BT Tower is to be turned into a HOTEL

The BT Tower will be open to the public again, as it has been sold for conversion into a hotel.

The BT Tower was opened for operations in 1965 — as the Post Office Tower — and the rotating restaurant at the top was open to the public until it closed in 1971. The space is now used for corporate events.

As the tower is to be turned into a hotel, it will be de facto open to the public who want to stay there. The degree of how open it will be to the general public to visit for free will depend on the conversion, and it’s expected that some level of free access will be required as part of the planning condition.

It’ll be a planning application to keep a close eye on when it’s submitted, likely later this year.

Cat not included.

(c) The Goodies

The BT Group says that it sold the tower for £275 million to MCR Hotels, a group that already owns around 150 hotels. Payment for the sale will be made over multiple years, as BT Group equipment is progressively removed from the building, with final payment on completion of the purchase.

BT says that a number of network operations that were traditionally provided from BT Tower are now delivered via BT Group’s fixed and mobile networks. For example, the Tower’s microwave aerials were removed more than a decade ago, as they were no longer needed to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country.

Brent Mathews, Property Director, BT Group said: “The BT Tower sits at the heart of London and we’ve been immensely proud to be the owners of this important landmark since 1984. It’s played a vital role in carrying the nation’s calls, messages and TV signals, but increasingly we’re delivering content and communication via other means. This deal with MCR will enable BT Tower to take on a new purpose, preserving this iconic building for decades to come.”

And no, it wasn’t a state secret until 1993 — otherwise it wouldn’t be in the map from the 1983 A-Z London.