How many times have you passed Battersea Power Station and thought, yes, I really should go up that chimney? If you’re anything like us, the answer is several, and the reason you haven’t is always the same: £24 a ticket. That’s proper London attraction pricing, and somehow it never quite feels like the right moment to commit.
From Monday 9 March, if you’re spending £50 in the shops anyway, the ride is free.
Battersea Power Station is running an offer throughout March (weekdays only, 9 to 30 March) where a receipt showing £50 spent in the shopping centre on a single day gets you a voucher for a complimentary Chimney Lift experience. Take the receipt to Guest Services, collect your voucher, head to the Chimney Lift desk, and ascend. The £50 can be spread across multiple shops on the same day, and each £50 you spend earns one voucher, so a family of four needs £200 of receipts and gets four of you up.
The experience itself takes 35 to 45 minutes. It begins in the Art Deco Turbine Hall A with an exhibition covering the power station’s history: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s recreated office, a working model of the station, interactive displays about the construction. Then the glass elevator takes you inside the northwest chimney to 109 metres, with 360-degree views over the London skyline. The Shard, the London Eye, Big Ben. You get around 10 minutes at the top. That’s short, but it’s genuinely spectacular, and on a clear day in March you’ll be very glad you finally went.
A couple of practical notes. The offer is weekdays only, so if you’re planning around work, that’s useful to know. There’s no cloakroom, so leave the large bag behind (a small rucksack or handbag is fine). And there’s a gift shop on the way out.
Getting there from Putney: the most enjoyable option is the Uber Boat from Putney Pier to Battersea Power Station Pier (check the timetable first, as the service doesn’t run from Putney during weekday off-peak hours). The train is the quickest: South Western Railway from Putney station to Queenstown Road runs every 20 minutes and gets you there in around 35 minutes door to door, with a 15-minute walk from the station to the power station.
One thing worth being clear on: the offer runs Monday to Friday only, 9 to 30 March. No weekends. So if you’re reading this on Friday, you have the weekend to plan. Just don’t turn up on Saturday expecting a voucher.
The standard adult ticket is £24. If you were going to spend £50 in the shops anyway (Zara, Mango, Ralph Lauren, and 150 others are all there) the maths have never been better. Go up.
