Leicester Square is getting a giant new LED screen — the first real rival to Piccadilly Circus
London is about to gain another striking landmark. A huge new LED display called The Curve is set to launch in Leicester Square by the end of the summer, and it is already being described as the first serious challenger to the legendary Piccadilly Circus screen, one of the capital’s most recognisable icons.
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The new display will be installed above Burger King on the north-east corner of Leicester Square. The Curve will feature a curved LED screen measuring 17.3 metres wide and 9.6 metres high, flanked by two additional vertical displays, bringing the total screen area to around 240 square metres. Alongside commercial advertising, the screen will be used for live broadcasts, cultural events and major public occasions.
The project is being developed by Soho Estates. The Curve is only the first stage of a much larger redevelopment plan, which includes a new entertainment complex with a food hall and another large LED screen. Planning permission for the wider development is still under consideration. The arrival of The Curve inevitably invites comparisons with the famous screen at Piccadilly Circus, which has been one of London’s defining landmarks for well over a century. The first illuminated advertisements appeared here in 1908, when individual neon signs began transforming the junction into Britain’s answer to Times Square in New York. Over the decades, the display has evolved several times. In 2017, the separate advertising boards were removed and replaced with a single state-of-the-art curved LED screen, the one visitors see today.
Yet Piccadilly Circus has long been more than an advertising space. The giant screen has become one of the country’s most recognisable public information displays, used to mark major national moments. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, it displayed official tributes and updates that became part of the nation’s collective experience. It has also been used for commemorations, public campaigns, charity initiatives and celebrations of significant national events.
That is why the arrival of another large-scale screen in the heart of the West End feels particularly significant. For the first time in decades, Piccadilly Circus will have a genuine neighbour capable of hosting major broadcasts, city-wide events and high-profile advertising campaigns.
Whether it can ever rival the status of its famous predecessor, however, is another question. However much London changes, Piccadilly Circus remains the place most people associate with the city, just as Times Square is synonymous with New York. Leicester Square may become a spectacular new digital landmark, but the legendary status of Piccadilly Circus is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
Cover photo: Soho Estates | Artist’s impression of The Curve LED screen in Leicester Square
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