Millions of fans of the BBC’s new ‘Sherlock’ now have a chance to rent a little piece of the programme for themselves. The flat above the Speedy’s cafe, which serves as the exterior shot for Holmes and Watson’s ‘Baker Street’ lodgings, is on the market for £330 per week.
Though the interior scenes were shot elsewhere, the distinctive red awning above the property on Gower Street, near Euston in North London, features throughout, as Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) come and go on their adventures. Ironically Baker Street, the address given by Arthur Conan Doyle in the original stories, was deemed to have too much Holmes-related signage to be viable.
Speedy’s cafe itself was the setting for one of the climactic scenes of the first episode of the new series. At the end of ‘A Scandal In Belgravia’ it was here that Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s brother, played by series co-creator Mark Gatiss, explained to Watson that Irene Adler (Lara Pulver), Sherlock’s bete noire, had been killed.
Since its appearance in the very first episode of the programme’s first series, the cafe has become a tourist attraction, with fans from all over the world coming to pay homage.
As well as a spacious double bedroom, the flat features a living room and separate kitchen. It’s within a short walk of distance of Bloomsbury, the British Museum, University College London and Regent’s Park. The estate agent’s listing gives no mention of whether it will give you preternatural observational powers, a doting landlady or a network of homeless friends.
