'Cantonal Tree' and 'Glockenspiel Clock', Swiss Court

The Glockenspiel Clock, Swiss Court.

If you approach Leicester Square, from the west, you will find yourself on Swiss Court. This small thoroughfare, less than 40 metres (130 feet) in length, was once home to the Swiss Centre.

The Swiss Centre, built between 1963 and 1966, was a 14-storey building that was a showcase for Switzerland and its products. The centre featured a commercial and trade centre.This included a branch of a Swiss bank and a Swissair ticket office tourist office. There was also a chocolate and souvenir shop, a cafe and, in its basement, several Swiss-themed restaurants.

The rest of the building was taken up with offices, residential spaces, a penthouse and a viewing gallery.

Walking with family: Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Blue Ball Yard.

Friday December 12, 2025.

Erin arrived home from school, at which point Emma left to meet Keilyn from school. I arrived home shortly after and, once we were ready, waited for my mum, before booking a taxi to Watford underground station, where Emma and Keilyn were awaiting our arrival.

We boarded our train and settled into our seats for the trip to Finchley Road. Here we changed to a Jubilee line train and continued our journey to Green Park. We exited the station via the Green Park entrance and began our walk at Piccadilly and the magnificent Ritz Hotel. 

Hancocks on St James's Street.

Instead of following the crowds we turned down St James's Street and admired the various Christmas trees and window displays that the businesses and shops displayed. Jermyn Street was the first street with lights stretched across it, that we saw. We passed Hancocks Goldsmiths, before we entered Blue Ball Yard, where the American Bar was festooned with Christmas decorations.

A Christmas tree in London's smallest square.

We then crossed the road and entered Pickering Place, London' smallest square, where a Christmas tree took up much of the place. We left Pickering Place and continued down St James's Street and turned onto Pall Mall until we reached Waterloo Place, with its blue star-topped Christmas tree. Here, more 'Angel' Christmas lights stretched across the road.

The Norwegian spruce in Trafalgar Square.

We then continued along Pall Mall onto Pall Mall East, which brought us to Trafalgar Square and the giant Norwegian spruce at its centre. A Christmas market, filled with stalls selling all sorts of trinkets, gifts and food occupied the area outside the steps to The National Gallery, while a choir sang carols from in front of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree.

St Martin's Lane.

On leaving Trafalgar Square we headed up Charing Cross Road and onto St Martin's Lane, with its Theatreland Christmas lights. 

Goodwin's Court cottages.

As we approached New Row, my mum, Keilyn and I decided to walk through Goodwin's Court, while Emma and Erin continued along New Row. With its gas-fuelled lamps and cottages that have been here since the 17th century, this thoroughfare is a time capsule of old London. We weren't the only ones using the street, as a small group of people had also chosen this route, but, in their case, for its association with Harry Potter.

Covent Garden Christmas tree.

We exited Goodwin's Court, onto Bedfordbury, and joined New Row, where we headed east along King Street, where we met up with Emma and Erin by the Covent Garden Christmas tree. Emma and Erin had witnessed the 'snow' falling, which occurs every hour, but were less than impressed with it. It was a 'bubble-machine', that lasted less than a minute. 

Royal Opera House Arcade.

Christmas Lights Switch-on, 2025

A Wicked Christmas Tree, at St Pancras International.

With Christmas fast approaching various areas of London will begin to switch-on their Christmas lights, which began this month.

With the switch-on London becomes a cluster of areas that bring their own Christmas style, as they all try to entice as many visitors as possible.

Christmas in Westminster.

Below is a list of places, with dates, that will be getting into the festive season from this month.

There are other places that have yet to announce their timings, so check your local listings.

All dates are subject to change and were correct at the time of writing.

November 1st.

Leicester Square

Piccadilly

St Martin’s Lane

St Pancras Christmas Tree

November 3rd.

Oxford Street

November 6th.

Carnaby Street

Regent Street

St James's

November 12th.

Bond Street

Covent Garden

Marylebone Village

Old Spitalfields

Strand

November 13th.

