A Square deal
ALAN FORMBY-JACKSON AND HIS WIFE PACK LOTS INTO A FUN-FILLED LONDON WEEKEND
SINCE 1870, visitors have been flocking to Leicester Square in the heart of London. Home to many of the capital’s oldest theatres, cinemas that host star-studded film premieres and Europe’s biggest sweet shop, M&M’s World, it really is a great part of London to visit.
Leicester Square was named after Leicester House, a mansion owned by Robert Sidney, the 2nd Earl of Leicester (1595-1677). During the 18th Century the house was a London residence of three successive Princes of Wales and served as their political headquarters.
But enough of the history, onto where, and how, you can have a brilliant weekend break away.
We travelled by train with Grand Central, ranked as Britain’s best value long distance train operator for the sixth year in a row in the Spring 18 National Rail Passenger Survey.
Once in London, there’s certainly no problem finding somewhere to stay. There’s a host of hotels in the vicinity of the square, but my wife and I went for the Thistle Trafalgar Square, which sits on Whitcomb Street, in between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. A great spot with lots of attractions in easy walking distance.
It has 108 en-suite rooms, including some junior suites, free Wi-Fi and 24-hour room service. Our room was modern, clean and had everything you’d need to be comfortable – a super king-size bed, flat screen
TV, complimentary mineral water, a Nespresso machine, rain shower and some bathrobes and slippers too. The Square’s Restaurant and Bar is again, clean and modern, and while we didn’t have dinner here, the breakfast we had the following morning was spot on, with us both choosing the traditional cooked English.
We arrived mid-morning on a Saturday and, after taking a leisurely walk in the baking hot sun, we were ready for some lunch.
Around the square, there is plenty on offer if you’re feeling peckish. We plumped for MOD pizza on Irving Street.
MOD Super Fast Pizza opened its doors in Seattle in 2008. It was inspired by the founders’ love of authentic Italian street pizza and the ‘mod’ movement in the UK in the 60s and 70s.
You can pick a pizza from the menu or put together your own. All the fresh ingredients are on view at the counter and you just reel off what you want and they quickly take your order. A while later your finished pizza arrives. My wife’s take on this was lovely, while I picked the Mad Dog pizza from the menu, with mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef.
Both went down well, as did the Caesar salad on the side. To finish – and with barely any room left – we tried the new Freakshake. Perfect for sharing, it’s a wonderful concoction of ice cream, chocolate, cream and cookies.
We had to stay put for a while just to recover from the wonderful food, but once up and about, a spot of shopping was on the cards.
Covent Garden is a short walk to the east of the square, but we headed west, past Piccadilly Circus and up Regent Street and then onto Oxford Street.
The roads were closed to traffic because the weekend we went the Pride March was on. The atmosphere was brilliant with plenty to see and people were having a great time.
By now juggling a handful of carrier bags, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up for a night out.
After a quick bite to eat we were ready and looking forward to seeing the musical Strictly Ballroom at the Piccadilly Theatre.
Written by Baz Luhrmann as a stage play which he then made into a film in 1992, the musical, inspired by the now classic movie, tells the story of Scott, a competitive ballroom dancer in 80s Australia who makes up his own moves and finds himself aggravating ballroom purists. He follows his heart to not only find his true calling in dance, but to also find his true love.
Put simply, the show is brilliant. Funny and energetic, the cast were all fantastic dancers and singers. Jonny Labey, as Scott, put in a stunning performance, and pop singer Will Young, also impressed as the funny Wally Strand. Another pop singer, Matt Cardle, takes over the role of Wally from July 31.
While the West End has plenty to pick show-wise, you won’t go wrong by catching this one.
It was a hot night, on stage and off, so after the show we headed back to Leicester Square and the Indigo Hotel’s new roof-top bar.
A full cocktail menu awaits and while you can sit inside and enjoy the views of London, we propped ourselves on the balcony to soak in the sights and feel the cool breeze.
This is a great way to end the night. The cocktails were lovely and you can’t beat the amazing view.
After breakfast the following morning, we headed to the Royal Academy of Arts. They have their Summer Exhibition on and again, it’s well worth a look.
This year, the academy is celebrating its 250th Summer Exhibition, and to mark the occasion, the exhibition was co-ordinated by the artist Grayson Perry. It provides a unique platform for emerging and established artists to showcase their work to an international audience.
There are around 1,300 works on display, with the majority available to buy.
It’s also worth popping into the impressively-stocked shop, which has a great selection of souvenirs and gifts on offer.
After fitting in some more time for shopping, we finished off the weekend with afternoon tea at Leicester Square Kitchen.
We were served a selection of homemade finger sandwiches, with fillings such as rare roast beef with horseradish mayonnaise and Scottish smoked salmon. On the sweet side, we had chocolate and plain scones with strawberry preserve and Cornish clotted cream, flourless chocolate and orange cake, fresh fruit tartlet, mini doughnuts with chocolate sauce and an avocado mousse with pistachio and chocolate.
With a good selection of tea and coffee, the food and drink was first class. The place itself is quite new and there was a good atmosphere with friendly and helpful staff.
It was a lovely place to chill out too after a busy weekend. I can safely say that basing ourselves in Leicester Square, puts us centre stage for things to see and do in a fantastic part of London.