This pedestrianised square surrounded by restaurants and cinemas is incredibly vibrant. In the middle is a fountain erected in 1874 in memory of Shakespeare, opposite the statue of Charlie Chaplin by John Doubleday (1980). Leicester Square was once a garden in front of the residence of the Sydneys, Earls of Leicester, standing on the north side. In the 18C, this square became an elegant location where prosperous artists like Reynolds and Hogarth lived.