The bank vault used in the James Bond film Goldfinger is to be turned into a bar as part of multi-million-pound plans to convert one of London’s grandest buildings into a hotel.
Private members’ club Soho House and New York hotel developer Sydell Group have teamed up to develop the former Midland Bank headquarters, a Grade I-listed building on Poultry, less than a minute’s walk from the Bank of England.
The vault was used to shoot the Fort Knox scenes in the 1964 film, which starred Sean Connery as Bond, Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as villain Auric Goldfinger.
Famously, Goldfinger’s lethal Korean manservant Oddjob, played by Harold Sakata, met his demise in the vault when he was electrocuted by Bond.
Plans have been lodged with the City of London Corporation for a 255-bed hotel, according to documents seen by CoStar News. Soho House agreed a lease last December and will occupy the entire 310,000 sq ft building. The Sydell Group, which specialises in “lifestyle” hotels, will be the developer.
Rather than Soho House’s usual “members only” policy, the building will be accessible to the public.
The Midland Bank building was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who also masterminded The Cenotaph on Whitehall, and was built between 1925 and 1937.
The hotel will contain restaurants, bars, health and leisure facilities, event spaces and rooftop terraces with a bar/restaurant and swimming pool. The building’s grand banking hall on the ground floor will be used as the hotel’s reception area, and the main entrances from Poultry and Princes Street will be retained.
Many of the existing banking counters will be refurbished and the former behind-the-counter areas subdivided into restaurant, café, bar and shops. Domes on the seventh floor will be transformed into bars with terraces and the top floor will be converted into a terrace with a rooftop bar.
Soho House Group, which was founded in London in 1995, has 35,000 members worldwide.
