Following an agreement to sell the Grade-II listed building to an American business for £275 million, London’s iconic BT Tower landmark will become an “iconic hotel.”
The Fitzrovia neighbourhood in central London’s communications tower, a landmark for tourists and a point of reference for taxi drivers for many years, was sold to MCR Hotels.
Currently, the US hotel company has over 150 properties, including the iconic TWA Hotel in New York City, which was designed by Eero Saarinen.
The building, which is still warmly associated with the biggest stars of its era for its rotating restaurant, will have a “new purpose” in the quickly developing digital era when the tower’s use has grown progressively less necessary.
The remaining tower equipment—mostly for media and broadcast services—as well as the on-site phone exchange, according to BT Group, will be gradually moved over a number of years to an undisclosed location.
The transaction will be paid for over a number of years, with the last payment being made after the purchase is finished.
The sale comes after BT Group sold its former headquarters in St Paul’s for £210 million in 2019, moving to a new office in Aldgate.
HSBC will ultimately move into St. Paul’s skyscraper after leaving 8 Canada Square in Canary Wharf.
Originally known as the Post Office Tower or GPO Tower, the tower was commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO), a historic governmental telecommunications agency that was subsequently dissolved in 1969.
Notable film and television appearances of the tower include Danger Mouse, V for Vendetta, Doctor Who, and The Bourne Ultimatum.
The tower’s construction started in June 1961, and Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson formally opened it in 1965. At 177 metres, it was the highest building in London until the NatWest Tower surpassed it in 1980.
The BT company formally occupied the tower in 1984, and since then, business and charitable events have been held on the top level.
The communications tower was awarded a Grade-II listing in 2003 and is well-known for its distinctive cylindrical shape. Later on, it included a 360-degree coloured LED “infoband” at the top of the tower.
The tower was intended to transmit microwave signals from London to various regions of the nation. It was designed by architects Eric Bedford and G. R. Yeats.
Almost one million people visited the tower in its first year of public opening, and 105,000 of them dined in the rotating restaurant.
Must we really turn everything over to foreign corporations? They seem to be selling out London one building at a time; it’s so sad.
Even though the British will no longer control it, it will ideally continue to be a notable structure as it was in its day.
Does Britain actually own anything anymore? Or is everything being sold off to different countries? Football, water companies, universities—what will it be next? The NHS.
Boot sale Britain, everything must go. Our best inventions, the public utilities, hospitals, our best brains, and even the country itself, are all given away at rock bottom prices because muppets are running our country. Why not just sell off Buckingham Palace as well while they’re at it? After all, nothing seems to be safe anymore.
Of course, the Gen Z of today couldn’t possibly understand how truly iconic the Post Office Tower was. It represents that golden era around 1966 when England won the World Cup, the Mini was the nation’s favourite car, the Beatles were the best group in the world, and Mary Quant and Twiggy were the fashion icons. Carnaby Street was the place to be. Michael Caine was the coolest bloke in films, London was the greatest city in the world, and the Post Office Tower was the backdrop to everything.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 