A revolving restaurant or rotating restaurant is a tower restaurant designed to rest atop a broad circular revolving platform that operates as a large turntable. The building remains stationary and the diners are carried on the revolving floor. The revolving rate varies between one and three times per hour and enables patrons to enjoy a panoramic view without leaving their seats. Such restaurants are often located on upper stories of hotels , communication towers , and skyscrapers .
22-643: Purley Way is a section of the A23 trunk road in the London Borough of Croydon , in the areas of Purley , Waddon and Broad Green , and has given its name to the out-of-town shopping area alongside it with a catchment area covering most of South London . It was designed as a bypass for Croydon, and opened in April 1925. It was formed from improvements to pre existing local roads: from north to south, Waddon Marsh Lane, Waddon Court Road and Coldharbour Lane. (Thornton Road,
44-558: A bus lane that suffered ridicule for not having any buses actually running on it. On 18 March 2010, plans to widen the section between Handcross and Warninglid in West Sussex to three lanes, removing an accident prone bend, were given the go ahead. Work started in autumn 2011 and the scheme was completed and opened in October 2014, with a better-than-expected improvement to safety. The 53-mile (85 km) road from London to Brighton forms
66-477: A circular structure, with a platform that rotates around a core in the center. The center core contains the building's elevators, kitchens, or other features. The restaurant itself rests on a thin steel platform, with the platform sitting on top of a series of wheels connected to the floor of the structure. Alternatively, some designs, like one in Memphis, Tennessee , have the platform mounted on tires . A motor rotates
88-473: A national trend towards out of town shopping. The retail parks were not formally recognised by Croydon Council until the publication of its 1997 Unitary Development Plan . The IKEA in Croydon is a 23,000 m furniture store which opened in 1992, on the site of Croydon "B" Power Station . The old power station chimneys, with the addition of illuminated bands in the store's blue and yellow colours, were retained as
110-571: A prominent advertisement. The store was revamped during 2006, to make it the largest IKEA in Britain: it was re launched in May 2006, at a ceremony attended by Mayor Maggie Mansell, and the ambassador of Sweden, Stefan Karlsson . IKEA is now the fifth biggest single employer in Croydon. The landmark chimneys have been a continuing point of contention with local residents. In September 2003, IKEA briefly considered demolishing them, stating that they cost over £70,000
132-670: A rotating restaurant for the Century of Progress , the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, although it was not built. A barrel-shaped, but stationary, restaurant on Fernsehturm Stuttgart , a TV tower in Stuttgart , Germany , built in 1956, was noted as the inspiration for the idea of a revolving restaurant. A revolving restaurant on Florianturm , a TV tower in Dortmund , Germany, was brought into service in 1959. The Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib designed
154-471: A year to maintain, but decided against it. Ideas that have been aired for their use have included incorporating a museum of the site's history, and constructing a revolving restaurant at the top. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown visited IKEA on 5 May 2005, during the General Election campaign. Purley Way Lido operated from 1935 to 1979; the diving board remains in the middle of a garden centre (which
176-609: Is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton , East Sussex , England. It is managed by Transport for London for the section inside the Greater London boundary, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Council for the section shadowed by the M23 motorway , National Highways (as a trunk road ) between the M23 and Patcham , and by Brighton and Hove Council from
198-1269: Is now closed). The Croydon Water Palace , an indoor water park complex, operated nearby from 1990 to 1996. The site of the Water Palace is now occupied by Colonnades Leisure Park . In the past, there has been a depository for the Science Museum in the Retail Park area, and Tramlink passes Purley Way. 51°22′45″N 0°07′16″W / 51.37929°N 0.12105°W / 51.37929; -0.12105 A23 road [REDACTED] A272 in Bolney [REDACTED] [REDACTED] M23 / A264 in Crawley [REDACTED] M23 in Merstham [REDACTED] A22 in Purley, London [REDACTED] A232 near Croydon [REDACTED] A214 in Streatham [REDACTED] A205 near Streatham [REDACTED] A203 in Brixton The A23 road
220-446: Is now the A23 became an arterial route following the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by the turnpike trusts . The increase in population of Brighton in the late eighteenth century, which transformed it from a small fishing village to a large seaside resort, enhanced the importance of this road, as did
