The Post Office Tower of London | BT Heritage 

Can't see this without expecting to see a giant kitten climbing up it 😂

Got to love the guy climbing the antennas @5.13 with no harness, wearing dress shoes and a tie. At least he has a hard hat.

I'm Australian but I went to London in 1973. I celebrated my 6th birthday in the revolving restaurant with my mother, while down below in University College Hospital, my father was recovering from a fall with two broken legs. The fall was not from the tower.

"One of the tallest buildings in London and a popular tourist attraction." At least until destroyed by Kitten Kong one fateful afternoon.

My father was the senior engineer at Centre Area, Post Office Telecoms, London and he took me up the tower when it was being built. We went up in a powerful hoist. The revolving restaurant hadn't yet been added. He also took me to Big Ben clock, House of Commons chamber, the hot line US Soviet comms to avoid nuclear war, the Post Office underground mail railway. I was aged around 11.

That was 1960's "art" documentary at its finest. The weird backing music, the people who look like they're doing something important, but they're not... For example, the man climbing on the antenna at 5:15 was clearly someone who wasn't doing anything useful. Wearing ordinary street clothes, no belt or lanyard to tie off with, and no tools in his pockets or in a bucket below him and climbing on the side of the antenna where there there is nothing that might need attention or adjustment --he was there for the camera and nothing else. But it was fun seeing switching equipment that is exhibited in the Smithsonian Institution, in operation with people discussing it as if it were state of the art. I do remember seeing this sort of thing in working condition as a young man. It was weird, and wonderful. Thanks for posting it.

I USED TO LIVE IN LONDON AND AFTER SCHOOL I USED TO WATCH THE TOWER BEING BUILT THEN IN 1965 MY SISTER AND I WENT TO THE VIEWING GALLERY, PURE MAGIC !!!!!!!!!

love the 60's organ music

Fascinating video of a bygone era.

That was bonkers, the soundtrack was incredible, I couldn't concentrate on the program.

Great soundtrack recorded by John Baker from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

I really had to laugh at the GPO guy at the top of the tower climbing over the structure without any form of safety harness whatsoever. BUT especially for the Look At Life cameras. he IS wearing a GPO approved hard hat which will really protect him while Rank gets a few close ups as he plummets to his doom.. Priceless.:D

I was waiting for the daleks to show themselves

Great period footage from a bygone era. That 60's electronic music really make it! :-D I never knew there was a restaurant and bar at the top of the tower. I bet that was awe inspiring at the time (though perhaps not in stormy weather!

Visited the Tower a number of times in 1966- as a young man in my 20's! Had a meal in the restaurant, and mailed a postcard there to my home in NZ. It has franked on it "Posted at the Post Office Tower, London" ..Sad times when the public access was stopped.. We were told this was due to the threat of possible terrorist action there. [a bomb etc:]

I worked in the carrier/transmission rooms in South Africa. I distinctly remember the FDM (frequency division multiplexing) and PCM (pulse code modulation systems) and numerous visits to the Telkom Tower in Hillbrow to conduct tests. Wonderful memories!

This is ace! The music reminds me of the era of 'The Prisoner'.

An amazing building and still in use today? Good shout to Dollis Hill. Tommy Flowers was a GPO engineer from there, and was seconded to work on Colossus during the second world war. You can see Colossus at Bletchley Park museum.

Was lucky enough to go up in the early 2000's while working for a government agency. As I joined the tour group at the last-minute, I didn't have a camera. The tower doesn't look quite as good now that the microwave receivers/transmitters have been removed.

Been up the tower twice; once in 2004 when I was my local areas broadband champion, BT allowed people to volunteer to raise enough signatures from locals, at which point BT would install ADSL hardware in our exchange. We were successful and as a thank you, BT put on a tour and dinner at the top of the tower. The view at dusk is superb!

I still call the Post Office Tower...the Post Office Tower.

The tower was sold to MCR Hotels last week and is being turned into a hotel. They say they will reopen the rotating restaurant.

Can't wait for the new incarnation

I thought a giant cat brought down the tower in the 1970s???

Loving the eerie background music. Great video!

Amazing to see how London's changed over the 60 year's or so. Still needs to start building quality not quantity.