Hay's Galleria

Kensington, Churchill Arms pub

Leadenhall Market

St Katharine Docks

November 14th.

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

Kew Gardens

Paddington Bear

Paddington Bear statue at Paddington station.

This statue of Paddington Bear, at Paddington station, is a bronze sculpture by Marcus Cornish. Considering Paddington Bear has been around since 1958 the statue wasn't erected until 2000.

The origins of London's most famous 'fictional' bear, Paddington, began in 1958, when Michael Bond wrote 'A Bear Called Paddington'. He had been shopping and seen a lone teddy bear, in a London shop, "looking forlorn", and based Paddington on him. It took Michael Bond just 10 days to write the first story.

Michael Bond remembered watching newsreels of children being evacuated, during World War II, who had labels around their necks, carrying bags containing their possessions, which gave him the inspiration for the style.

Paddington Bear plaque at Paddington station.

The first story, 'A Bear Called Paddington', sees the Brown family arriving at Paddington station and discovering the bear, sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his coat that read , 'Please look after this bear. Thank you'. The Browns are unable to pronounce the bear's name in its bear language, so, they call him Paddington, as that is where they found him.

Originally, Paddington was to have "travelled from darkest Africa", but, as his agent pointed out, there are no bears in Africa, so he changed it to "darkest Peru", where the spectacled bear comes from. It is Paddington's Aunt Lucy who sends Paddington to London, as a stowaway, after his uncle Pastuzo has moved to a Home for Retired Bears, in Lima. Paddington tells them, "I came in a lifeboat and ate marmalade. Bears like marmalade."

32 Windsor Gardens, from 'Paddington' (2014).

So, the Brown family, that includes the parents, Henry and Mary, and their children, Jonathan and Judy, take Paddington home to 32 Windsor Gardens.

Paddington was always polite, addressing everyone with their title, but hardly ever using their first name. He also had a capacity to innocently get himself into trouble, while trying so hard to do things right.

However, those who incurred his disapproval would be met with one of his special 'hard stares'.

Walking with family: Baker Street to Leicester Square... and beyond

Sunday December 22, 2024.

It was a cold late morning as Emma, Keilyn, Erin and her friend Summer and I made our way to the station, ready to take in the Christmas atmosphere of London.

I did give the girls' a mission for the walk. 'The first person to find a dinosaur would be given £1'.

Our first stop, after exiting Baker Street station, was to find somewhere to eat lunch. The girls unanimously voted for KFC, which we found across the road on Baker Street.

Suitably filled we headed south along Baker Street, crossing Oxford Street, until we reached Grosvenor Square. The square was remarkably quiet so we left, via its southeast corner, and headed onto Carlos Place, where we saw The Connaught Christmas tree, our first true Christmas tree of the day.

Continuing along Carlos Place we entered Berkeley Square and Keilyn, who had been slightly ahead of us, came running back to us, demanding £1, as she had found a dinosaur. Sure enough, as we reached the corner of Berkeley Square the cast of a dinosaur stood on a plinth, staring into the heart of the Square. I reached into my pocket and handed over the prize.

After admiring the display at Annabel's Members Only Club, we headed along Bruton Street to New Bond Street, passing the Coach and Horses pub on the way.

New Bond Street was considerably busier than anywhere else that we had so far visited, due to the ornate displays of the various big names along the street. Boodles, Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren, to name a few. 

The sky, though overcast, was still too light to get the full effect of the lights, but it still brought the feeling and atmosphere of Christmas to us.

Continuing on a light rain began to fall, so we headed into the Burlington Arcade, with its caped Beadles, exiting on Piccadilly, where the Fortnum & Mason building had its usual Advent Calendar display.

For a bit of a respite, Summer had never been on one of our walks, we headed into Waterstones bookshop, where we perused the books.

