I have lived in South London for most of my life and have watched with interest as the Shard has gone up over the last couple of years. You can see it more or less from any hill around here, perched as it is next to London Bridge station just over the road from Guy’s Hospital. It has transformed the South London skyline. It was normal, then, that we paid a visit to it today as a Staycation Treat.

The Shard is not a pretty building, in my opinion, despite its impressiveness. I find it quite hostile in nature and maybe that was the desired effect of naming it after a piece of broken glass, looming over the cuddlier London skyscrapers like the Cheesegrater, the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie building.

I feel obliged to give you a few Shard facts and figures from the guide book:

  • The Shard is the tallest habitable structure in Western Europe at a height of 309.6 metres.
  • The Shard is 95 storeys high but the highest habitable part is the 72nd storey viewing platform
  • On a clear day (if that’s possible in London) one can see not forever but for 35 miles in each direction. Which probably explains why I couldn’t see @kingbagcarrier waving in Doncaster.

 

 

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