Leicester Square to be 'rebranded' in bid to smarten up its image

West End bosses are planning a fresh campaign to smarten up the image of Leicester Square after research revealed “lingering perceptions” that it is a scruffy and rowdy area.

A new heart shaped logo bearing the letters LSQ will be launched next year to give a more upmarket identity to the address once hailed as the “clubbing capital of Britain.”

There will also be improvements to the roads around the square itself, such as Whitcomb Street and Orange Street, to make them more pedestrian friendly by widening pavements and improving lighting.

Leicester Square, which attracts 250,000 visitors a day hosts up to 50 movie premieres a year, last had a major makeover in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.

Then £17 million was spent on a 17 month transformation including granite paving, additional seating in around the Gardens, and child-friendly fountains.

James Robinson, head of strategy & development at the Heart of London Business Alliance, said: ”We really want to create an identity celebrating what we do here and promoting it as the home of entertainment.

“The days when it was an area of big nightclubs has gone now, but people who have not been back to Leicester Square for some time do have these lingering perceptions and we realise we still have a lot of work to do to change that. But bit by bit that will happen as people experience the new offering.”

There are hopes that a raft of new hotels due to open on and close to Leicester Square will help soften its image from raucous late night destination to a more welcoming district where tourists can base themselves during visits to London.

The latest launch, a four star cinema themed boutique hotel directly overlooking the square, opened last month and is already heavily booked up to Christmas, with 70 per cent of guests coming from abroad.

Inge Van Ooteghem, head of hospitality at hotel developer Criterion Capital, said the new 86 room hotel, called Victory House, MGallery by Sofitel, would provide a “haven of peace” in the middle of London’s entertainment district.

She said it was proving a hit with foreign visitors “because they want to be in the heart of the city and Leicester Square doesn’t have the same reputation overseas.”

Guests in many of the rooms in the former office block, which started life as the Grand Hotel de l’Europe in 1903, will have grandsdand views of the red carpet for the dozens of premieres hosted in Leicester Sqaure each year. The rooms are all double or triple glazed to cut out most of the noise.

Portraits of movie stars cover many of the walls of the Michaelis Boyd designed interiors while Pathé new reel footage of Royal premieres in Leicester Square’s golden age in the fifties and sixties are projected in the lobby and lift.

Criterion Capital are launching two further hotels in the area next year in an investment totalling £40 million. They are the 95 room Hotel Indigo at 1 Leicester Square in February and a 121 room hotel nearer to Charing Cross in April.