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Leicester Square redevelopment 'will threaten home of cinema'
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent26 Nov 2009
Cinema fans have hit out at the "highly destructive" development of Leicester Square which they claim threatens its future as the home of British film.
The Cinema Theatre Association, whose patrons include MPs Glenda Jackson and Gerald Kaufman, wants better protection for its famous venues such as the flagship Odeon cinema.
The group says the 11-storey development which replaced the Swiss Centre and its glockenspiel and dancing figurines is "dull and ordinary".
It warns that plans for the site of the Odeon will relegate cinema to the basement while a hotel, flats and restaurants dominate the upper storeys.
The decision to have two smaller cinemas in the lower levels of the development, which is on hold for economic reasons, is "a token gesture to the location", the association claims today.
The group's spokeswoman, Eva Branscombe, said: "Leicester Square is all about cinema heritage. There are still lots of cinemas but they're all under pressure for commercial redevelopment." None of the famous cinemas is listed, including the Vue, which Ms Branscombe says has a "fantastic world-class art-deco frontage".
However, a spokeswoman for the planning authority, Westminster council, said the Swiss Centre replacement building was not yet complete and the glockenspiel was scheduled to return. She added: "The works are essential to the success of the West End and its role as an economic powerhouse."
She said the council's Unitary Development Plan protects the use of cinemas and planning permission will not be given for a change of use.
Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association, which represents cinema operators, said: "The redevelopment of Leicester Square is intended to re-establish it as the home of cinema in the UK."
In a statement on behalf of Westminster City Council, Robert Davis, its deputy leader and cabinet member for the built environment, said: “We refute any suggestion that we do not see Leicester Square as important and vital to the entertainment industry.
"We currently have plans to invest £18m in a revamp of the square so we are completely committed to making sure that this important area of London remains the home of entertainment for generations to come.”
Reader views (4)
Are you being serious, Phil Jones? The Swiss Centre and the Odeon West End were both eyesores. The replacements should be better, but to actually want to keep that ugly modernist rubbish is absurd. Anyway, what do you care about heritage, when your very signature is a sell out of this country's integrity?
- Oliver Chettle, Bedford, 17/03/2010 19:54
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Who goes to the cinema in Leicester Sq anyway (apart from tourists)?
- George, London, 26/11/2009 10:54
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All of us who protested against the Swiss Centre destruction and more recently the Odeon West theatre destruction (which includes destruction of the 150-year old corner pub, the Hand and Racquet) have been totally ignored. The British, and particularly Londoners, should wake up to the massive destruction underway in central London. Just north of Piccadilly Circus is one massive hole in the ground where a whole block of heritage buildings have been torn down. Please wake up to the destruction. Tourists come to London to see heritage buildings, not copies of skyscrapers and bland buildings (such as the Swiss Centre replacement) that they can see back home in New York or Chicago. Tourism is the U.K.'s and London's biggest industry, and councils such as Westminster seem intent on killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
- Phil Jones, London EU, 26/11/2009 10:47
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The new building that takes the place of the Swiss Centre has to be one of the blandest most boring looking buildings built in the city for a long time, unfortunately there are too many of these modern day 1950's monstrosities being built at the moment, none of these developers seem to look at how their buildings will look or fit into their surroundings 5-10-20 years down the line when their initial polished newness wears off and they end up looking unloved,ugly and ultimately empty!
- Ken, East London, 26/11/2009 10:10
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