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Leicester Square Review

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Leicester Square

Address: Covent Garden, London, WC2H 7JY | Map It

Category: Squares
Location: Soho and Covent Garden

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Fodor's Review:

Looking at the neon of the major movie houses, the fast-food outlets, and the disco entrances, you'd never guess that this square (pronounced Lester) was a model of formality and refinement when it was first laid out around 1630. By the 19th century it was already bustling and disreputable, and although today it's not a threatening place, you should still be on your guard, especially at night—any space so full of tourists and people a little the worse for wear is bound to attract pickpockets, and Leicester Square certainly does. Although it retains some residual glamour as the site of red-carpet film premieres, Londoners generally tend to avoid this windswept pedestrianized plaza, crowded as it is with suburban teenagers, wandering backpackers, and mimes. That said, the liveliness can be quite cheering. In the middle is a statue of a sulking Shakespeare, clearly wishing he were somewhere else and perhaps remembering the days when the cinemas were live theaters—burlesque houses, but live all the same. Here, too, are figures of Newton, Hogarth, Reynolds, and Charlie Chaplin. On the northeast corner, in Leicester Place, stands the church of Notre Dame de France, with a wonderful mural by Jean Cocteau in one of its side chapels.