The post office tower

I've finally got round to posting these pictures! This is what North London looks like from the top of the BT Post Office Tower. That's Regent's Park, with the zoo in the foreground. Depending on how much blogger.com has compressed this image, it should be possible to make out the Wembley Arch in the top left.

I'm don't think I will explain exactly what I was doing up there, since I'm not sure if I was meant to be taking photos... The high speed lifts are ear-poppingly impressive (they travel at 6 m/s) and the journey to the floor and room of your choice is very closely supervised by friendly but competent security guards.


The tower is no longer used as a telephone exchange, and I don't think that many of the impressive looking satellite dishes dotted around the exterior are operational either. However, there is a large video switching centre for receiving and relaying broadcast quality video from the local region. It is used to co-ordinate outside broadcasts in the Royal Parks, as well as London based football matches and the output from Soho movie editing firms. There are BT offices at the base of the tower, and the famous revolving restaurant is used for corporate clients only.


It's a shame that the tower is shut to the public, for security reasons. It's no longer the tallest building in London, or even the most iconic, but would make an ideal tourist attraction in a similar way to the AMP Centrepoint tower in Sydney. BT just need to shove in a shopping mall at the base and find a famous chef to design the restaurant menus, and they would have a handy boost to their revenues.