Useful things to know before your visit
Address: One New Change, 1 New Change, The City EC4M 9AF. Telephone: 0207 002 8910. Website: onenewchange.com
How much do the tickets cost?
The roof terrace is free.
What are the opening hours?
Opening times for the roof terrace are 6am to midnight (Mon-Sun). For the shops it’s 10am to 6pm (Mon-Wed and Fri-Sat); 10am to 8pm (Thu); 12 noon to 6pm (Sun).
How much time do you need?
A typical visit to One New Change takes 20 to 30 minutes.
Which buses go to One New Change?
Bus routes 4, 8, 25, 56, 100, 172, 242 and 521 all stop close by.
Which is the closest train station?
The nearest station is St. Paul’s on the Central line. It only takes a minute to walk to One New Change.
Which other attractions are nearby?
These attractions are all within 15 minutes walk of One New Change: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Postman’s Park, Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall, London Mithraeum, Mansion House, Bank of England Museum, St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Royal Exchange, Globe Theatre, London Museum, Tate Modern, Dr. Johnson’s House, The Monument and Clink Prison Museum.
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Email My review of One New Change
If you’re coming to London with someone who’s visited every attraction in their dogged-eared copy of Lonely Planet then you might still be able to surprise them with a visit to this place.
But let’s start with a quick little sit down in St. Paul’s Churchyard first (that little garden round the north-side of the cathedral). Tourists are always taking photos of its gilded column because they think it might be important, but it’s just marking the location of a long-gone preaching pulpit where medieval priests used to make incendiary speeches about our sinful society.
If you try the same thing nowadays then you’ll be preaching to a bench full of builders, drivers and skivers eating their Pret A Manger sandwiches on their lunch break.
Photo: londondrum.comNow walk to the very end of the garden and you’ll see the One New Change shopping centre over the road. I don’t normally recommend visiting a shopping centre on a day out but this is no ordinary shopping centre… can you see that path leading straight through the centre of it towards a couple of glass lifts? Tell your friend that you’re just nipping inside to use the loo and watch their face as St. Paul’s rises up during your ride to the rooftop observation deck.
View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the rooftop terrace
Photo: londondrum.comHow cool is that view! I think this is the finest view of St. Paul’s from anywhere in London, but what else can we see… if you can’t see the Tate Modern then you’ve probably got your glasses on back to front. The same with The Shard and the London Eye. But I’ll give you a point for spotting Southwark Cathedral and the top few feet of Shakespeare’s Globe (that’s literally all you can see of it).
See if you can find the Houses of Parliament – that will give you a good test. And I’ll give you another point if you can spot the top tip of Westminster Cathedral. (But I do mean the cathedral and not the abbey – there’s a difference!) For a bonus point try and find the ornate clock that’s hanging off the side of the Royal Courts of Justice.
Photo: londondrum.comIf you don’t mind hanging around in the blustery wind for five minutes then you’ll eventually see some trains rattling into Cannon Street station, but you won’t be able to hear them with the white noise of the wind drowning everything out. You can see the busy streets below and occasional plane passing overhead but all you can hear over the wind are the wheeling seagulls being buffeted around in the clouds.
When the weather’s a bit nicer people like to eat their lunch up here because they’ve got some concrete benches and a bar if you want a beer. And they sometimes put up a big TV screen so everyone can watch the summer sports.
Photo: londondrum.comRoman mosaics inside One New Change shopping centre
Twenty years ago this location used to be home to one of the Bank of England’s old buildings and if you walk to the end of the roof then you’ll find one of the Romanesque mosaics that originally furnished its foyer.
Photo: londondrum.comYou can find some more of these modern mosaics down in the basement level, tucked away behind the escalators – there’s a decorative pointed star, and some more of Elizabeth II, William III and Mary.
I’ve ranked One New Change as ★8 in the best free attractions in London
It also appears in my free one-day London itinerary and what to do in London in 2 days itinerary
London Squire guidebook – Check out my guidebook available to buy at Amazon, Apple and Kobo. I’ve personally visited 210 London landmarks, attractions and hotels and collected all of my reviews, example itineraries, handy practical info, and advice about using the buses and trains into an eBook, along with 675 original photos
What do you think? (6)
Average rating ★★★★★★★★★★Ask a question, or share your experience of One New Change
Jan Hi Craig. Thank you for your review because we had never heard of One New Change and we loved it. My husband and I took our grandchildren up there to see St. Paul’s and they were wowed, as we were. I recommend the view to everyone – and it’s free! (reply)
MStock Do you have to pay to visit the roof view? (reply)
↳Craig Hi MStock. You don’t have to pay, it’s totally free. You just ride the lift in the middle of the shopping centre up to the roof. (reply)
Amanda My husband and I visited the One New Change and we had never knew it existed. It was great to go to the top and have a great view of St. Pauls and other buildings. If you want an even better view of London, visit the Sky Garden (Walkie Talkie Building) 35 floors up and a cafe is also on this floor. Its also free. At the moment you need to pre book your free tickets online and there is a timed entry. (reply)
↳Craig Hi Amanda, that’s definitely worth doing as well – attractions/sky-garden.php (reply)
TPrice I have enjoyed this view many times but they have erected some glass walls which I fervently hope they will remove. I can’t imagine for a single second that anyone actually fell over the edge 👎 (reply)
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