The owner of a celebrity restaurant told how he had sleepless nights after a burglar swiped £24,000 worth of wine and suspects the haul was stolen to order.
Nikita Ivanov watched on CCTV as Iuliu Kubola, 61, broke in using a crowbar and grabbed 73 bottles from Piazza Italiana on Threadneedle Street.
Footage shows Kubola putting his loot from the cellar into a wheelie bin, leaving and then loading it into the back of his tuk-tuk parked outside.
He then cycles away on the pedicab on May 6.
On June 15, Kubola returned to the same eatery to steal a further three wine bottles worth around £680.
He went back again four days later, but left without taking anything.
Mr Ivanov’s restaurant near Cornhill has featured on Made In Chelsea, Celebs Go Dating and entertained the likes of EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa, Charlotte Crosby and Sam Faiers.
Mr Ivanov, 28, told the Standard of his suspicions that Kubola had a “shopping list” of what to take from an unscrupulous third party.
He said: “It was a nightmare. When you work in a restaurant, it’s like a second home because people spend so much time here. Someone comes in at night and something is stolen, it doesn’t feel the same.
“A lot of the wine was vintage and it became difficult to determine the value. The minimum he took was £150 a bottle, so he knew what he was taking.
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“I think there was an order on specific wines. He left all the cheaper stuff, and in one of the CCTV clips, he had a note which he opens and checks.
“It’s a very small industry in London and he has to be selling the wine somewhere. It hasn’t been found.”
While most restaurants are so concerned about counterfeit wine they would never buy from middlemen, others are not.
Mr Ivanov believes Kubola was aware of police response times following a break-in because he “came in and out in five minutes”.
“I couldn’t sleep properly worrying if I was going to get a call from the alarm in the middle of the night,” he added.
Piazza Italiana - located in the Grade II former British Linen Bank building - opened in London during Covid as City workers started working from home more often. But it survived the pandemic when other businesses failed.
Thankfully, Mr Ivanov said no staff lost their jobs as a result of Kubola’s crimes. Insurers are bearing the cost and security has been bolstered.
Kubola was caught in the act when City of London Police constable Jordan Felstead recognised him in the street on June 22 having remembered an earlier briefing about people of interest.
He approached the raider who is seen in body-worn footage being stopped outside a bar.
Kubola, of Richie Street, Islington, pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on September 8.
