Yellowknife (Oct 10/03) - At the back of the Black Knight Pub is a room with an enchanting fragrance of flowers, filled with colourful paintings.

Plush chairs fill the space while a soothing light bathes the pastel-coloured walls.

This is no tea room: by popular consensus, it's the nicest women's washroom in Yellowknife.

In fact, if it wasn't a room designed to accommodate bodily functions of the pub's female clientele, it might even be a nice place to have a meal. "We put a lot of work into that room," said Bogus Zydb, co-owner of the Black Knight.

"We wanted to create a place that was clean, safe and fun."

The bathroom opened in 1997 to critical acclaim, grabbing the Toilet Bowl Award as the city's top location to relieve yourself.

And a quick inspection -- a rare treat for Yellowknifer -- reveals a room of almost palatial splendor.

A bank of lights above an oversized mirror makes the room an ideal location for primping and preening.

Free lotion dispensers ensure perpetually soft hands and comfy couches allow you take a load off -- after taking a load off.

But the most popular item in the room is a full-length mirror that makes every person who stands in front of it look thinner.

"It's not a thinning mirror," said Zdyb with a grin.

"It just has a slight curvature."

Buoyed by the success of the downstairs bathroom, Zdyb and his partners went all out when they opened the upstairs lavatory last year.

Bright red on the outside, each stall has a different colour scheme on the inside, making each trip to the toilet a new and exciting experience.

The decision to build luxurious women's washrooms was based on tried and true marketing techniques, said Zdyb.

"We figured if we built a nice washroom, it would attract women, which would then in turn attract men," said Zdyb.

"Put out the meat and the wolves will follow."