Sherlock Holmes Museum

You should bear in mind that the Sherlock Holmes stories are fictional so it is not where Sherlock Holmes actually lived and worked (as he was, of course, a fictional character). However, the Sherlock Holmes Museum is set out how you would expect it would have been if Sherlock Holmes were real and many rooms are laid out in a similar manner to the 1984 Granada television series.

What to see at the Sherlock Holmes Museum

The museum is set out over three floors with exhibitions detailing Sherlock Holmes stories and rooms set out as you would expect them to be when Sherlock Holmes lived and worked in them.

You get the opportunity to have a photo taken dressed in Sherlock’s deerstalker hat and if you like the look you can buy your own hat at the gift shop downstairs (£50), but if you want to real deal (rather than a cheaper model made for tourists) head to Lock & Co on St James Street and buy a proper tweed deerstalker for £155. Note: Arthur Conan Doyle never mentioned a deerstalker hat in any of his books so this is yet another inauthentic aspect of the museum.

If the location looks different to what you recall from the recent Sherlock Holmes TV series, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, that’s because the most recent TV series was filmed on North Gower Street near Euston Station. Speedy’s Sandwich Bar, the cafe from the show, is located at 187 N Gower Street.

Visiting the Sherlock Holmes Museum

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is located at 221b Baker Street, only a three-minute walk from Baker Street tube station (on the Bakerloo line). If you’re having problems finding the museum, that’s because it is actually located between 237 and 241 Baker Street, but got permission to use the street number 221b from the City of Westminster so it could tie in with the fictional address used in the Sherlock Holmes books.

With admission priced at £16, it is overpriced, considering that none of the exhibits are authentic (which, of course, they can’t be as Sherlock Holmes is not a real person). You really need to be a hardcore fan of Sherlock Holmes stories for this to be worth the admission price and most people would be better off spending the money in the gift shop downstairs and giving the museum a miss.

It is a small museum and it is unlikely that you would spend longer than an hour in here, however during peak season you could easily spend two hours here, taking into account time waiting in the queue to get in.