ninme

BBC - Opening the bank

The Bank of England is a familiar name and institution. But how much do you know about the building and its cavernous bullion vaults? …

But the inside of this landmark building remains relatively unknown, a slice of hidden London.

That isn’t entirely accidental. Because large parts of the bank are underground, storing bank notes and gold. When you step inside the bank, below your feet is, the bank claims, the second biggest concentration of gold bullion on the planet.

I suppose first would be Fort Knox?

The bank says it has 400 tonnes of UK government gold stored - but it won’t say how much else is under lock and key in its vaults, including the gold reserves of other countries. …

The identity of staff who work in the bullion vaults is also now a security matter, after concerns about “tigernapping”, where relatives of bank employees are held hostage.

The bank is a much bigger building than first appearances suggest. Above ground, it occupies three and half acres, crammed into the heart of the City of London.

And the area below ground, which includes three disused wells, has more floorspace than the City’s tallest building, Tower 42 (formerly the NatWest Tower).

Cool!