Leicester Square is certainly not looking the best it has ever looked at the moment. With preparation for London 2012 in full swing the main park area in Leicester Square is closed.
Here are some photos of Leicester Square including some of the cinemas and hotels in and around Leicester Square.
Odeon West End - Leicester Square Cinema
The Odeon West End is a cinema on the south side of Leicester Square, London. It contains two screens—screen 1 seats 500 and screen 2 seats 832. Both house large screens in comfortable auditoria. It is often used for smaller film premieres, and yearly hosts the BFI London Film Festival.
The Odeon was built in 1930 as The Leicester Square Theatre, a name it largely remained with until 1988. The theatre was built as a cine-variety venue for Jack Buchanan – a penthouse apartment was housed on the roof for the star – and showcased both film and short variety performances, before going over to film on a more permanent basis. A large single screen was housed in an ornate, three-tiered auditorium.
It was sold to J. Arthur Rank in 1937 and became Rank’s first cinema, although not named Odeon for many years to come.
On July 26, 1951, the cinema hosted the world premiere of Disney’s feature Alice in Wonderland.
The cinema was modernised in 1968 into a much blander shell, based around a remodelled stalls and single circle and was twinned into a two-screen venue in 1988 (Screen 1 in the former circle and Screen 2 in the stalls) and renamed Odeon West End.
Odeon sold the site in February 2006, although continuing to operate as part of the Odeon chain until redevelopment plans are finalised. Provisional plans have been drawn up to convert the site into a hotel complex. Two smaller Odeon screens will be incorporated into the basement.
The cinema is opposite the much larger flagship Odeon Leicester Square.
The Children's Hour at the Panton Street Comedy Theatre
The Comedy Theatre on Panton Street, or The Royal Comedy Theatre as it was known, opened on October 15, 1881. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months. By 1884 it was known as just the Comedy Theatre.
The theatre’s reputation grew through the First World War when C.B. Cochran and André Charlot presented their famous review shows.
In the mid-1950s the theatre went under major reconstruction and re-opened in December 1955.
In the late 1950s it overturned stage censorship by forming the ‘New Watergate Club’ at the theatre. Plays that had been banned due to language or subject matter could now be performed under ‘club’ conditions.
The range of work at the Comedy Theatre has been far reaching, from musical comedies to revival and experimental theatre and includes hugely successful shows such as Savages in 1973 and The Rocky Horror Show in 1979.
Stars performing at the Comedy Theatre include Paul Scofield, Alan Bennett, Patricia Routledge, Harold Pinter, Maureen Lipman, Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall and most recently Keira Knightley.
The Comedy Theatre is currently showing The Children’s Hour.
Odeon Panton Street
‘Going to the flicks’, meaning taking a trip to the cinema, has been one of the most popular pass times for Londoners for more than 80 years.
The Odeon Panton Street is one of the most popular cinemas in London thanks to the central location it enjoys. The Odeon Panton Street has four screens and is less than two minutes walk from Leicester Square.
If you are visiting the cinema for a romantic rendezvous there are a number of restaurants, bars and pubs nearby you can take your quarry either before or after the film. If you like Thai restaurants then you will definitely like Busaba Eathai which is on Panton Street. If you are a little less adventurous there is a Pizza Express on the corner of Panton Street and Haymarket.
Other nearby cinemas include the Odeon Leicester Square which is a bigger cinema and tends to host premieres and show more of the big blockbusters than the Odeon Panton Street.
Address: 11 / 18 Panton Street, London, SW1Y 4DP
E-mail: info@odeon.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 871 2244 007
Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the UK, with over one hundred cinemas in fact Odeon entertain more people in the UK than any other cinema chain accounting for nearly a third of all tickets sold in the country.
Odeon Leicester Square
The Odeon Leicester Square is the company’s flagship cinema hosting many major film premieres.
Recent film premieres held at Odeon Leicester Square include
The cinema has x screens making it the perfect cinema to catch any of the top films currently being shown at.
The Odeon Leicester Square is one of three Odeon cinemas near Leicester Square the others being the Odeon West End and the Odeon Panton Street.
Address: 24 – 26 Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7JY
Telephone: +44 (0) 871 2244 007
Website: http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_times/s105/London__Leicester_Square/
Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Mama Mia, Currently Showing at The Prince of Wales Theatre
Order your tickets for Mama Mia from Theatre Tickets Direct
Mamma Mia! performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre, has been running for 10 years. The production is based on the songs of ABBA, twenty-two of which are featured in the musical including “Dancing Queen,” “S.O.S.” and of course, “Mamma Mia!”.
Sophie Sheridan, is twenty year old bride-to-be, who lives on a Greek Island with her mother, Donna. Her only dream for her wedding is to have her father walk her down the aisle; the only problem is that she doesn’t know who her father is and her mother won’t discuss it with her.
She discovers her mother’s diary from when she was born, and finds out that three men could potentially be her father. She invites them all to her wedding, assured she will know who her father is. However, upon seeing them she realizes she doesn’t have a clue. Drama entails as Donna discovers that each man has arrived, each of the men thinks they are the real father, and Sophie’s fiance becomes increasingly frustrated with the entire situation.
Mama Mia Performance Times:
Order your tickets for Mama Mia from Theatre Tickets Direct