London's Free Roof Terraces

London’s Free Roof Terraces

伦敦的免费屋顶露台

diamond geezer Friday, May 22, 2026 diamond geezer 2026年5月22日，星期五

A few years ago some City speculators spotted they were more likely to get planning permission if their new skyscraper included a free public roof terrace. Free access to elevated views is always a winner in my book. So yesterday I went up a few. This was all on-the-hoof so I didn’t go up the big three because they expect you to book in advance. 几年前，一些伦敦金融城的投机商发现，如果他们的新摩天大楼包含一个免费的公共屋顶露台，就更容易获得规划许可。在我看来，能够免费登高望远总是一件乐事。所以昨天我去了几个露台。由于这是临时起意，我没有去那三个最著名的露台，因为它们都需要提前预订。

Sky Garden at The Fenchurch Building, aka The Walkie-Talkie 芬乔奇大厦（The Fenchurch Building）的空中花园（Sky Garden），又称“对讲机大厦” Opened January 2015, 35th-37th floors, blogged here. You have to book at least three weeks ahead, but yesterday ‘Closed For Private Event’. 2015年1月开放，位于35-37层，博客记录见此。你必须至少提前三周预订，但昨天因“私人活动关闭”。

Horizon 22 at 22 Bishopsgate 主教门22号（22 Bishopsgate）的 Horizon 22 Opened September 2022, 57th-58th floor, blogged here. Tickets released on Mondays, they go fast but ridiculously early slots are often available. 2022年9月开放，位于57-58层，博客记录见此。门票于每周一发放，虽然抢得很快，但通常还能订到时间极早的场次。

The Lookout at 8 Bishopsgate 主教门8号（8 Bishopsgate）的 The Lookout Opened August 2022, 50th floor, blogged here. Tickets released on Mondays, current availability in four days time, but Horizon 22 is better. 2022年8月开放，位于50层，博客记录见此。门票于每周一发放，目前四天后有空位，但 Horizon 22 的体验更好。

I went instead to the walk-straight-ins, starting with the newest. 我转而去了那些无需预约即可直接进入的地方，先从最新的开始。

The Terrace at 1 Leadenhall 利德贺街1号（1 Leadenhall）的 The Terrace Opened April 2026, 4th floor, Ian Visited here (map). Lift duration: 20 seconds, Staff on duty: 2. 2026年4月开放，位于4层，Ian 参观记录见此（地图）。电梯时长：20秒，值班人员：2人。

This one’s odd. When you think roof terrace you normally think lofty and airy, but this one’s merely on the 4th floor of a 36 storey skyscraper with a view to match. You walk in round the corner from Leadenhall Market, opposite Waterstones, through a door that doesn’t quite scream ‘come in’. A bloke at a lectern in what appears to be a service corridor then walks you over to the lifts (“press 4 for me”) before returning to his purgatorial wait for almost no visitors. It’s certainly quick though, I was on The Terrace less than a minute after walking in downstairs. 这个露台很奇怪。当你想到屋顶露台时，通常会想到高耸和通风，但这个露台仅位于一座36层摩天大楼的4层，视野也与之相符。你从利德贺市场（Leadenhall Market）拐角处走进去，对面是 Waterstones 书店，穿过一扇并不怎么欢迎人的门。一个站在服务通道讲台后的家伙会带你走向电梯（“帮我按一下4楼”），然后回到他那几乎没有访客的“炼狱式”等待中。不过速度确实很快，我从楼下走进去到登上露台，全程不到一分钟。

The terrace is about 40m long and up to 10m wide, seemingly formed by cutting a two-storey wedge out of the side of the building. At one end is the entrance to a restaurant that hasn’t opened yet, so may one day bring some buzz, whereas I had the place to myself apart from a security guard with nobody to watch but me. Eight benches have been provided amid a thin line of shrubbery, but better to walk up to the far ends because the central view is somewhat limited. 露台长约40米，宽达10米，看起来像是从大楼侧面切出了一个两层高的楔形空间。一端是一家尚未开业的餐厅入口，未来或许能带来一些人气，而我当时独享了整个空间，除了一个除了盯着我之外无事可做的保安。露台在稀疏的灌木丛中放置了八条长椅，但最好还是走到尽头，因为中央的视野有些受限。

