I am spending a week in London with my friend Gary.  We are staying just behind Tate Modern, a great location. However, rather than visit the big tourist attractions yet again, on this trip we are determined to find the odd, the obscure, the kitsch and the lesser-visited places of interest.

I have always been a Holmes and Watson devotee but standing outside the Abbey National Building Society at 221b Baker Street, their fictional address, has always been nothing short of a deflating experience.  However, I have recently discovered that in 1951, as part of the Festival of

Britain, the building society staged an exhibition at its offices, recreating the sitting room at 221b according to the theatre design of Michael Weight.  This can be found today, intact, in the former Northumberland Arms pub, now known as the Sherlock Holmes.  It is delightfully kitsch but the attention to detail makes it worth it.

There is a reference to many of the stories, for example, The Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Dancing Men.   The is a wax dummy of the famous detective with a bullet hole in his forehead, a reference to The Adventure of the Empty House.  To top it all the food and craft beers are excellent.  I think Holmes and Watson would have been very much at home here.