Hidden Manchester Map> HSBC Vault 📍
The 1928 Midland / HSBC on King Street designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens has an underground vault. The building is currently Jamie Oliver’s Italian and the vault was preserved as a basement dining room. The toilets downstairs (featuring authentic Thomas Crapper toilets) were the safety deposit box inspection rooms for customers. There was quite a haul of valuables removed before Jamie Oliver moved in, including Joy Division master tapes and a gun.
£1m stash of jewellery, Joy Division master tapes and even a GUN were in safe deposit boxes on the site of Jamie Oliver's new restaurant
Fun fact… the vault in the London branch (also built by Lutyens) was used as a double for Fort Knox in Goldfinger.
Its huge vault, which once stored precious metals and cash, was famously used in the filming of the third James Bond movie Goldfinger. Released in 1964, starring Sean Connery, the film doubled as Fort Knox in a sequence that saw one of the most iconic Bond villains – the deadly Korean manservant Oddjob – meet a painful end, electrocuted in a tussle with the suave secret agent.
Have a look at the Manchester Vault in this photo on Flickr from scrappy nw. You can also see photos of the interior on 28DaysLater in these reports from July 2009 (images broken), March 2010, May 2010, Oct 2010.