You can look down in which case what you see is the roof of world-class tourist attraction Leadenhall Market. However all the amazing glitzy dazzle is on the underside, thus from above this could be any Victorian arcade and a few nice finials is as good as it gets. More awkwardly the view to the south is substantially blocked by ongoing works on 85 Gracechurch Street, a neighbouring 32-storey tower that’s only just reached double figures. This will one day have a free-to-visit fifth-floor public terrace, perhaps with the chance for people to be staring back over here, but for now it’s just a crane and a heck of a lot of white sheeting. 向下看，你能看到世界级旅游景点利德贺市场的屋顶。然而，所有令人惊叹的华丽装饰都在底部，所以从上方看，它和任何维多利亚时代的拱廊没什么两样，能看到的最好景观也就是几个漂亮的尖顶。更尴尬的是，向南的视野被格雷斯彻奇街85号（85 Gracechurch Street）的施工严重遮挡，那是一座邻近的32层大楼，目前才盖到十几层。未来那里也会有一个免费的五层公共露台，或许到时候人们可以从那边回望这里，但现在那里只有起重机和一大堆白色遮盖布。

A better view can be had by walking to either end, indeed the chief interest is finding yourself above street level in the heart of the City’s chief upthrust cluster. At the Waterstones end you can see 8 and 22 Bishopsgate, the Cheesegrater and right up close the Lloyds Building with minions riding the elevators on its knobbly metal shell. Then the Scalpel, the roof terrace I’m heading to next, postmodern Minster Court, Plantation Place and the Walkie Talkie. The Shard is still visible (for now), then the Gracechurch Street end has the finer silhouettes of St Paul’s dome, St Michael’s tower and St Peter’s spire. This roof terrace is a true oddity, a public space that’s nice to have but fundamentally pointless, and if you ever need a mid-City toilet or a dry spot to eat your sandwiches it’d make an intriguing diversion. 走到两端会有更好的视野，事实上，最大的乐趣在于发现自己身处金融城核心建筑群中，高出街道水平面。在 Waterstones 书店那一端，你可以看到主教门8号和22号、奶酪刨大厦（Cheesegrater），以及近在咫尺的劳埃德大厦（Lloyds Building），看着工人们在它那布满疙瘩的金属外壳上乘坐电梯。接着是“手术刀”大厦（Scalpel，我下一个要去的露台）、后现代风格的明斯特法院（Minster Court）、种植园大厦（Plantation Place）和对讲机大厦。碎片大厦（The Shard）目前还能看到，而格雷斯彻奇街那一端则有圣保罗大教堂圆顶、圣迈克尔塔和圣彼得尖塔更精致的剪影。这个屋顶露台确实是个怪胎，作为一个公共空间，它虽然不错，但本质上毫无意义。如果你在金融城中心需要找个厕所，或者找个干爽的地方吃三明治，它倒是一个有趣的去处。

The Garden at 120 at Fen Court 芬庭（Fen Court）的 120 花园（The Garden at 120） Opened February 2019, 15th floor, blogged here (map). Lift duration: 40 seconds, Staff on duty: 6. 2019年2月开放，位于15层，博客记录见此（地图）。电梯时长：40秒，值班人员：6人。

