Leicester Square

This guide to Leicester Square opens on its low point in the 1870s: a vandalized statue, stolen railings, once-fashionable ground reduced to a civic embarrassment. You'll hear how the disgraced MP and financier Albert Grant bought the ruined freehold in 1874, rebuilt the square with lawns and busts of former residents like William Hogarth, and then gave the whole thing to the city just before Parliament unseated him for bribery. Look for the busts scattered around the gardens as you walk through today's cinema crowds.