BT Tower: back to the 60s

Speaking to Business Editor Siobhan Kennedy about David Cameron’s in/out referendum on EU membership, Mr Patterson, who leads one of the biggest companies in the country, said Britain should stay in Europe and that it was better negotiating from the inside than outside.

He said the prime minister’s negotiating strategy was a “challenge”, but that he was confident other EU states were looking for similar reforms. Business leaders had to sell the sell the benefits of EU membership, he said, and he would be prepared to participate in the referendum debate.

Mr Patterson said: “We need to be in Europe. It’s very important for our business, it provides markets, particularly for our global services business, which services customers in over 170 countries around the world.”

Referring to Mr Cameron’s negotiations with other EU leaders, he said employment regulations “could be simplified, but we’re always going to be, I think, in a position where we can negotiate better access to markets from the inside than we can from the outside and that’s why we think we should be in it”.

Allies

Mr Patterson said he was confident from talking to other business leaders in the EU that there were other member states “looking for the same sorts of things that the prime minister is pushing for, so I think he will build support, I think he will find allies, and I’m confident that when it comes to a vote, the general public, British citizens, will see this is the future of the country”.

Asked what it would mean if Britain left the EU, he said: “I think it would be bad for our business. An important part of our business is serving major corporates. They are looking for opportunity to invest, they want to find good places to make those investments, they want to find talented people to work with, and if we’re not in the centre of Europe driving the agenda, I think it will bring into question whether or not that investment comes to the UK or whether or not it goes abroad.”

Views from the top of the BT Tower to mark its 50th anniversary. pic.twitter.com/qbD0Fusvlc

— siobhan kennedy (@siobhankennedy4) June 19, 2015

Mr Patterson was speaking to coincide with the BT Tower’s 50th anniversary celebrations, which will include the temporary reopening of the restaurant at the top of the building.

It will be open for two weeks this summer – from 25 July to 7 August – giving 1,400 diners the chance to eat in the revolving restaurant which boasts dramatic views across London.

Ballot

But a meal there, decided by ballot, will not come cheap: a four-course lunch costs £49.95 a head, with a seven-course dinner priced at £67.95.

The 180m tower, which has featured in several films and a series of Doctor Who, was officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1965, with the public restaurant opened by Tony Benn and Billy Butlin the following year.

The tower, originally known as the Post Office Tower, was closed to the public in 1971, while the restaurant remained open until 1980.