We then continued along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus and onto Coventry Street, where warm drinks were purchased. Before visiting the Winter Market, which had been erected in Leicester Square, Erin, Summer and I went off to see the various statues of Harry Potter, Bugs Bunny, Batman, etc.. After making a complete circuit, of the square, we met back up with Emma and Keilyn and entered the Winter Market. A few items were purchased, at inflated prices, before we headed off to grab some more snacks and warm food.

Christmas lights switch-on, 2024

With Christmas fast approaching various areas of London will begin to switch-on their Christmas lights, which begin in November.

With the switch-on London becomes a cluster of areas that bring their own Christmas style, as they all try to entice as many visitors as possible.

Below is a list of some of the areas, with dates, that will getting into the festive season from November.

November 5th

    

    Oxford Street

November 7th

    Carnaby Street

    Regent Street

    St James's 

November 8th

    Battersea Power Station

November 12th

    Covent Garden

November 13th

    Kew Gardens

    Marylebone Village

    Old Spitalfields Market

November 14th

    Leadenhall Market

    Savile Row

November 16th

    Mayfair

November 17th

    Belgravia

December 5th

    Trafalgar Square

January 2025

    Canary Wharf Light Festival

Of course, there other areas throughout London that have Christmas lights, festive activities and light festivals that are worth seeking out, too.

Please check before you travel as times and dates can be changed at the last minute.

(All dates were correct at time of publishing, but may be subject to change).

Leicester Square

Empire, Leicester Square.

Leicester Square has been a busy hub for tourists and those visiting the area to watch films and shows for many years. The square is used for exhibitions and events throughout the year and is always bustling with a palpable energy.

William Shakespeare fountain.

With the Empire Leicester Square and the Odeon Leicester Square, on two sides which are used for film premieres, and more restaurants than you can count and pubs on the other, it is a magnet for anyone heading to the West End. 

Lumiere Festival, 2016.

To the north is Chinatown, the east Covent Garden, south lies Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus is to the west, making Leicester Square a true hub in the West End.

Enough said.

It is possibly because of how busy the area gets that I prefer walking around other areas of London.

m&m's World.

However, every once in a while, I do head here, especially if there is something worth seeing.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Over the years I have seen many changes to the square and its surroundings. Statues have come and gone. Fountains and water features have been rebuilt and installed. Paving and seating has been improved. Theatres, cinemas, shops and restaurants have come and gone, too.

Celebrity handprints, 2010.

But the atmosphere has always remained.

Lumiere London, 2018

Westminster Abbey looking glorious at Lumiere London 2018.

As soon as the dates were released for this years Lumiere Festival, I knew that I would be attending. Falling across four nights, Thursday 18 - Sunday 21, we decided that the Friday would be the best night for us.

Fortunately, I was allowed to leave work slightly early, thank you to my manager for that, so that I could pick up the girls, with my wife. This afforded us the luxury of being able to leave for London, earlier than expected.

As we had all had a long week, and knowing that Erin (6) and Keilyn (4) would be tired, I had planned a route that would allow us to see some of the installations, while staying close enough to transport links, should the girls become too tired.

Gallery

Prince Charles Cinema

The canopy is not just for the advertising of films.

The Prince Charles Cinema is one of my favourite cinemas to visit. They show a minimum of ten films, per week, which mostly consist of cult, arthouse or independent movies, with the occasional new movie thrown in.

It shows sing-a-long and quotable versions of some films, like The Sound of Music and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. They also show movie marathons, like The Arnie All Nighter, where six Arnold Schwarzenegger movies were shown back-to-back. That was a particularly long night. 

They also do things like 'Beer & Pizza' nights, where a slice of pizza and a beer are included in the ticket price.

Lumiere London, 2016

Leicester Square Illuminated.

Back in mid January, 2016, the Lumiere Festival came to the Unfinished City and it was something that I had to witness.

Spread across four nights there were plenty of opportunities to see all of the installations, as they were spread over four main areas: Mayfair, Piccadilly, Westminster and King's Cross.

Various artists transformed the city's streets, buildings, parks and squares into temporary art galleries, where light was the key element.

