Mysteries of the Men's Wash Room

Pops and I were eating pizza on his birthday. He was telling me about his trip to the Apollo cinema last week (possibly my favourite cinema in London). In the men's toilet they have a trough instead of individual latrines, it goes round three sides of the room and has mirrors at face height. Lacking some privacy perhaps. But it is also filled with ice cubes. Pops says they used to that in fancy bars in the US. I'm struggling to figure out why. Does pee look good running over ice? (I expect it has nothing to do with that). Or does it keep the smell down? Or is it just pretentious?