The tickets will be available from Southwark libraries – including John Harvard Library in Borough High Street – from Wednesday 19 December.

(From the SE1 website).

Locals will be able to visit the viewing galleries on levels 68, 69 and 72 of the European Union’s tallest building between 25 and 29 January.

Tickets for the attraction – which opens to the public on 1 February – normally cost £25 in advance or £29.95 on the day.

Details of the offer for residents are available at www.southwark.gov.uk/shard

The restaurants and bars on levels 31 to 33 of the Shard are also due to open next spring but customers will pay a cover charge intended to deter sightseers.

Southwark’s opposition Lib Dem group recently called on the developers of the Shard to waive the cover charge for local residents.