Gallery

Prince Charles Cinema: Arnie All Nighter

Saturday November 9, 2013.

Finally, the weeks of waiting were over. The Arnie All Nighter was finally here. This would be mine and Jason's first trip to the Prince Charles Cinema, for an all nighter. Predator is Jason's favourite film and he had always wanted to see it on the big screen. Plus, it came out in 1987, which is the same year in which Jason was born. Go figure. So, when the Prince Charles Cinema announced an Arnie All Nighter which would include Predator, the tickets were booked, immediately. 

The Prince Charles Cinema was built in the early 1960s, operating as a theatre, then a cinema of ill repute before becoming a repertory cinema. Quentin Tarantino once said, "The Prince Charles Cinema is everything an independent movie theatre should be. For lovers of quality films, this is Mecca." adding "The day Kill Bill plays the Prince Charles is the day Kill Bill truly comes home." Unlike most cinemas, the Prince Charles Cinema doesn't use the canopy to just advertise upcoming movies. Sometimes it will add a quote from a movie or just put a random message out for everyone to see.

We arrived at Baker Street and began our slow walk to Leicester Square. Marylebone Road, Park Crescent, Portland Place, Great Portland Street on to Carnaby Street before ending up at Old Compton Street to show Jason Gerry's Wine & Spirits. A place that I have visited on many an occasion, that stocks a wide variety of rare and expensive spirits. After a good nose around, we headed towards Leicester Square, where we ate at KFC. From here we headed to the cinema, where we collected our tickets, before heading for a drink. As most of the bars and pubs were rammed full of revellers, I decided it would be best to head away from the usual spots and so, we headed down the Charing Cross Road to The Chandos on St. Martin's Lane. A nice Samuel Smith pub that, although busy, was had friendly and efficient staff. After two pints each, we headed back to the Prince Charles Cinema, where we joined a queue that had begun to form. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact barely twenty minutes, for the doors to open and then we all piled in. The Prince Charles Cinema has two screens, upstairs (screen 2) with 104 high back purple leather recliner chairs and downstairs (screen 1) with 285 high back red leather chairs. We were downstairs so there were 285 of us, Arnie fans, all up for a marathon movie night. The upper auditorium was also sold out, as they were showing six Wes Anderson movies; Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom. Our marathon was due to begin at 20:45 but, due to this being their first sell-out in a while, it started nearer 21:15.

The Arnie All nighter began with some trailers for movies that didn't make it into the all nighter. The first was for Pumping Iron (1977) and the second was This Is America (1977). Both of these were documentaries about body building and showed the Austrian Oak at his body building best. These were followed by the trailer for Hercules in New York (1969). 

Once the laughter had subsided the marathon truly began with Conan the Barbarian (1982). This was followed by Terminator (1984). We were then treated to some adverts that Arnie had filmed for the Japanese, promoting what I can only assume to be some sort of energy/vitamin drink. 

Follow this link to see what I mean; CrAzY aRnIe AdS  

The marathon then continued with Commando (1986) after which we went outside for some fresh air and to stretch our legs. We then headed back in for the main event: Predator (1987), on the big screen. Amazingly, they followed this with Predator: The Musical. Brilliant! 

At this point some people started to leave, obviously having commitments for the tomorrow, or today. What day was it anyway? This meant that the auditorium was only two-thirds full when the fifth film Total Recall (1990), began. With the delay in the start of the marathon, Total Recall didn't finish until 07:00, at which point Jason and I left the building. (We weren't really keen on seeing T2: Judgement Day, as what is the point of a Terminator that is not allowed to kill?)

From Leicester Square we headed straight up Regent Street, where I managed to get a photo of the lights, before stopping at McDonald's so that Jason could get an egg mcmuffin and I could grab a coffee. We then continued on our way to Baker Street, where our train was pretty much waiting for us. We filled the journey home with talk of the films and other chit-chat as we tried to keep each other awake.

All in all it was great, if long, evening out.

Until next time, May It Be Well With You.