Leicester Square was pedestrianised in the 1980s, with great benefit to visitors and to businesses in the local area. Westminster Council went through years of consultation, and the prepration of numerous designs by consultant landscape architects, before deciding that the best option was to design a garden themselves. William Shakespeare, on a pedestal, gazes down at Charlie Chaplin, on a lower pedestal. It is a curious juxtaposition.
In 2005 Westminster Council published a plan 'to transform Leicester Square into the Home of Cinema in the UK and to bring about a family friendly environment in the evenings' with 'a permanent stage constructed to allow for year round entertainment' and 'removing the statue at the centre of the Square to provide a larger entertainment area'.
Leicester Square
Leicester Square Garden, London