Leicester Square's central garden once held busts of four famous former residents: Isaac Newton, Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth and John Hunter, the founder of modern surgery. The council removed them during a refurbishment, which tells you something about how London treats its geniuses.

Shakespeare, in marble, still holds court at the centre, though the square that grew up around the grounds of Leicester House has long since traded intellectual distinction for neon and popcorn. It became London's cinema capital over a century ago, and film premieres still draw crowds to the Odeon and its neighbours.

The square's theatrical machinery has its own unlikely backstory: hydraulic power, piped from a pumping station in the East End, once raised curtains and lifted cinema organs here.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Leicester Square as a gateway to Theatreland and Soho, with Ian McKellen narrating a walk that begins at the TKTS booth and connects the square's entertainment heritage to the stages beyond it.