'Sky' is not the limit

Hot spot

Situated on the 19th floor of hotel The Royal Plaza in Janpath, Sky Bar is the highest lounge and largest open bar in Delhi. The place that eponymously draws its concept from the open sky offers unparalleled panoramic view of the ancient city, with the Jantar Mantar, Lotus Temple, India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Qutub Minar in vicinity, which is also its USP. Dim lights with swanky décor and LED furniture make Sky one of the most talked about party destination of the city.

But a year ago, the location was not the same as it looks now. It was only after Faisal Nafees, the man behind Sky bar, joined the hotel as director operations, converted the terrace into a world-class setting. “I had this idea when I was working at Elevate in 2004 (largest nightclub in Asia), a four-storey gigantic club, whose terrace was the hottest spot. When I joined this hotel and saw the terrace, I knew I got the right location where I can open a place like Sky,” Nafees tells Metrolife.

He adds, “The idea was liked by everyone. We were booked a week in advance the moment we announced the launch date.”

Nafees, who has been into the hospitality field for over a decade now, says that this was one of the most difficult projects of his career so far. “Located in Lutyens’ Delhi, we are not allowed to change the design of even the window. So getting permission to dismantle and reconstruct the place was the biggest challenge. There was a strict guideline given by the authorities that we had to follow,” says the 35-year-old.

After a successful opening season in 2014, the place reopened last month, with many new additions. “You can only make soft changes within the guidelines. Apart from the food and beverages, we wanted to showcase different forms of music at Sky for
music lovers. We have introduced different forms of live entertainment throughout
the week including live bands, dance performance, theatres, fashion shows and much more.”