dg comments

please empty your brain below

During the 80s, I worked in the Dealing Room at Credit Suisse London. Their unassuming building was at 24 Bishopsgate and looked down Threadneedle St.

Now 22 occupies the space of many such buildings - will there really be enough businesses and staff to fill it, after the pandemic and Brexit?

RosemaryT | 16.02.21 - 8:02 a.m. | #

Loving this series, a reminder of the parts of town that were so everyday and now feel so far off.

TomHa | 16.02.21 - 8:48 a.m. | #

  Tallest buildings in the City
  1) 22 Bishopsgate (278m) [2020] ← Lime St
  2) Heron Tower (230m) [2010]
  3) Cheesegrater (225m) [2014] ← Lime St
  4) 8 Bishopsgate (204m) [2022] ← Lime St
  5) Scalpel (190m) [2018]
  6) Tower 42 (183m) [1980]
  7) Gherkin (180m) [2003]
  8) 100 Bishopsgate (172m) [2018]
  9) Broadgate Tower (161m) [2008]
10) Walkie Talkie (160m) [2014]

diamond geezer | Homepage | 16.02.21 - 9:00 a.m. | #

This is a prime DG post, I had heard of Wards but had NO idea of what they were.

Michael | 16.02.21 - 9:12 a.m. | #

The Gherkin was in my opinion a great addition to the minimal London skyline. The Walkie Talkie tolerable. I belive that there are now too many highrise towers in London and certainly no more should be built.

If anything good is to come from COVID aside from our air cleanliness being a little better, it is that so many grandiose buildings will not be economically feasible for many years to come. By then, 'someone' should have done something about the planning rules.

Andrew | Homepage | 16.02.21 - 9:30 a.m. | #

triple decker that'd've
love it

Caroline | 16.02.21 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I thought the 22 on the columns was graffiti.

Very interesting report on a part of the City I don't seem to know as well as I thought I did!

Cornish Cockney | 16.02.21 - 10:22 a.m. | #

Love the tall buildings and hope we might get above 300m although with more working from home and Brexit negative affect on business and decline in London population will these buildings have tenants, business or residential

John | 16.02.21 - 10:23 a.m. | #

The Gherkin was preceded by the Baltic Exchange building which was bombed by the IRA in 1992, and if you look at the curved cladding around the staircase of the Lloyds Building on the corner of Lime Street and Leadenhall Street, you can still see dents in the metal caused by the impact of the explosion's resultant flying debris.

Tim W. | 16.02.21 - 11:07 a.m. | #

Up to last March I worked in one of those buildings - since then wfh, and have only seen the area once briefly on a summer Sunday. 8 Bishopsgate has grown hugely since I last saw the site.

Hope to get back there 1-2 days a week later this year!

MEL | 16.02.21 - 12:28 p.m. | #

I expected better from you DG - Lloyds is not an insurance company! It is a marketplace of (re)insurance companies.

CF | 16.02.21 - 3:55 p.m. | #

Leadenhall Market is somewhere in London where I have never been, but I have always wanted to go. But never gone for no real reason.

There must be an audience participation blog post in that somewhere.

R2 | 16.02.21 - 4:02 p.m. | #

DG, what kind of random selection process did you use for your ward visits. Looks a bit useful. I'd like to know, because it might come in handy for the lottery later tonight.

Nameless 14 | 16.02.21 - 5:50 p.m. | #

Thank you DG. I believe there are 2 tall buildings mentioned here with full-height exterior lifts - my advice: avoid using them unless you have nerves of steel. I resorted to lying in the foetal position in the corner of one. Had to persuade the manager to let me descend from the (overrated) skyline restaurant via the central core service lift...along with the remains of my/others' lunches

footslogger | 16.02.21 - 6:52 p.m. | #

Leadenhall Market is an absolute gem.When I used to bring friends and family up to town to walk round the City it was always a highlight. It is human in scale and does not seek to overwhelm or intimidate its environment by sheer size and bulk, as unfortunately most of the recent constructions you refer do.

Big is most certainly not beautiful, especially as they have been shoehorned into this little corner of the City, in order as you say to protect the view of St Pauls. Their cumulative impact is both overwhelming and uninspiring. With the exception of the Lloyds building and The Gherkin, both of which have a charm and individuality lacking in the more recently constructed architectural behemoths, most of this new stuff is little more than architectural blandfill.

In the coming post-Covid business world, how many will ever fulfil their intended purpose? Perhaps in 50 years time this area will return to having buildings of a more human scale.

IanD | 16.02.21 - 9:10 p.m. | #

The ward PDF map shows a 'turntable' at the bottom of Bishopsgate, opposite Leadenhall Court. A quick net search yields a forum comment about a small turntable thought to be for turning horse drawn vehicles. Young accountants were able to drive their cars onto it at an angle, brake hard, and the momentum would turn them round.

JP | 17.02.21 - 2:30 p.m. | #

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