242-658: Is said to be the first in the United States to design a revolving restaurant, at La Ronde , atop an office building at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu in 1961. Graham was awarded US patent 3125189 for the invention in 1964, and used the technology to build the former revolving " Eye of the Needle " restaurant at the top of Seattle's Space Needle , drawings of which appear in the patent application. One death has been attributed to
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#1732855351830264-524: The A27 to the centre of Brighton. The road has been a major route for centuries, and seen numerous upgrades, bypasses and diversions. The A23 begins near Lambeth North tube station . Formerly, it started as Westminster Bridge Road near Waterloo station , but this is now part of the A302. Almost immediately it turns south; the straightness of much of the heading south shows its Roman origins. The road becomes: What
286-552: The Cairo Tower with a revolving restaurant at its top, which opened in April 1961. The first revolving restaurant in the Balkans was built on the top floor of the OTE tower as part of the 34th Thessaloniki International Fair in 1965. The revolving restaurant was then closed, but has been in continued service since 1969. John Graham , a Seattle architect and early shopping mall pioneer,
308-465: The Greater London boundary was transferred from the Highways Agency to Transport for London . This caused delays to a planned relief road of Coulsdon , which had been announced in 1998. The then mayor, Ken Livingstone apologised in 2002 that TfL was unable to construct the relief road due to a lack of funds. The road was eventually completed in 2007, and which under TfL's ownership had acquired
330-766: The Croydon Gas Works were also on the Purley Way. The cooling towers of the gas works were huge, and featured in films including Terry Gilliam 's Brazil (1985). Croydon Airport (operational 1928–1959) was also located on Purley Way. In the early 1980s, retail warehouses began to appear on the Purley Way. The first opened on the Thornton Road Industrial Estate: the Queensway furniture store in 1980, MFI Furniture in 1981, Payless DIY in 1983, and Do It All in 1986. In March 1981, Sainsbury's opened
352-495: The basis of the route of the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run . This is featured in the film Genevieve ':, although most of the rural motoring scenes were shot in Buckinghamshire . The A23 is also used for various other London to Brighton events , although in many cases part of the route diverges to parallel roads to reduce congestion or add variety. Revolving restaurant Revolving restaurants are designed as
374-425: The city's most congested roads. The M23 motorway was originally proposed to run as far north as Streatham , relieving congestion on the route, but the section north of Hooley was never built. At junction 7 of the M23 motorway , signs for the northbound M23 (which terminates a few miles to the north) simply read "Croydon" with no other London destinations marked. In July 2000, control of the section of road inside
396-429: The first Homebase on Purley Way. In November 1991, Vision Technology Group Ltd opened the first PC World on Purley Way. Several distinct retail parks are now found along the length of the Purley Way, including Valley Park Retail and Leisure Complex , Croydon Fiveways and Colonnades Leisure Park . The development of the area for retail purposes was not the result of local planning guidance, but occurred as part of
418-594: The northern section of the bypass, was not renamed.) In 1932, Purley Way became the first road in the United Kingdom to be lit with sodium lights . The opening of Purley Way attracted industry to the area and it became the main industrial area of Croydon. Industry attracted to the area included Redwing Aircraft Ltd, Trojan Ltd (car manufacturers) and Tizer Ltd. There were also several metal companies including Standard Steel Co, Croydon Foundry Ltd, Metal Propellers Ltd and Southern Foundries Ltd. Croydon "B" Power Station , with architecture designed by Robert Atkinson ,
440-498: The residence there of George IV , as Prince of Wales, who made Brighton a place of fashion. When roads were originally classified, the A23 started at Purley Cross. The road north of this section, including Purley Way , which opened to traffic in April 1925, was part of the A22 . The current route north to Westminster Bridge dates from April 1935. The A23 in London has frequently been one of
462-543: The restaurant at less than one horsepower. The speed of rotation is noted to vary, depending on preference. It is believed that Emperor Nero had a rotating dining room in his palace Domus Aurea on the Palatine Hill with a magnificent view on the Forum Romanum and Colosseum . Archaeologists unearthed what they believed to be evidence of such a dining room in 2009. Architect and designer Norman Bel Geddes proposed
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#1732855351830484-464: Was built in the end of the 1940s and opened in 1950. It shut down in 1984, was demolished in 1991, and an IKEA was opened on its site. Its immediate surroundings were developed as the Valley Park Retail and Leisure Complex . The large chimneys of the power station were retained as a local landmark, which can be seen from Central Croydon's Centrale Shopping Centre. Croydon "A" power station and
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