Backlash over Plans for Hatton Garden Heist Themed Bar

(IDEX Online) - Plans to turn the former Hatton Garden Safe Deposit vault in London into a heist-themed wine bar have provoked an angry backlash.

Raiders broke into the underground vault over the Easter holiday weekend in 2015 after drilling through a 50cm-thick reinforced concrete wall and stole the contents of dozens of safe deposit boxes valued at about £14 million ($19 million).

Opponents of the plan say it is in poor taste to cash in on a real crime scene, turning a robbery that caused serious financial losses for jewelers into a themed drinking attraction.

George Katz, of E Katz & Co, the oldest jewelry shop in Hatton Garden, which is located above the former vault, described the plans as "ghoulish and completely inappropriate."

There are also worries that the wine bar plan would displace established jewelry businesses, including E Katz & Co, remove valuable workshop space and further erode the character of Hatton Garden as a working jewelry district.

One safe deposit box owner said: "I was a victim of the Hatton Garden robbery and do not appreciate someone trying to profit from my misfortune."

Inception Group, the proposed operator of the wine bar, specializes in themed bars and restaurants at venues including a 1940s underground station, an old post office and the historic control room at London's former Battersea Power Station.

Under the wine bar proposal, the original vault, safe deposit boxes, damaged security gate and the hole the raiders drilled at Hatton Garden - where visitors would be able to take photographs - would all be preserved.

Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd went into liquidation months after the raid, after its business suffered a loss of custom in the wake of the robbery.

The landlord, Pearl & Coutts, says the project would preserve and enhance the building's heritage, attract visitors and make productive use of the space.

The planning application says the project would "celebrate and enhance the heritage significance of the building."