Leicester Square’s garden offers a leafy pause inside the West End’s entertainment district. Its Shakespeare fountain and corner busts recall the Victorian redesign, while cinemas and film premieres carry public spectacle into the present.
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A marble Shakespeare looks over Leicester Square’s garden, a quieter centre within a district built around entertainment. The square was once Leicester Fields, named after Leicester House, a mansion built on its north side in the seventeenth century.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The garden was redesigned in 1874 by James Knowles with funding from Albert Grant.
- The central fountain includes a nineteenth-century Shakespeare statue.
- Leicester Square is a major location for film premieres and entertainment events.
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