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Traders say Leicester Square has become scruffy |
Square is the ‘sewer of London’
Businesses call for progress on makeover and demand fewer ‘garish’ tourist shops
CAMPAIGNERS have told Westminster Council they must tackle the West End’s tacky tourist shops if they are to have a chance of cleaning up Leicester Square.
The iconic square has been earmarked for an £18.5million makeover, but the Leicester Square Association (LSA) says it will amount to little more than “window dressing” unless landlords are forced to boot out the tat-peddling shops that line many of the roads into the square.
The council claims it will not tolerate unrruly businesses that inisist on errecting garish displays and signage – pointing to a stock seizure operation in May as evidence it means business. But the council has conceded it is powerless to strongarm landlords into renting to upmarket businesses.
Currently it is only the nine entry routes to Leicester Square and the green space itself, rather than the types of businesses, that are covered by the proposals – a joint venture between Westminster Council and Heart of London Business Alliance.
Although the LSA welcomes the rhetoric and hope it will mean transforming the square from a shabby place people pass through to get to Soho or Covent Garden into a world-class, family friendly destination like Times Square in New York, they fear it will be hamstrung by legislation and bureaucracy.
The council points to the demolition of the Swiss Centre as evidence that works are going ahead according to schedule.
At their quarterly meeting on Tuesday night LSA chairman Colin Bennett said the Square had become “the sewer of London” and looked like a “third-world country”. He produced a series of photographs showing discarded road signs, dumped bin bags and scruffy sandwich boards to hammer home his point. Mr Bennett went on to say that the council should be ashamed to let what could be “the jewel in the crown” of London become such a “nasty place”.
He said: “I’ve lived here for more than 20 years and it has never been worse than it is now. It’s an embarrassment. I don’t take friends here and I dread to think what tourists think when they step out of the Tube.
“I also think people are blind to the problems now and just prefer to ignore it. They just think ‘it’s Leicester Square, that’s just the way it is’.
“For some reason it has become a dumping ground. There is rubbish festering away in the corner. Benches are moved up onto the grass. Every time we’re told the sandwich-board holders and golfball men are illegal, they come back and tell us it will take a few more months to get rid of them.
“We’ve got shops and restaurants bringing all their stuff out onto the street.
“Everything is just so garish. I just don’t understand why we have to have so many shops selling fake watches, tourist tat and scarves.”
Work was due to start on the regeneration in April following a public consultation on the plans. As yet a contractor has not been appointed but the council says this is because the work is being staggered to minimise disruption to the Square.
Deputy leader of Westminster Council Robert Davis, who is also cabinet member for the built environment, said: “Although we cannot order landlords who to rent their shops out to, it is in all our interests that their tenants add to the appeal of the West End.
“We will not hesitate to take tough action against shops which breach planning and highway rules on garish displays.
“It is inevitable there will be some pain in the short term, but the long-term gain will make this worthwhile as our plans will transform Leicester Square for the better.” |
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