Leicester Square
Located slap bang in the middle of Theatreland, Leicester Square is often associated with the stage, but it’s the big screen that’s had the most influence.
Apart from being one of the venues for hosting the London Film Festival, it’s also the place to come if you want to see a film premiere.
There are several cinemas in and around the square, the most obvious being the black polished granite Odeon Cinema which has the largest single screen in the UK and more than sixteen hundred seats.
The cinema influence isn’t quite as strong as it once was though as things are constantly changing, but Leicester Square is still undeniably one of the main entertainment hubs in London. Casinos have a strong presence and if you want cut price theatre tickets the TKTS booth is the best place to come.
Talking of the theatre you can’t fail to notice the water feature surrounding a large statue of William Shakespeare which has been the centrepiece of the square since 1874. Nearby is a much smaller bronze statue of Charlie Chaplin portraying his film character of ’The Tramp’, which seems even more appropriate somehow.
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The square is actually named after Robert Sidney, second Earl of Leicester, whose home, Leicester House, was built on, what was then, common ground, in the 1630s.
After parishioners complained, King Charles I decreed that the area south of the house should be returned to the people, and in the 1670s the park was laid out and named Leicester Fields.
For quite a while it was a fashionable place to live, with notable people such as Sir Isaac Newton, William Hogarth, and Sir Joshua Reynolds all residing here, but its character was changing. Leicester House had been demolished in 1792 and the area became more of a place to come to be entertained rather than to live.
Its reputation continues to this day, but its proximity to Soho meant that not all forms of entertainment were entirely welcome, and in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games the square had a multi million pound revamp to make it a more tourist friendly destination.
Below are some pictures of life in Leicester Square
Originally posted 2017-12-28 16:08:41.
Another great slice of London Life Malc. Of course you ahd me at Theatreland. BUT cinema too.
London is one big theatre, but it seems like the curtain is starting to come down. Let’s hope somebody can hoist it back up again.
I hope so. A lot of curtains seem to be coming down right now. Hope you’re good.
I’m afraid I had a bad day yesterday, not helped by a part of the fence being blown down. I’m hoping for a better today. Thanks for asking Shey, and you can rest assured that I’m still able to read your lovely comments.
Ah the fence… well as one of the MR’s pals when worked, once said, ‘Just when a window bangs you in the face, the door does the same.’ I always think but just smile anyway and get to that when you can, end of. I mean I tried the other day recoering the kitchen drawers when I thought YES, when I wa making the new handle holes that punch went right through in one. YES ! YES!. —only cos the width was narrower which then meant every one of the sodding screws supplied with the hand;e, were too long…. Hope your day is better today.
LOL. I’ve got a ton of stories about my DIY failures that have kept people amused for hours. I had a better day yesterday thanks Shey.
I am glad to hear it. Truly. Good to know. I am generally ok at DIY. I mean my dad brought me up to do everything that way and it is probably just as well. But this? I swear every day there as I came up the stairs with all the stuff, the units were nudging one another, ‘Going, here she comes, let’s see what nervous breakdown inducing stunt we can pull today.’ The handle replacements are probably the worst, cos the unit doors and drawer fronts are not in the best state, shall we say and I don’t wish to be left with no unit or drawer front. Also it is an old house so nothing runs straight Indeed it is the kind of house as was our last one, that can reduce grown hardened tradesmen to tears that way. But now I have moved to wall three first half of it may have a large window and one or two nicknacks to revamp but there’s no units . . . .
Ah! The pleasures of DIY. Are you still painting that wall mural by the way?
Now that is done. I can email you a pic only if you want. I prob don’t do things the way most folks do, like paint all the walls, paint all the wood etc. I only ever see a bit at a time of anything, so I work along each wall, that includes deciding what pics, what plants, what anything is going on it or on a ledge whatever, the furniture too and painting all these. Then I see the next bit. So walls are entirely completed that way— I didn’t know what colour I’d do the other 2 walls and whether there might be another distressed birck wall of a diff colour, till that one was done. And I am now on the third which, cos of the big window kind of breaks into 3 in my mind. I write that stupid way too, without a single anything except the first line.
If it’s not too much trouble Shey, I’d love to see it – honestly.
I will get to it within the next half hour.