The bar holds only 60 people and turnaround becomes important. Customers must pre-book time slots.
Only gradual melt of the fixtures occurs, says Ms Lund. "After three months the edges of the tables become a bit rounded and every six months we will replace all the ice completely."
You might expect the combination of Lapp mood and the discomfort to make for a frigid atmosphere. Ms Lund insists not.
"The capes make everyone the same and everyone talks to everyone," she said. "They ask each other to take photographs. It breaks the ice, so to speak."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ice24.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/24/ixhome.html
maximus otter
In the never-ending quest for novelty, a small corner of central London becomes a small corner of Lapland next Saturday with the opening of Britain's first "ice bar".
Lisa Baker peers at Nigel Reynolds through a wall of ice
It is a craze that has not caught on yet - as nobody other than Viscount Rothermere, who orders a temporary ice bar to be built at Claridges for his Christmas parties, appears to have thought much of them before.
But its backers hope that it will become a new fad and that before long bar-hoppers in the smartest cities of Europe will be standing around in sub-zero cellars, behaving like back-slapping Lapps, swapping great jokes about reindeer and igloos while knocking back vodka.
The fixtures and fittings of London's new nightspot - called the Absolut IceBar, a joint operation between Sweden's state-owned Absolut Vodka and the Ice Hotel, an outfit that constructs a hotel from ice every winter in Swedish Lapland - are made from 40 tons of crystal clear ice.
It was sawn in March from the Torne River, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle and renowned for the purity of its ice, and shipped to London.
The bar and even the glasses are made of ice
The walls of the bar are constructed from solid blocks of ice, and tables, stools, benches and bar counter are fashioned from large slabs.
Elegant hand-carved ice sculptures - a winged angel, naked torsos - are the only decoration. Even the glasses are ice, chunky 4in cubes with holes drilled in the top to hold enough vodka to make everybody Lapp-happy.
Giant refrigeration units above the ceiling maintain a constant temperature and guests enter through an air lock to prevent the cold air being lost. The floor of the bar is made from steel to prevent tumbles.
Similar bars have opened in the past couple of years in Milan and Stockholm, the latter attracting 100,000 visitors a year.
London's ice bar, in Heddon Street, off Regent Street, may not prove be a spot for high fashion. To keep warm, drinkers, be they Kate Moss or Joe Soap, will be given identical silvercoloured, 100 per cent polyester ponchos or capes that they are told they must wear. Gloves and overshoes are also supplied, but are not compulsory.
Agnetha Lund, the director of IceBar International, insisted yesterday that there was nothing hazardous about sloshing back vodka in sub-zero temperatures - not for 45 minutes, anyway. "People can get cold. It is cold but it's not that bad," she said.
It is well established that alcohol causes heat loss but Ms Lund, a native of Lapland, says her fellow countrymen drink in much lower temperatures and merely become "more talkative, more happy, more excited".
She added: "It is quite safe. The vodka warms up your body and you have a cape and you don't drink so much in 45 minutes.
"In our other ice bars, our guests don't come to get drunk. That is not our focus group like a normal bar. You come for the experience."
And for that experience, a visitor will pay £12, which includes their first vodka cocktail. A refill costs £6.
The 45-minute time limit, it turns out, is less to do with safety than turnover. The bar holds only 60 people and turnaround becomes important. Customers must pre-book time slots.
Only gradual melt of the fixtures occurs, says Ms Lund. "After three months the edges of the tables become a bit rounded and every six months we will replace all the ice completely."
You might expect the combination of Lapp mood and the discomfort to make for a frigid atmosphere. Ms Lund insists not.
"The capes make everyone the same and everyone talks to everyone," she said. "They ask each other to take photographs. It breaks the ice, so to speak."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...ice24.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/24/ixhome.html
maximus otter
