One of the most recognizable buildings that can be glimpsed from all over the West End of London is the BT Tower formerly known as the Post Office Tower.
It’s on Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia, the area between Tottenham Court Road, the Euston Road and Great Portland Street and that’s a pretty relaxed place to go if you’ve been shopping on Oxford Street and want to get away from the crowds for a while. There’s a lot of nice little restaurants and cafes and plenty of pubs around for a quick pint.
If you’re on Oxford Street, say between Oxford Circus and the HMV, just turn north up one of the side streets and walk for a few minutes and you’ll find a quieter part of the West End to get some lunch or dinner. There are also a lot more individual/one off shops around here, use the BT Tower as a landmark to know you’re walking north.
The BT Tower was built in the early 1960s as a telecommunications tower, it opened in 1964 and the public first had access in 1966. It’s 620ft(188m) high and was built in its cylindrical shape because in high winds(up to 95mph) the tower would only move about 10 inches and the microwave signals it was built to recieve were better picked up with less movement.
Initially the tower not only had telecoms equipment, but offices, shops, viewing galleries and a rotating restaurant at the top called Top of the Tower which did a rotation every 22 minutes. The IRA set off a bomb in the restaurant toilet in 1971 and that was it for public usage of the building. You still can’t go in and use the viewing gallery which is a shame, but BT use the restaurant for corporate hospitality events now.
In the mad British way with secrecy the tower didn’t officially exist until the mid-1990s and wasn’t on maps, and it was against the Official Secrets Act to photograph it. The government have come in from the cold and admitted its there, its just a pity the public can’t appreciate the views from the top. Map
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