You are in the bank manager’s office when pandemonium breaks out, shutters slam down and there is a robbery in action.
You and your team are trapped and have just one hour to find the way out and stop The Heist.
This is the hotly anticipated second escape room at The Counting House bar in Broadstairs and it is not for the faint-hearted.
The robbery unfolds around you as your team use their skills to escape. The life-like action is thanks to creators Dan Kelsall, who owns The Counting House with wife Teresa, and Steve Porritt.
The pair created The Bank Job in 2020 where teams become robbers who have one hour to crack the vault and clinch the diamond and now they have turned the experience on its head with teams in a heist hostage situation.
The hi-tech escape rooms are based in vaults at the venue which was formerly a Lloyds bank branch and retains many of the original features – including the vaults, their doors and the bullion safe.
Dan said: “Steve and I wanted to build on the success of The Bank Job escape room which has now had over 1500 teams play it and has been Trip Advisor’s travellers choice two years in a row.
“We used our vault in the main bar area to build the room which took us around 18 months and posed plenty of logistical issues due to the nature of the original vault constructed with two metre thick and metal reinforced walls.”
Once again the duo have been sticklers for getting the action to be as immersive as possible.
Dan said: “Slowly, the bank manager’s office which the teams escape from was born. Teams are trapped in the office as a bank robbery takes place.
“To facilitate this The Counting House was closed for a day and turned back into a bank. Actors were hired to play the roles of customers and staff and a weapons expert was brought in with decommissioned firearms for the purposes of filming the bank robbery sequences that appear during the game.
“Basil, the much loved extra team member from the original Bank Job escape room also makes an appearance in The Heist.”
The Heist caters for team of between two and five people and they have 60 minutes to solve the puzzles and get out of the office in a bid to shut the robbers down.
Despite only recently opening, The Heist is already proving a hit.
Prices are on a sliding scale, dependent on how many team members are taking part. All gang participants must be 18 years or older after 6.30pm.
All persons under 16 must be accompanied inside the room by an adult and need to be aged 10+
To book go to: https://thebankjobbroadstairs.resova.co.uk/items/view/4
