Highest bar in London

Actually, I'm not sure whether it is the highest bar in London, but I think it must be somewhere close! Tonight I've been to the Paramount on the 31st floor of Centre Point, one of the older "skyscrapers" in London.


At the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, it was one of the controversies of the 1960s. First, there was a row about building a structure like that and the effect it would have on the surrounding area, then once it was built it remained empty for some years and there was a huge row about developers sitting on an asset after a speculative development and not having to pay rates (or council tax as it is now) because the building was empty.


It was partly this massive structure sitting in the middle of London and contributing nothing to the cost of running the city that caused the law to be changed and for council tax/business rates to be payable at a reduced rate on empty buildings. 


I remember seeing it in the 1960s (probably around 1967) when I came to London on holiday with my dad, Aunt Joan and Uncle Don. There were very few tall buildings in London then and Centre Point stood out like a telegraph pole in a field. I thought at the time what an ugly building in was - concrete grey, rectangular and just row after row of windows. I could have designed it!


Anyway, it no longer stands out on the London skyline quite so prominently, but at 31 storeys high, you certainly get a good view of London. Sky had hired out the bar for its spring drinks reception and so I was sipping sparkling wine and gazing out on the setting sun across west London at 7pm. Actually, there wasn't much of a sunset, but you did get a good view of London with massive rain squalls blowing across. The view is good and from up there distances seem to draw in, like looking through a telephoto lens - it flattens the perspective. To the west you could see Oxford Street and Hyde Park, to the north Regent's Park and the arch of Wembley Stadium away in the distance.


Southwards, there was Battersea Power Station just across the river, although you couldn't see the Thames and there was also the bell tower of Westminster Cathedral, so we could locate our office. From the east side of Centre Point, the view is better. You have St Paul's sitting in front of the city and a clutch of tall buildings standing like a copse of trees in the fens. Tower Bridge straddled the Thames and you could also see the London Eye, Canary Wharf and the Shard. The Shard looked lovely with the last of the evening light reflected on its sides. The building is almost finished, they are just topping it out with a sort of thin spikey crown - I like it.


Nearer to Centre Point I was wondering what this large buiding with a green roof was. It was the British Museum, with the green roof and dome the new covered courtyard. I should have taken some pictures, but the camera on my Blackberry is pretty useless, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

This image comes courtesy of Tom Rayner ...