Recently: to the top of 30 St Mary Axe, the London tower block better known as The Gherkin. As featured in the new Woody Allen film Match Point, the recent Doctor Who Christmas special (where its windows were blown out by aliens), and voted the Most Admired New Building in the World by a major firm of architects.
I am delighted to discover that the floor at the very top of the building is a VIP bar of sorts. The building comprises private offices, mostly for the Swiss Re company. The bar is staff and friends only. So to gain access to the top of this skyline landmark, you need to either work for Swiss Re, or know someone who does. So, via the kindness of my mother’s hairdresser’s daughter’s fiancee, my father and I paid a visit.
Best of all – there’s a dress code. ‘Strictly no jeans or trainers’. I’m in heaven, in every sense.
Acutally, I wonder if the real Heaven has a dress code. St Peter at the gates – “You’re not getting in looking like that. This is the Afterlife! You could have made an effort…”
The Bar itself:
Looking across to the NatWest Tower, or Tower 42 as it’s now known,and to Tower Bridge:
DE looking down on the world as usual:
