A few weeks ago was Open House weekend in London, and I and several
hundred others got up early to try and get a peek inside the Bank of
England, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.
I have been thinking, for some time, about writing a novel partially
set in the Bank of England, so this was a great chance to do some
research and get into parts of the bank you don't normally see. What
follows is from some of the notes that I took while I was going around
- I thought I would write a blog posting from them that I can draw on
later as I work more on the story. I might update this post as I refine my research.
I will write another blog post some time in the future more in
general about my ideas for the novel - which I am doing quite well with
at the moment, in terms of shaping out the story. Suffice to say, it
involves this worker at the bank who meets this strange woman who tells
this story about how her family lost a fortune and how it ended up in
the bank, unjustly. If the Bank of England sounds a bit of a dry
subject - don't worry, my plans for the novel involve sex,
hallucinations, drug taking, possible sightings of ghosts, deceit,
crime, obsession over money, comedy, voyeurism, and plot twist turning
adventure rooted in abuse of historical stories (it is not lost on me
how much money the Da Vinci Code has made - not that I want to write
anything quite that badly written - there will be no albinos ... Audry
Tatou is welcome to play a female character in the movie though).
Unfortunately - though predictably
given the security - it was forbidden to take photographs during the visit to the bank.
A couple of months ago I went for the first time to the bank's on-site museum, which was also very useful. It has, as you would expect, a lot of stuff about the history, how it
was set up in the 17th century and important characters. There are some
great artefacts, such as tally sticks, which used to be these kind of
wooden counting sticks. There are also great photographs and paintings. There
were good stories about methods used to stop forgers - I think many a
forger was executed, probably in nearby Smithfield Market, where they
did for William Wallace.
But getting inside the working bank was something else again. I got
there at 10am and had to queue for around an hour, entering through the
museum entrance, where we were greeted at the gateway by gatekeepers
wearing the traditional pink overcoats, waistcoats, and top hats. I am
told later that the senior gatekeepers have gold bands on their hats.
After going through an airport style metal scanner we met our tour
guide and went through a heavy door into the working bank's main
corridors. Apparently most of the ground floor has marble floors, with
mosaics. There was a statue of King William III, which the guide said
was worth £1.75m. It looked quite heavy.
As well as the guide, we were escorted at all times by a man from
security who had a walkie talkie (plot idea for novel: someone on an
open day weekend leaves a bug in, say, the governor's office or
somewhere ... though they probably screen it for devices after the
weekend).
We then saw the front desks, which you get to by coming in through the
main entrance on Threadneedle Street. The bank came to its current site
in 1734 and wings were added on later. The bank was at first a private
bank. The outside, curtain wall has no windows and is eight foot thick.
There is no foundation stone but on the main mosaic in the main
entrance hall there is an incongruous red tile. There was a model of
the bank from above and I counted eight open spaces.
We then went to a grand staircase off the main entrance hall - it went
three floors down from the ground floor and seven floors up. Then we
wandered into the garden, which is behind the entrance hall. The guide
explained this was the governor's garden and bank staff were not
normally allowed in. It was a space for the governor to take guests,
and that might be compromised by bank staff "having our sandwiches out
there", she said, a little gloomily. It was very beautiful and
overlooked by lots of windows - it felt, in some ways, like the design
centre of the bank and much more alive than the fortress like walls you
see from the outside.
photo: Hinius
Apparently the bank has its own water supply, which is used for the
cooling system. She also said something about how they destroy old
notes and you can get the ground up notes to use as wedding confetti.
I think the garden came about when the bank needed to expand in the
18th century. Apparently there were concerns after the Gordon Riots
that the position of the original church meant there were fears rioters
could get onto its roof and into the bank.
I need to check exactly what happened but I think maybe the garden is
where the church was because they knocked it down (or moved it) and
could not build on consecrated ground.
There are mulberry trees in the garden, which were apparently chosen
because their roots do not extend so far down; the guide said the
vaults were "feet" away beneath the garden. There is a statue of St
Christopher, which I think might be linked to the moved / rebuilt
church. There is also a war memorial.
The guide said that most offices in the bank don't have a view of the
garden and you are considered very lucky if you have one. We visited
important parts of the bank and official rooms but there is also a
suite of modern offices.
From the garden you walk through French doors into the governor's
office. There was a football on the mantelpiece with Aston Villa's
badge. The current governor uses a modern desk but the original bank's
writing desk is also in the room. We then went through to the parlours,
used by the governor and the directors. There were portraits of various
governors on the walls.
In one hallway there was some steps down to a door which is the
governor's own, private way down into the vaults. It was kind of dark,
and I think padded with black leather. There was a velvet rope strung
in front of it and presumably that it is not the last security
arrangement before you get there.
We had a look around the first floor parlour rooms; there was a
photograph of the Queen by one window and lots of grand paintings and
furnishings and a big alabaster fireplace. We then went through double
doors, which were apparently put in place to stop staff from
eavesdropping on conversations.
The room we went into after the first parlour room is where the
monetary policy committee hold their press conferences about interest
rates - which they have set since the chancellor gave this power to the
bank in May 1997. The guide notes, however, that seven of those on the
committee are appointed by the government - so it is not exactly like
they have lost total power. Only two on the committee are independents.
She says that when the Financial Service Authority was set up the bank
lost 500 jobs overnight. She said the bank currently had some 1,700
staff, in contrast to the 8,000 in the 1980s. One of the reasons for
the lower staff levels is the more advanced IT systems. She adds that
there is one department involved in making preparations for the UK
joining the Eurozone - which, if it did happen, would mean the loss of
several more hundred jobs. Probably not worth sweating on that right
now.
(I like the notion of this Euro kind of steering group ... given the
political scenario, it seems like a kind of Waiting for Godot set-up
and I am thinking that one of the main characters in my novel will work
there ... the idea being that - partially because of the fact he has
little to do, he is on the brink of a bit of a breakdown).
We then went into the Court Room, which is used for lunches and
dinners. There is an oval table, which is used because it makes talking
to people easier. (There is the design of a wand, which you see on
medical services in the US, but I have forgotten what its significance
was there). There were also owls in some of the design features because
the designer - had owls at his home in Kent. There was also some device
for tracking the conditions at sea ... the idea being that in earlier
years the directors would probably own trading ships and would want to
follow their progress as best they could.
In the Court Room there is also a desk which used to be owned by William Pitt.
I asked the guide whether she could recommend a basic history book at
the bank and she said it would probably be best to contact the museum's
curator, John Keyworthy. She is a bit worried by my notepad and when I
explain I am a journalist she is even more anxious to say I should
check with the press office. I say I am doing background because I
sometimes cover city stories.
I did not want to tell her I was gathering material for a novel idea.
Standing there in the actuality of the bank, I thought I might sound a
bit silly saying that. Still, the visit was very inspiring for the
novel idea overall.
After the tour, we were decanted into the museum, where they have a
gold bar - encased in protective plexiglass - which you can snake your
hand in and lift. It is pretty heavy and the guy from the museum
standing next to it (there is also a camera, in case you try to pull a
fast one) said it was worth around £130,000.
He said that a few bars which the museum has on display are the only
ones the bank actually owns. The rest are owned by the state - around
£40bn in gold and other currency underpins the UK's currency. Some
other gold is kept there from other countries and so on.
He said the oldest gold they have dates from around 1914. Each bar
has a reference on it which can be keyed into a database to get its
particulars. He said the government had sold quite a bit of gold, which
he indicated, diplomatically, might not have been a great idea as its
value was going up again.
After leaving the bank, wandering near Liverpool St with my camera, I noticed this shadowy figure. I posted it onto the Banksy group on Flickr, though I have no idea if it is one of his.
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