Touring London's Free Public Roof Terraces, From Useful to Pointless

A planning quirk has incentivised City of London developers to bolt free public roof terraces onto new skyscrapers, and the results are wildly uneven. The three best — Sky Garden, Horizon 22, and The Lookout — require advance booking, but several walk-in alternatives exist with no reservation needed. Quality ranges from genuinely spectacular to barely worth the lift ride.

The Garden at 120 remains the standout, offering a 360-degree panorama from the 15th floor that takes in Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Docklands and the Gherkin. One New Change frames St Paul’s dome beautifully from its 6th-floor terrace. The newly opened Terrace at 1 Leadenhall, by contrast, sits awkwardly on the 4th floor with views half-blocked by neighbouring construction, while Tate Modern’s Level 10 viewing balcony has been sealed off entirely after a lawsuit from Neo Bankside residents. The Post Building’s terrace was closed for unexplained maintenance.

The piece reads as a practical field guide for anyone wanting elevated City views without booking weeks ahead, while quietly skewering the planning-driven theatre that produces terraces nobody really uses.