Off-piste? Then look no further

Amid all the celebration earlier this year when London was awarded the 2012 Olympics, the Diary couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness that the Winter Olympics will never be hosted in our green and snow-free land.

However, news from broadband provider and Team GB sponsor UK Online has cheered the Diary no end. London may never host the Winter Olympics, but that hasn’t stopped UK Online bringing the Winter Olympics to the capital in its very own winter lodge.

Based in the East London bar Sosho, the winter lodge, brainchild of brand communications agency Threepipe, will not only be showing coverage of next February’s Winter Olympics in Italy, but will also allow winter sport enthusiasts the chance to enjoy an indoor hot tub, a roaring log fire and snowball fights.

UK Online hopes that one or two Olympians will attend the lodge, leaving the Diary excited at the prospect of it celebrating Britain retaining the curling gold medal by sharing a hot tub with the ladies’ four-man bobsleigh team. But more exciting is the possibility of hurling a few snowballs at Torvill and Dean (it’s been an ambition since the early 1980s).