A few years ago some speculators in the city observed that they were more likely to get planning permission if their new skyscraper included free public terrace. Free access to advanced visuals is always a winner in my book. So yesterday I went up a bit.
This was all done without thinking, so I didn’t go above the big three as they expect you to book in advance.
sky Garden At The Fenchurch Building, aka The Walkie-Talkie
Opened January 2015, 35th-37th floors, blogged here
You have to book at least three weeks in advance, but ‘closed for private events’ yesterday.
horizon 22 At 22 Bishopsgate
Opened in September 2022, 57th-58th floors, blogged here
Tickets released on Mondays go fast but slots are often available ridiculously early.
seek At 8 Bishopsgate
Opened in August 2022, 50th floor, blogged here
Tickets were released on Monday, current availability is in four days’ time, but Horizon 22 is better.
Instead I went to walk-in straight-ins, starting with the newest.
Roof 1 in Leadenhall
The fourth floor opened in April 2026, Ian visited here (map)
Lift duration: 20 seconds, Personnel on duty: 2
This is strange. When you think of a rooftop terrace you usually think high and airy, but this one on the fourth floor of a 36-story skyscraper has a view to match. You enter from the corner of Leadenhall Market, opposite Waterstones, through a door that doesn’t scream ‘come in’. A man in a lectern leads you to the lifts (“press 4 for me”) in what appears to be a service corridor, before returning to await his purgatory for almost any visitor. Although it’s certainly fast, after less than a minute of walking down I was at The Terrace.
The roof is approximately 40 meters long and up to 10 meters wide, which appears to have been created by cutting a two-story wedge out of the side of the building. At one end there is an entrance to a restaurant that is not yet open, so there might be some bustle one day, whereas I had the place to myself with no one to see except me, apart from a security guard. Eight benches are provided among a thin line of bushes, but it is better to walk farther apart as the central view is somewhat limited. As you can see below, what you see in this case is the roof of Leadenhall Market, a world-class tourist attraction. All the wonderful glitter is on the bottom though, so from above it could be any Victorian arcade and with some nice finials it’s as good as it gets.
More strangely, the view to the south is largely blocked by works underway at 85 Gracechurch Street, a neighboring 32-storey tower which has just reached double figures. One day it will have a free public terrace on the fifth floor, so maybe people will get a chance to visit again, but for now it’s just a crane and a lot of white sheets. A better view can be had by walking to either end, indeed the main interest is to find oneself above street level in the center of the city’s main upthrust cluster.
At the end of Waterstones you can see 8 and 22 Bishopsgate, very close to the Cheesegrater and the Lloyds Building, with its knobbly metal shell of minions riding a lift. Then the Scalpel, the roof terrace I’m next to, the postmodern Minster Court, Plantation Place and the Walkie Talkie. The Shard is still visible (for now), then at the Gracechurch Street end are the dome of St Paul’s, St Michael’s Tower and the spire of St Peter’s, better photographed. This rooftop terrace is a true oddity, a public space that’s nice but basically pointless, and would make an interesting diversion if you ever need a mid-city toilet or a dry place to eat your sandwich.
Garden at 120 in fan court
Opened in February 2019, 15th floor, blogged here (map)
Lift duration: 40 seconds, Personnel on duty: 6
It is long established, popular and still the largest rooftop garden in the city. You have to go through a scanner before being admitted, but I moved faster, this time taking three minutes from joining the queue to reaching the terrace. Get stuck behind a whole party of teenage EU tourists and it can take quite a while. The lift brings you up to the mid-terrace, which has a large pergola, which was empty in 2019 but now has wisteria twining at the end and a rose bush below. The gardeners did well.
But the best thing here is the 360° panorama from the serpentine perimeter, some of which is open enough to give a proper long-distance view. Tower Bridge is almost inconspicuous, even the Tower itself, the helipad at the Royal London in Whitechapel is almost the same height as you. But turn around and there are also the Docklands, the Crystal Palace transmitter and the London Eye, plus a closer look at the majesty of the Gherkin in a conveniently narrow gap to the north. Some of the younger visitors were more interested in pouting than in their backgrounds, but that’s their loss. If you’ve never been here, or haven’t even thought about it, go check out The Garden at 120.
roof terrace on a new change
Opened in November 2010, 6th floor, blogged here (map)
Lift duration: 20 seconds, Personnel on duty: 3
When a shopping center stood next to St. Paul’s Cathedral, someone had the sense to put a public roof tongue on the roof. The original purpose may have been to give the rooftop bar a wonderful setting in which to enjoy a frozen marguerita, but the rest of us are lofty winners, too. The glass-sided lift takes you down a thin reflective notch with excellent views of the cathedral from Brand Central. The upper terrace is slightly terraced with plants and benches, but if you sit down the view disappears behind a gray wall labeled ‘Beware of sudden falls’. The South Bank and the London Eye can be seen well, but it’s really about Wren’s dome, which has been so thoroughly modeled that the binoculars in Richmond Park are no longer able to enjoy it. Expect a brief, but special visit.
level 10 at Tate Modern
Opened June 2016, 10th floor, blogged here (map)
Lift duration: 35 seconds, Personnel on duty: 1
Tate Modern had high expectations for the 10th floor of the Blatnavik Building with its café and four-sided observation terrace with excellent views of the Thames. Alas, it also had spectacular views of the Neo Bankside apartments, whose residents eventually sued and won, thus today you can only visit the café if you access it by lift. All external doors are locked and a sign on the inaccessible balcony says no photography or filming, with a grumpy-looking security guard deployed to ensure compliance. I asked him “Will the balcony ever open again?” And he growled and said “no”, not even the front, and basically the entire 10th floor has now become a horrible waste of architectural effort.
roof garden in the post building
Opened in September 2022, 9th floor, blogged here (map)
It is the westernmost roof terrace ever built, so offers a unique view over the lower terraces of the West End, including a close-up of the British Museum’s spectacular roof terrace. I still don’t understand why it’s here, nor why it’s open every day, nor why they insist on photo ID “and a full written name” before letting you in. However I didn’t get a chance to test it yesterday as when I arrived the terrace was “closed due to necessary maintenance work”, which probably wasn’t causing any inconvenience to anyone except me. I have to say that if I built a white elephant roof for planning reasons and wanted to avoid paying staff costs, that’s probably the excuse I would use, or alternatively perhaps there is some maintenance issue and the place is cursed. At least at the ticketed venue, visitors will know this in advance. It’s better to go up into the Gardens at 120 instead, or plan ahead and do one of the three really high spots.
<a href