London is a city with over a thousand years of history, and anywhere that established will inevitably become the home of some extraordinary myths and legends along the way, many of which can be visited with the help of private tours.
One of the greatest examples of this is The Great Detective himself, Sherlock Holmes, who despite not being a real person has received statues, a blue plaque typically reserved for important people and events in history, and one of London’s railway locomotives was named after him.
Some people even believe he was a real person, such was the power of writing and the many detailed references to his home in London as well as the many different European locales he visited in the 60 adventures (four novels and 56 short stories) written by the original author that have since entered the public domain.
Part of the reason for this is that there are so many locations in London which are either outright included in the books or strongly implied to be there, so if you want to go on a deductive investigation hunting The Great Detective, here is where to start.
221B Baker Street
As early as the first sentence of the second chapter of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study In Scarlet, 221B Baker Street became the consistent home of Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr John Watson, and the starting point of so many of his cases.
Rather amusingly, when Sir Arthur was writing, Baker Street only went up to number 85, with the numbering only reaching the 200s in 1930.
However, that only adds to the mystery and the tour, as there are two places that are often cited by Sherlockian experts as Mr Holmes and Dr Watson’s home.
The first was Abbey House, the former home of the Abbey National Building Society (now part of Santander). Sherlock would not have lived in the Art Deco-inspired building as it stands today, but as this is officially where 221B Baker Street stands, it has become a major site to visit on a Sherlock tour.
As soon as Abbey House was built it received dozens of letters a month addressed to Sherlock Holmes, to the point that the Abbey Road Building Society (as it was then), hired a “secretary to Sherlock Holmes” to answer them and a statue in bronze was installed near the building and near Baker Street tube station in 1999.
The other popularly claimed home of Sherlock is just down the road at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, complete with a blue plaque proclaiming it as number 221B (despite being between 237 and 241).
The gift shop is free to enter, but the museum itself also includes some fascinating recreations of the apartment as it looked in the Granada Television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.
Criterion Restaurant
Facing Piccadilly Circus and one of the most historic restaurants in the world, “Criterion Bar” as Sir Arthur puts it is a truly remarkable fine dining establishment and a centrepiece of London history in both the 19th and 20th centuries.
However, it is also an incredibly critical place in the world of Sherlock Holmes, as this is where A Study in Scarlet begins, with Dr Watson searching for a place to stay following his military service.
He meets “young Stamford”, who subsequently introduces him to Sherlock Holmes, at the bar there, and the rest is history.
Unfortunately, the building appears to be closed, but it still stands and there are plenty of chances to take photos of it and the rest of Piccadilly Circus.
The Empty House
One of the most pivotal stories in the history of Sherlock Holmes was The Adventure of the Empty House, which was the story where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle brought the great detective back after he went over the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarty at the end of The Final Problem.
The “Empty House”, known as Camden House in the story, is said to overlook Baker Street and was the hiding place for a sniper who tried to shoot Sherlock, only to hit a wax dummy that had been placed in his bedroom whilst Mr Holmes had faked his death travelled the world.
What is so interesting about the story is that it features several interesting walks through fascinating byways and tiny streets in London, including from Cavendish Square to Blandford Street, which the site states to be where The Empty House stands, although there is some dispute as to the exact location.
