The Top of the Tower

I walk by only 100 yards or so from the BT Tower on every single working day and always glance up when it's in view. Working in one iconic London building - the BBC's original 1930's Broadcasting House - I am very conscious of others around the city, and I love to look at the different styles of architecture both old and new around the capital. I thought the Tower looked magnificent today, gleaming in the late afternoon sunshine as I made my way past to Great Portland Street tube station.

The BT Tower is still, as it always has been, a major communications hub. But with the advent of subterranean fibre optic links the famous aerial dishes around its middle became obsolete and were removed in 2011. It's taken me until now to really get used to seeing it without them. It seemed very bare and strange when they first disappeared. Until 1980, there was a revolving restaurant at the top of the Tower called, unsurprisingly, The Top of the Tower. There was also a viewing gallery just below it. Despite rumours and hopes, the restaurant has never re-opened, and the building remains firmly closed to the public for security reasons. So, along with flying on Concorde, seeing London from the top of the BT Tower will forever be one of my unfulfilled dreams.



The building in the foreground to the right of my photo was, until recently, the home of the Radio 1 studios and production offices - Yalding House. Now that the station has relocated to the 8th floor of New Broadcasting House, the building is no longer used by the BBC and is currently being completely refurbished ready for new occupants.