Leicester Square, London, Guía del visitante y qué hacer cerca

Leicester Square is a pedestrian square in the heart of London's West End, known for its cinemas, its film premieres and its constant flow of people. It began as open ground in front of a 17th-century mansion and has been a public gathering place for more than 350 years, which makes it a handy starting point for exploring the streets around Soho, Chinatown and Covent Garden.

The story behind it

In 1630 Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, bought the land here, and by 1635 he had built a large mansion, Leicester House, at the northern end. In 1670 the ground in front of it was laid out as Leicester Fields, the forerunner of the square you see today. The area soon attracted famous residents. The painter William Hogarth lived at No. 30 from 1733 until 1764, and Sir Joshua Reynolds lived at No. 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792.

In 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, the mapmaker James Wyld put up Wyld's Great Globe, a giant model of the Earth, in the middle of the square. The mansion, the painters' houses and the globe are all gone, but the square kept its reputation as a place for crowds and entertainment, and today it is best known for its cinemas.

What to look for

• The statue of Shakespeare in the central gardens carries the line "There is no darkness but ignorance", taken from his play Twelfth Night.
• Statues and figures of film characters and screen stars are scattered around the square, and a statue of Charlie Chaplin is one of the best known.
• The cinema frontages around the edges light up as evening comes, and this is when the square looks its liveliest.
• Look up at the buildings around the square and imagine the vanished Leicester House, whose grounds once stretched across this patch of London.

Tips for your visit

• The square is open public space, so you can walk through at any time, and a short stop of 15 to 30 minutes covers the main sights.
• Visit in the early morning for quiet, or after dark if you want to see the cinema lights and the busiest atmosphere.
• Chinatown, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus are all a short walk away, so the square works well as a link in a longer walk.
• Check current opening hours and listings if you plan to see a film, as cinema times change often.

See it on a quest

You can reach Leicester Square on foot as one stop of Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in West End, London. It is a good fit if you like a crime theme with your sightseeing: the app tells you about each place as you arrive and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group.

The square also appears on London's lights: Explore Monopoly - Oxford Circus to Trafalgar Square, a longer route through central London with a board game theme. You walk from place to place, hear the story of each one and answer a puzzle in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

If you prefer a darker side of the city, Ghost Hunt in London passes through here too. You get the facts about each stop from the app as you reach it, and a puzzle to solve there. One ticket covers the whole group.