On the rocks, forever

As if the sub-zero temperatures weren't enough, a new ice bar has given London more reason to chill.

Nearly 48 hours after I'd gone brrr... in one of London's most "happening" bars, a public relations lady who I met for another story complained: "My idea of enjoying a drink is to show off my outfit and not hide it in a shapeless cape, or find my expensive makeup covered under a huge Eskimo-looking cap. Imagine," she continued, gulping down her drink, "reaching out for your glass with ugly gloves. It's so, so..."

"Silly?" I wondered.

A little later, I spoke to another restaurateur who spoke strongly in defence of the London Ice Bar. "My dream is to introduce this concept in New Delhi. It will be successful there, don't you think?"

While we might wait to hear on that one, clearly the London Ice Bar, in which the premium Swedish vodka brand Absolut has invested nearly £1.5 million, is conjuring different mood spells for different people.

The vodka brand has teamed up with Ice Hotel in Sweden and start-up company Below Zero, and roped in Arne Bergh and Åke Larsson, creators of the original Ice Hotel in northern Lapland, to design the ice interiors.

Now, everyone who wants to hit the hippest address in town is strolling towards London's Heddon Street, donning "space age cloaks and sheepskin gloves" and entering the artificially dipped temperatures of -6ºC in a bar where frozen interiors including walls, bar, trays and stools, sculptures, and even glasses have been constructed from 40 tonnes of ice especially shipped from Sweden.

There are giant compressors to control the temperatures and guests enter through a special air lock door to prevent the cold air being lost. Outside, reindeer skins are slapped on the walls to induce, what John Barnett, operations manager, Below Zero, calls "the feeling of warmth".

The bar, which opened in October 2005, is the fourth such Ice Bar in the world and will be followed by more in Tokyo and New York for starters. "It is a work of art and as a concept it has been very well received," says a shivering John as he guzzles down a vodka cocktail.

Disappointment is written large on his face when he finds me trying to balance a glass (of orange juice "" which disappoints him further) in one hand and a rickety camera in the other. What's more, I find it tough to hold a small ice glass in over-sized gloves.

"The glass is slipping," I smile feebly, while John offers to refill my glass that costs 6 pounds otherwise. "Nearly 4,000 glasses have to be shipped from Sweden every week," he tells me. Since the glasses are made of ice, every night after the bar closes down they are crushed in a boulder-shaped casket and new ones are brought out. "We have no problems with people who want to break glasses after they are done with their drinks," he jokes.

Has the Absolut Ice Bar, sculpted from crystal-clear ice, succeeded for Londoners? While John obviously agrees it has, our answer, to be honest, is yes and no. Yes, because it is fast becoming a tourist attraction. Bookings have to be made nearly four weeks in advance and the entry fees varies: £12 on weekdays and £15 on weekends for the "ice bar experience" of 45 minutes for a total of 60 people at one time.

Personally, I feel 20 minutes is more than enough in the Ice Bar after which you want to dash out and grab some fresh air. After all, the space is limited and after genuinely admiring the ice sculptures, solid blocks of ice deftly cut into gorgeous patterns on the walls, perching yourself on ice stools and capturing icy images of London's "unique bar" in your camera, there is precious little that you can do here.

Come March and the London ice bar will be smashed to bits for renovation as there are gradual melts in fixtures that usually occur in these bars. "Tables", says John, "get rounded and lose their edges and such things happen." He adds, "Personally, I find it fascinating to watch the plastering of ice walls."

For now, he can enjoy watching people from all over the world get plastered at the London Ice Bar.