Punters left underwhelmed by festive rooftop ice rink without any ice

A group of friends said they felt ‘scammed’ after visiting a ‘rooftop ice rink’ which was actually made of plastic tiles.

Lupe Baeyens booked the Bussey Rooftop Bar for her friends as the ‘perfect way to kick off Christmas’.

However when they arrived at the venue in Peckham, south London, they were dismayed to find the advertised ‘ice rink’ contained no ice at all.

Ms Baeyens, a social media manager, explained: ‘We expected to be able to skate as all the posters were advertising a a glide along.

‘After we got our skates, we saw there were only two other people there and there were plastic tiles instead of ice.

‘We realised then that they wouldn’t have been able to get all the ice onto a high rooftop.

‘As soon as you tried to skate, you would get stuck in the plastic and fall forward and there was no way you could glide.’

She and her friends left the bar after just 20 minutes and received a refund after complaining about the let-down by email.

While admitting the experience was a ‘good laugh’, she said it was physically impossible to skate on the fake ice flooring.

The venue, which is also available for group hire, is promoted as a ‘state-of-the-art synthetic skate-rink’, with the bar acting as a ‘cosy, après ski winter lodge’.

Ms Baeyens paid £15 per head for the skate and said she felt ‘a bit scammed’ by the sub-par experience.

She added they had got bored within ten minutes as the atmosphere was also poor with fellow punters reportedly similarly unimpressed by the wintery offer.

‘We thought it was hilarious but we felt a bit scammed as all the advertising said “ice” and even the big screen on the rooftop said “ice”, and there was a picture of people skating,’ she said.

“It was funny because there was no ice to speak of.

‘We started walking around it and trying to skate but it was impossible.

‘All we could do was walk and admire the view.

‘There was nobody there so we had a good laugh and took photos and video.’

Metro has contacted Bussey Rooftop Bar for comment.

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