Public lift opens on to the service areas. Naughty 😂

When I worked in The Post Office PR Department I rescued a ton of booklets about the Post Office Tower from the skip. Fascinating stuff about its construction. My favourite section was about the uniforms of the various staff, including the kepi style hat with a badge on the front which was in the shape of the tower itself. Having looked at other videos about the tower, it seems the badge was never implemented and the usual GPO Crown was substituted… Happy days!

My parents took me here around 1966. Too young to appreciate the importance of the place, but I definitely remember the view. (P.S. love the 'Forbidden Planet' sound effects).

I wonder how much space in the building is still occupied by functioning equipment today?

Fantastic always wondered what was inside 👍

This us a very good commentary on this tower this actually makes london i thought it was better than other high points in the sixties i use to. Go up to the viewing galleries once a week i truly enjoy this to think you were higher than the aerial galleries to very good from mervyn Gloucestershire.

Loved every minute of this! One of the wonders of London. I wonder If the restaurant will open again?

Went up on 29th March 1996 for an evening do. I remember drinking a fair bit which was made much worse due to the revolving restaurant 😂

I firmly believe that one day every single home in Britain will have their own phone!

The 60s “futuristic music “ tickled me 😂 quite a revelation of its time and still in use today, just massively updated since its first installation.

We have become less free since we had to stand still (or sit on the stairs!) to make a call.

awwsome

I worked for the GP0.There was a sponsored event for charity at the tower that I took part in.....a run from ground floor to the top.I managed a time of just over four minutes.I dont know what was worse,the fatigue or the dizziness from the spiral staircase.Ps, the tower is now going to be turned into a hotel.

I used to work for BT, and my last job was based in the BT Tower until I retired in 2018.

Always looked like something designed by the Soviets to me. A lot of the electronic music was used in the film The London Nobody Knows.

Before London's skyline was developed to look like Abu Dhabi

My parents took me up there to the revolving restaurant when I was a child - totally AWESOME sitting there eating watching all of London. SUCH A WASTE that BT stopped people going up it and shut the restaurant! It would raise MILLIONS in tourist revenue! Considering how much debt BT now owe I would think they would open it up again!🤣😂

Great film, thanks for posting. Did the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop do the soundtrack though? It wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an episode of Dr Who from the same era.

People were banned from visiting the upper levels of the tower, on the orders of WOTAN.

How is the BT tower in Fitztrovia supposed to have been a secret when this was out in ‘67 😂

how do you do that?

The sound at 7:27 reminds me of Slipknot’s intro music.

When techology was the future ❤

At last, sound.

192 views, scandalous.

I dont think those lifts have been surfed yet, but i can bet its frequently attempted

Avant Garde music

What will they think of next????..

Very similar to Telstra Tower in Canberra Australia

1:10 diversity is our strength

Funny how the sounds of the elecro-mechanical Strowger apparatus clattering away is dubbed into the film when only modern, silent electical/electronic equipment is in view. I suppose silence doesn't 'sound interesting'!

its been sold and going to become a hotel !

LOVE COMMENT 58 YES WHERE ARE THE DARLEKS, HAVE THEY BEEN EXTERMINATED !!

Good to no theses people enjoyed their food.

Now sold off, soon to be an hotel apparently.

Kitten Kong

BACKBONE

Absolutely no health and safety! Wonderful.

And now sold to the Americans .UK is always for sale.

It was ours, it belonged to the British people, it is now being sold off to become a luxury hotel. Why is it not being turned into luxury apartments for the nurses, doctors, street cleaners that cannot afford to live in this part of London?

the people in the restaurant were being microwaved more than the food.

The War machines are up i. That thing

You could eat in a revolving restaurant even! Sadly, that came to an end when an (alleged) IRA bomb attack took place on 31st October 1971 & public access was finally closed in 1981...still, who wouldn't want to be exposed to microwave radiation whilst eating prawn cocktails?

Dont the diners look glam! 1st gen feedhorns all gone now just u wave.

17:32 what did you chop out? "The greatest..." city on earth? How funny... every other city says that about themselves.

I'm amazed that it hasn't been converted into a mosque 😂

fascinating but dated - the Dr Who sound effects became increasingly irritating and distracting.

doesn’t look very secure

The tower does not exist on any map. So noone will ever find it 😂

Great film but ..... NOT BT Herritge Post Office Heritge built by Tax Payers ££

Tower, what tower, doesn't exist, not on my map, figment of your imagination.

It’s probably owned by a Chinese company now.

Interesting video, worst music I ever heard.

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