This red-brick building in Central London, formerly the offices of the Dundee Courier newspaper, was the address of Sweeney Todd’s barbershop in the popular Victorian era weekly-serial-turned-folk-legend.
It was at this address that the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and his wicked assistant, Mrs. Lovett, would murder and rob their victims. Legend has it that Todd would slice the throats of his unassuming customers with his straight razor while they sat in his chair, which was specially constructed above a hole in the floor that connected to the cellar of the building – once dead, the victims would be dropped down to the basement level, where Todd and Mrs. Lovett would dispose of the bodies by baking them into meat pies to be sold in Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop.
First appearing in a penny dreadful, a style of weekly serial stories very popular in 19th century Britain, in 1846, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett are two figures in fictional history that have horrified and thrilled lovers of literature, theater, and the macabre for centuries. Sweeney Todd’s story has gone on to be a musical written by Stephen Sondheim and was eventually made into a movie directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp in the titular role. Claims that the story are based on a real-life historical figure have so far gone unverified but continue to capture the public’s imagination.
While in the story, 186 Fleet Street was only cited as the address of Todd’s shop, local legend now names the location as the unofficial home of The Demon Barber himself. The brick building’s claim to fame has grown to include its being the location of Sweeney’s residence as well as the famed “Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop” where Sweeney’s diabolical deeds were transformed into savory pies. Beneath the church next door is said to be the very place where the remains of Sweeney’s victims were ground down into the filling that would be used for Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies.