This one’s long-established, popular and still the largest roof garden in the City. You do have to endure a scanner chicane before being admitted but I was swiftly through, this time three minutes from joining the queue to reaching the roof. Get stuck behind a full party of teenage EU tourists and it could be rather longer. The lift brings you up mid-terrace with a large pergola close by, in 2019 bare but now with wisteria twinkling its last and a rose-bush shrubbery underneath. The gardeners did good. 这个露台历史悠久、广受欢迎，至今仍是金融城最大的屋顶花园。进入前你必须忍受安检通道，但我很快就通过了，这次从排队到到达屋顶只用了三分钟。如果你被一群欧盟青少年游客挡在后面，时间可能会长得多。电梯把你带到露台中央，附近有一个大凉棚，2019年时还光秃秃的，现在紫藤花已近花期尾声，下方还有玫瑰灌木丛。园丁们干得不错。

But the best thing here is the 360° panorama from the jagged perimeter, some of which is open enough to have a proper long distance view. Tower Bridge is almost unobscured, also the Tower itself, also the helipad at the Royal London in Whitechapel at almost the same elevation as yourself. But spin round and there’s also Docklands, the Crystal Palace transmitter and the London Eye, plus close-up the glories of the Gherkin in a convenient slim gap to the north. A few of the younger visitors seemed more interested in pouting than their backdrop but that’s their loss. If you’ve never been up here, or even thought to, give The Garden at 120 a go. 但这里最棒的是从锯齿状边缘看到的360度全景，其中一些位置足够开阔，可以欣赏到真正的远景。塔桥几乎毫无遮挡，伦敦塔本身也是，还有白教堂区皇家伦敦医院的直升机停机坪，高度几乎与你持平。转过身，还能看到码头区（Docklands）、水晶宫发射塔和伦敦眼，北面还有一个狭窄的缝隙，可以近距离欣赏“小黄瓜”（Gherkin）大厦的壮丽景色。一些年轻游客似乎对摆拍嘟嘴比对背景更感兴趣，那是他们的损失。如果你从未上来过，甚至从未想过，一定要去 120 花园看看。

Roof Terrace at One New Change 新换街一号（One New Change）的屋顶露台 Opened November 2010, 6th floor, blogged here (map). Lift duration: 20 seconds, Staff on duty: 3. 2010年11月开放，位于6层，博客记录见此（地图）。电梯时长：20秒，值班人员：3人。

When a shopping centre was plonked alongside St Paul’s Cathedral, someone had the sense to put a tongue of public terrace on the roof. The real motive may have been to give the rooftop bar an amazing setting for sipping frozen margueritas but the rest of us are also elevated winners. The glass-sided lift whisks you up from brand central with excellent views of the cathedral funnelled down a slim reflective notch. The upper terrace is slightly stepped with plants and benches, but if you sit down the view vanishes behind a grey bulwark labelled ‘Beware Sudden Drop’. The South Bank and the London Eye get a decent look-in but it’s really all about Wren’s dome, perfectly framed in a way that the telescope in Richmond Park no longer enjoys. Expect a brief visit, but distinctive. 当一个购物中心被安置在圣保罗大教堂旁边时，有人很有远见地在屋顶上开辟了一块公共露台。真正的动机可能是为了给屋顶酒吧提供一个啜饮冰冻玛格丽特的绝佳环境，但我们其他人也成了登高望远的赢家。玻璃电梯将你从品牌中心带上来，通过一个狭窄的反光槽，可以极好地俯瞰大教堂。上层露台略呈阶梯状，配有植物和长椅，但如果你坐下来，视野就会消失在写着“小心坠落”的灰色护墙后。南岸和伦敦眼也能看到，但这里真正的核心是雷恩（Wren）设计的圆顶，它被完美地框住，这种视角是里士满公园的望远镜所不再具备的。预计只会短暂停留，但这里非常独特。

Level 10 at Tate Modern 泰特现代美术馆（Tate Modern）10层 Opened June 2016, 10th floor, blogged here (map). Lift duration: 35 seconds, Staff on duty: 1. 2016年6月开放，位于10层，博客记录见此（地图）。电梯时长：35秒，值班人员：1人。

Tate Modern had high hopes for the 10th floor of the Bl… 泰特现代美术馆对 Bl… 的10层寄予厚望。