St Johns Beacon

Radio City Tower (also known as St. John’s Beacon) is a radio station in Liverpool, England, constructed in 1969 and opened by Queen Elizabeth II. It is 138 metres (452 ft) tall, and including its 10m antenna, makes it the tallest structure in Liverpool. 

Previously the tower operated as a revolving restaurant with an observation area on the rooftop. The original restaurant closed in 1977 and re-opened in 1983 as a “Buck Rogers” space-themed restaurant. However, this was closed a year later following fire-safety regulations, which ruled that a lack of staircase made the building unsafe.

The tower was fully refurbished in 1999 at a cost of £5 million and it reopened in August 2000. It now functions as the studios for Hits Radio Liverpooland Greatest Hits Radio. A fireproof staircase was added and the observation area on the second floor was turned into the offices for the radio station. While the tower roof is home to the Digital Audio Broadcasting multiplex, the radio stations housed in the tower do not directly broadcast from the tower.

The original revolving mechanism still exists but the weight of the new studio facilities means that the original rotating floor can no longer turn and has now been secured using brackets.

Public tours of the tower operate every day.