The BT Tower

[Slim]

My favourite London landmark is (what I shall always know as) the Post Office Tower. When I was a kid I think it was much more well-known as a landmark than it is now, because it had just been built, and was at that time the tallest building in the country.

The first time I visited London in 1969 I went on a sleeper train from Hartlepool. In the morning I stuck my head out of the window and I could see the tower in the distance. Quite a thrill. I think the following image must have been captured at a similar time.



I've just read that the tower has been sold off to be used as a hotel. Presumably all the communications functions are now handled by terrestrial cabling, or antenna / dishes located elsewhere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68352275

I've always wanted to visit the revolving restaurant floor, but it was closed in the early '70s after the IRA set off a bomb on one of the upper floors. Perhaps that'll be possible again.

[David L]

BT are effectively selling off the family silver because the share price is diabolical.

Sad state of affairs. I went up the tower in the '90s, to the top where all the microwave dishes are located. The tower used to house a telephone exchange, maybe it's now closed. Like all BT buildings, the bits the public don't see are in a shit state, as were the engineering rooms of that structure, even in those days.
I think we lease most of our exchange buildings now, so it can still house operational equipment under similar arrangements.

[David L]

I've just read the company's statement to employees.

Apparently all the microwave equipment was shut down a decade ago. It has been used for years as an interchange for live broadcasts by BT Group's Media & Broadcast business. They are moving out over the next few years. Openreach will move out of the BT Tower exchange by the end of the decade. Probably a pretty complex undertaking that will involve loads of overtime - ££££ 

I had to smile at this:

the building is in need of a huge and costly amount of restoration and redevelopment

[Slim]

Originally it had triangular antennae as you can see in the pic above, but from the 1980s those were removed and it was dotted with circular dishes. I took this pic in 2003:



I took the following pic 14 years later after those had gone as well. The old girl was starting to look a bit undressed.



I read somewhere that the old horn antennae had to be cut up with angle grinders and removed from the premises in the lift!

[Nickslikk2112]

I remember when it had to be rebuilt after being knocked down by a giant kitten.

[Matt2112]

I've a particular affection for the BT Tower, as a former employer's Fitzrovia-based HQ was only yards down the road and I really enjoyed my visits down there, having work lunches at the various eateries pretty much within the tower's shadow, all on expenses of course.

It's the first London landmark I see on my occasional journeys into King's Cross station, assuming the Emirates stadium doesn't count as one.

[Slim]

In 2017 I did some professional services work for a customer at Fitzrovia and to my delight, their offices were right next to the tower. Even better, the desk they gave me was right next to a window with a direct view of the base of the tower. I snapped this pic on the first day.



.. and I took this one from outside



The tower used to be visible from Euston Road so when I went there by train, I'd often see it while walking to Euston Square. But someone put up a massive building that blocks the view in the noughties.

I went to London with a pal for the weekend in May 1979 and one of the first things I did on the Saturday afternoon (while he was watching Man United getting beaten in an FA Cup final) was to walk to the tower from Tottenham Court Road, where our hotel was, and from where it was prominently visible. I also walked past the old ITN offices and saw Peter Fairley getting something out of his car in the street outside.

[The Picnic Wasp]

That first photo takes me back to my first visit to London. I jumped on and off the tube having decided not to do an official tour of the city, rather just walk around and see what randomly unfolded around the centre of the city. I must have walked along the street perpendicular to that leading towards the tower, looked left and there it was. Similarly, in Whitehall, I passed the gated area outside Downing St. Unsurprisingly there was activity there but it didn't dawn on me until later what exactly I'd seen. It might have been later that evening when my girlfriend finished work that we approached a large stone staircase somewhere in the west end when Joanna Lumley swept down and past us in a long flowing coat. I'll never forget that image and how glamorously she moved. No phone cameras in those days which I'm not sorry about. The memory has probably become embellished by memory over time.

[dom]

A good point about how iconic it was in the 70s.  It really shows how the London skyline has developed since then that it is barely considered anymore.

[Slim]

On that first visit to London in 1969 we visited Downing Street, it wasn't gated then and you could just wander up to the front of Number 10. I noticed two odd metal fixtures protruding from the front step. In those days there was a policeman on duty at all times standing by the front door. So I asked him what they were. "Boot scrapers" he replied, in an improbably deep and brusque flavour of cockney.

[David L]

A good point about how iconic it was in the 70s.  It really shows how the London skyline has developed since then that it is barely considered anymore.

Yes. a sign of the continual success of our capital city

[Slim]

Nice short film presented by Chris Barrie here, made in 2009. Actually as much as anything I love the aerial views of London. I've spent many hours scrutinising old photos of London picking out old buildings, then trying to find them on Street View (before Street View, I'd sometimes go there and try to find them in person).

Some terrific views of the old horn antennae from old footage here.