Qualla: The View from The Shard https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The View from The Shard https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard The View from The Shard: Introduction https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Colin, CC BY-SA 4.0. The lifts climb at seven metres per second. From the ground-floor lobby, a 16-mile-per-hour ride - including a transfer at the 33rd floor - delivers visitors to the 68th level in about 60 seconds. The doors open and the view falls away in every direction. On a clear day visibility reaches 40 miles, which is enough to see the green smudge of the South Downs to the south, the Chiltern Hills to the north-west, and the curve of the Thames Estuary heading east toward the North Sea. The View from The Shard, which opened on 1 February 2013, is the highest publicly accessible vantage point in London. In its first year nearly 900,000 visitors paid to ride those lifts. The viewing platform made over five million pounds in profit before its first birthday.

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Image: Colin | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The View from The Shard: The 69th Floor: The Indoor Gallery https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Rod Allday, CC BY-SA 2.0. The main viewing gallery occupies the 69th floor of the Shard. It is a triple-height space with floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides of the building's tapered pyramid - a 360-degree panorama of London from 244 metres up. The team of London Experts who work on the platform a...

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Image: Rod Allday | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-the-69th-floor-the-indoor-gallery.mp3 0:06 2 full The View from The Shard: The 72nd Floor: Above the Pyramid https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Chris Downer, CC BY-SA 2.0. Three storeys higher, accessed by another short lift ride, is the 72nd floor - the highest public level in the building at exactly 800 feet, 244 metres above the ground. This gallery is partly open to the sky. The pinnacle of the Shard continues upward overhead - the unclad spire...

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Image: Chris Downer | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-the-72nd-floor-above-the-pyramid.mp3 0:06 3 full The View from The Shard: What 40 Miles Looks Like https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Tom Parnell from Scottish Borders, Scotland, CC BY-SA 2.0. London is famous for not being a city that gives you a view. The traditional skyline has very few tall buildings, and most of the great central squares - Trafalgar, Parliament, Soho - sit at street level surrounded by Georgian and Victorian terraces. To get an aerial sense of Lon...

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Image: Tom Parnell from Scottish Borders, Scotland | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-what-40-miles-looks-like.mp3 0:06 4 full The View from The Shard: The Highest Public Toilet in Britain https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Chris Downer, CC BY-SA 2.0. One small architectural detail at the top of the building has earned its own modest fame. The visitor toilets on the upper viewing levels feature floor-to-ceiling windows positioned to look directly out over the Thames and the City of London. The windows have optional electric bl...

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Image: Chris Downer | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-the-highest-public-toilet-in-britain.mp3 0:06 5 full The View from The Shard: A View Earned by Money and a Long Lift https://qualla.com/the-view-from-the-shard/ Photo credit Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0. Tickets are not cheap. The View charges between 25 and 35 pounds depending on time of day and visibility booking - which means an entire family outing can cost over 100 pounds, a fact that has drawn criticism from those who would prefer that the highest public view of the city be...

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Image: Thomas Nugent | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/the-view-from-the-shard-wp/gcpv-the-view-from-the-shard-a-view-earned-by-money-and-a-long-lift.mp3 0:06 6 full