BT Tower to become a hotel: a former employee’s perspective
At the end of February, BT Group (formerly British Telecom) announced a so-called strategic sale of the BT Tower located in the Fitzrovia area of West London to the MCR Hotels Group. While MCR may not be a household name, it is most famous for properties such as The High Line hotel and notably for the travel community, the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport.
While me and fellow colleagues often spoke of wishing to turn the BT Tower into an employee-exclusive hotel and pub, the announcement still came as a shock - even if inevitable. Here’s a rundown on what’s happened, what MCR Group plan to do, and my history with the tower.
What’s the deal and a brief history of the Tower
BT Group sold the BT Tower to MCR Group for GBP275m who will turn it into a hotel and restaurant. While it isn’t clear, I suspect the company has bought the Tower itself and the five floor exchange and offices with entrances on Cleveland Street as well as.
The BT Tower opened in 1965 by Harold Wilson as part of the ‘White Heat of Technology’ technical revolution designed to make Britain ready for the decades ahead. The tower itself, which is still referred by some to its previous names of the GPO Tower and Post Office Tower (but never the London Tower as some media mentioned), played host to microwave dishes to receive video signals from a network across the country.
It later developed as a hub for media content with broadcast quality video exchange for television companies in London. Much of the technology was superseded by the advent of high capacity fibre networks, which BT Media and Broadcast is still involved in, but the BT Tower is still one of the key exchanges for live video content globally.
While statements from analysts and BT themselves say that the tower is a legacy location for telecoms equipment and the broadcast industry - I am highly sceptical of this view. Even today, large chunks of the BT broadcast operation go through the BT Tower with heaps of legacy equipment dominating the building’s structure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see cables cut through for services long forgotten for years or decades, that are still used. I don’t envy the task that MCR Group has ahead…and wouldn’t be surprised if that bill massively balloons for refurbishment.
My history with the Tower
Despite its ugliness, the BT Tower and the surrounding Fitzrovia area has a very special place in my heart - which seems a bit dramatic for a place of work. From 2016 to 2021, I worked at the BT Tower for BT Media and Broadcast in my first ‘proper’ full time job after college - initially as an apprentice but then as a product manager.
Before joining, I thought it was going to be a glamorous work location and imagined shooting up the length of the Tower to get to one of the mid-section floors to work. Reality after joining proved a bit less glamorous since the office space was located on floor three and five in a building off Cleveland Street. This is where I suspect a bulk of the cheaper rooms at the BT Tower will be located after it is refurbished. Here’s what it looks like today - you can imagine why I didn’t think this was my actual work location before joining:
This part of the building has real 60s Scout or village hall vibes with a damp smell to match. Teams in BT had attempted to improve some of the floors with splashes of paint and meeting booths over time - but, as the saying goes, just because you roll something in glitter doesn’t make it beautiful.
However, a combination of being old and a mishmash of designs from almost sixty years of its existence made it a real treasure trove for finding random nonsense or rooms you didn’t know existed despite working there for five years. While it wasn’t always the best of times, I’ve had some of key moments of development here - and met friends for life thanks to the opportunity of working there.
And what was the real stunner was the view at the top. Getting there meant going through the maze of the building, which needed a degree, before going to the vacuum-like lift and being greeted by the lift operator (a role that remained until the pandemic).
The BT Tower is hands down London’s best view. Compared to other vantage points such as The Shard, you are removed from the main skyscraper centre of the city and thanks to the need for a clear line of sight for microwave technology historically, this meant no tall buildings could be built in the vicinity in case of obstruction. Whether looking east to the city or Canary Wharf, north to Wembley, south to Paris (aka Crystal Palace), or west to Hyde Park, you had a clear view of it all.
And yes, the revolving restaurant does still work - despite claims otherwise!
So yes, I am a bit sad to see this happen. It’s a bit weird to have an emotional attachment to a building but when you’ve this many memories and the building itself is an icon - it’s not difficult to see why. I doubt there will ever be another building where I feel quite the same way about working, for all the faults it had.
But times change. BT has changed both in terms of technology and owning buildings. Working patterns have changed which negates the need for so much real estate.
I’m glad to see the investment is made and I can’t wait for the place to reopen…which likely won’t be until the end of this decade or longer. Let’s hope they’re open to some press/media visits when that time comes! Whether it’s the BT Tower, GPO Tower or whatever the future name will be, the building will be an icon for decades to come.
