Views from The Shard, London

The Shard is the tallest building in the UK and the fourth tallest in Europe. It is 309.7 metres (1,016 ft) high and has 95 storeys, these being a mixture of office and residential accommodation. Construction began in 2009 and was completed in 2012.

The top two floors comprise a viewing gallery with superb views over London and beyond, although you do have to book a ticket to ride to the top via two express lifts – you change lifts halfway up. It is not the cheapest attraction in London – an advance ticket costs more than £25 and if you want to book a ride for the same time it will set you back more than £30!

Is it worth it? One problem is that – for obvious safety reasons – the viewing galleries are enclosed in glass, so all your photos will have an added haziness caused by this obstruction. You can use a number of “tellscopes”, which are digital viewers that give information about what can be seen.

These photos were taken by me on a visit in July 2014.

From below

At the bottom, looking up!

This is a slightly unusual view of the Shard, reflected in the windows of a building on the other side of the River Thames.

And in this shot the photographer gets reflected as well!

You can see Southwark Cathedral on the bottom, and the railway triangle that connects London Bridge, Charing Cross and Cannon Street stations. The road bridge in the foreground is London Bridge.

The Shard's shadow falls on the platforms of London Bridge Station as well as the roof of Hays Galleria (a mixed-use development that formerly a warehouse and wharf).

The most prominent building in this shot is the pencil-thin Post Office Tower.

The tracks carry thousands of commuters into London from southeast London and north Kent.

Time was when you climbed to the top of St Paul's to get the best views of London, but now you can look down on Wren's greatest masterpiece!

This cruiser saw active service in World War II and is now preserved as a museum ship close to Tower Bridge.

In this view you can just see a patch of red to the left-hand side. This was the beginning of the sea of ceramic poppies that later filled the whole of that area as a memorial to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.