#did you know the statue out in the middle of picadilly is a statue of eros? :D

[eardefenders]

The Criterion Bar

The site where we meet our narrator, John Watson, and where John runs into Stamford leading to his meeting with Sherlock Holmes, The Criterion Restaurant and Bar has been around since 1873. It was conceived as a restaurant with ancillary rooms for events. The original building has a theater in the basement, a long bar on the ground floor, dining on the 1st and 2nd floors, and a ballroom on the third floor.

The restaurant and bar has been a favorite among the rich, famous, the everyday populous, and the literary stop for many characters over the years. It's an opulent place and quite deserved of it's reputation as a place of fine food and even finer wines.

Currently, it has been reimagined as the fourth restaurant in a series of mid-market fine dining Indian food establishments serving delicious, reasonably priced, authentic Indian food.

Below are some images of The Criterion over the years down to the current interior and what we can imagine it was like inside when John ran into 'Stamo'.

Also here's the travel time from 221B Baker Street to Masala Zone (The Criterion Restaurant and Bar).

And the plaque commemorating John's meeting with Stamford that hung over one of the tables (I believe it has been removed since the current owners took over.)