Lift 109
Austerity. Brexit. Covid. £6 pints. Austerity again. It’s been a long decade, so the opportunity to ride a Willy Wonka style glass elevator to the top of a chimney stack is exactly the kind of bonkers, awe-inspiring fun that Londoners need right now.
Is it worth it? In a nutshell, yes. But like a pistachio, getting to the good bit is sometimes frustrating.
Your ticket will have an arrival time, and those who are always early will find themselves politely turned away. The end-to-end experience is a staged series of waiting rooms to carefully control the crowds.
First there’s security. Then you’ll be in a mock Control Room with more than enough interactive touch screens and historical photos to occupy your time for the 25 minutes you’ll be there. “You can touch everything”, they’ll say as you enter. Note: that doesn’t apply to the attractive staff.
In the next stage you stand for 5 minutes watching motion sensitive wall displays that aren’t interesting enough to distract you from the fact that you’re in another waiting room. This felt like a missed opportunity for a bit of Battersea history narrated by someone famous. Eventually you’ll get into a bog-standard rectangular lift, because the base of the chimney stack is 12 stories above you. That’s where the real fun starts.
35 minutes after your ticketed time you’ll find yourself in the glass elevator. Every head aimed upwards as the music and lights guide you to a 360 degree view of London that gloriously appears as you pop out the top, 109 metres above ground. Even on a rainy day it was a truly magical moment. Now I know how a groundhog feels when it peeks out of the burrow and sees spring!
You get about 10 minutes in the lift, and the overall experience will last 45 unless you accidentally end up locked in the Infinity Room at the end, like my group was. Then again it was only Day 2. I suspect they’ll have sorted out the teething problems by now, and I’m sure I’ll find out as this is such a unique experience that I’ll definitely do it again.
Plan your visit:
Visit lift109.co.uk for more information and to book tickets.
Follow @chimneylift109 on Instagram for additional info and imagery.
Prices from £15.90 adult / £11.50 child.
NOTE: Ticket costs appear to use a surge pricing model. Days will be listed as “off-peak” until availability reduces and prices rise to Standard and Peak.
While you’re there…
Be sure to check out these two extra — and free! — areas that explore the history of Battersea Power Station. I encourage you to see these while you can, as I expect they’ll eventually be removed to make way for more retail.
History in the Making — on the ground floor of Turbine Hall A — provides a timeline of the station alongside some amazing archival imagery, including rarely seen shots of the original 2-stack station before they decided to double it in size.
Power of Place — by the Thames-side / North entrance — has tons of images, videos and scale models of some of the regeneration proposals that never made it past concept stage. Wrapping it in a roller coaster would have been an amazing sight to see!
BONUS: Ascent Video
Spoiler alert: Don’t watch this if you plan to go and want to experience the lift ascent for the first time through your own eyes (or smart phone).
PLUS…
Check the What’s On page so you don’t miss any other great shows closing soon.
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