Leicester Square facts for kids

Leicester Square at night in December 2005, looking towards the northeast corner.

Leicester Square (say "Lester" Square) is a famous open space in the West End of London. It's a special area where only people can walk, no cars are allowed! You'll find it in the City of Westminster, right in the heart of London's entertainment district.

It's about 400 yards (or 365 meters) from Piccadilly Circus to the east and Covent Garden to the west. Just a short walk south is the much bigger Trafalgar Square. Leicester Square became a pedestrian-only area in the late 1900s because so many tourists wanted to visit. It's super popular for its big cinemas and fun places to visit.

Fun Things to Do

Leicester Square is known as London's home for movie premieres! Many big films have their first showings here, with famous actors walking the red carpet.

Top Cinemas

The Odeon cinema in Leicester Square.

The Empire cinema in Leicester Square on a rainy night.

• The Odeon Leicester Square is a huge cinema on the east side of the square. It was the first cinema in Europe to have a digital projector back in 1999! It's a popular spot for movie premieres and can hold 1,683 people.
• Right next to it is the Odeon Mezzanine, which has five smaller movie rooms. Each of these can seat about 50 to 60 people.
• The Empire Cinema, on the north side, is another very large cinema. Its main screen has 1,330 seats! It also has eight smaller screens, and many of them can show digital and 3D films. Lots of movie premieres happen here too.
• The Odeon West End is on the south side of the square. It has two screens that can seat 1,000 people together. Screen 1 holds 400, and Screen 2 holds 600. It's often used for smaller movie premieres.
• Vue Cinema, located near the northeast corner, used to be called the Warner Brothers Village. It was a special cinema that only showed Warner Bros. movies. Vue bought it in 2004.

Other Fun Places

Just a short walk from Leicester Square, you can find other exciting places:

• The Hippodrome, London is a famous building that has been many things over the years, including a circus and a music hall. Today, it's a popular entertainment venue.
• The Venue Leicester Square is a West End theatre where you can watch live shows and performances.
• The TKTS booth in Leicester Square is a great place to buy discounted tickets for theatre shows in the West End. It's also a symbol of London's movie premiere scene.

Statues in the Square

Leicester Square is home to several cool statues that celebrate famous people and characters:

• You can find a statue of the famous writer William Shakespeare next to a fountain.
• There's also a statue of the legendary silent film star Charlie Chaplin.
• Look out for the funny character Mr. Bean as part of the Scenes in the Square sculpture trail. These statues are fun to find and take pictures with!

Images for kids

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  Leicester Square in 1750, looking north towards Leicester House, which was one of the biggest houses in London back then.

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  Leicester Square overlooking the Alhambra Theatre in 1874.

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  Leicester Square in 1880, looking north east.

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  A panorama showing the Lego Store and M&M's World in Leicester Square.

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  The Shakespeare fountain and statue.

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  The Charlie Chaplin statue.

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  The TKTS booth in Leicester Square, where you can buy cheap theatre tickets.

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  The Odeon Leicester Square.

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  The Mr. Bean statue in the square.

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  Leicester Square looking north-west towards Swiss Court. The Lego store is visible on the left.

See also

In Spanish: Leicester Square para niños