Earlier this year Mr. Boo sent me a rather excited email telling me that the date for the new LEGO® Store Leicester Square, London had been announced for Thursday 17th November. Along with this announcement, followed one of his own… I’m booking the day off and heading to the opening, can you book my train tickets.
Emails headed back and forth about how sad it was that it was a school day and that Tigger couldn’t go. You see whilst LEGO is something we all love, for Tigger and Mr Boo it is their ‘thing’. Happily found in the dining room on Mr Boo’s days off building a set or two. Whilst chatting about the different minifigures and the interactive features of the set.
Fast forward to just 10 days ago when I was fortunate to receive an exciting email regarding the LEGO® Store London. This time not from Mr Boo but one inviting us to an extra special preview of the store the night before its grand opening. Cue my very own exciting email to Mr Boo telling him to change his day off as we were off to London straight after school.
LEGO® Store Leicester Square
The LEGO® Store Leicester Square is the world’s largest LEGO® Store. The store is 914 sqm, spread over two floors and contains over 30,000,000 LEGO® bricks. Whilst the LEGO® Store is after all a shop whether you are able to purchase an amazing selection of LEGO® sets. The LEGO® team haven’t built any old boring store for you to come in, buy, leave and forget. They have made the new LEGO® Store an experience, which any LEGO® fan young or old will enjoy.
The preview event gave us a chance to take a look around the LEGO® Store Leicester Square before the doors opened to the public. With a host of LEGO® excecutives, architects and building contractors all whom have been involved with planning, designing and fruition of the store. Alongside some well-known names such as Johnny Vegas (who was looking amazing), Dom from Dick and Dom (Roo was so excited to see him!) and Sally Lindsay (looking stunning).
Filled with a team of helpful and knowledgeable colleagues they were able to answer any of our questions. As well as point out details that we had missed on the sets that were on display. Speaking of the display sets, it was lovely to see such a wonderful selection of sets built and on display for you to take a look at. Often it is hard to gage just how big a set will be or what it will look like when built so this was a great feature. With each of the different LEGO® themes having a display, rather than the focus being on only one or two types. The Christmas range was especially lovely to see all set up and Mr Boo managed to add Santa’s workshop to his collection after one of the LEGO® colleagues took the time to show is the amazing detail included.
Brick Built Models
The LEGO® Store Leicester Square is home to some exclusive and amazing brick-built models…
Lester
The brick-built Lester is made of an incredible 24,500 individual bricks. Standing proudly by the lifts he is one character you have to get a photo with during your visit.
Tube Train
It took a staggering 637,902 bricks to make the Tube Train model. With space for you to take a seat next to William Shakespeare, it is the perfect opportunity to get your photo taken. Don’t forget to say hello to the Queen who is sitting behind you.
Red Telephone Box
If you need to make a call, why not pop inside the brick-built telephone box that weighs 700kg – that’s about the same as a baby hippo! Personally, I think we need more red telephone boxes in our lives, although I imagine it takes quite a while to construct one of these.
Brickley the Dragon
The mezzanine floor allows you to not only take in the views from above but to see Brickley the Dragon in full splendor. He took 725 hours to build! That is like one person building non-stop for the entire month of November – pretty impressive.
Big Ben
There is no missing the impressive Big Ben model, located just as you enter store. Weighing just over a metric tonne and reaching above the mezzanine floor. The attention to detail is outstanding, it even chimes just like the real Big Ben.
Interactive Features
Alongside the amazing brick-built models and photo opportunities, there is a host of interactive features located around the store. From build-a-minifigure, pick-a-brick wall and play tables. Special TV screens that bring the LEGO® sets to life, by simply holding the box in front of it and a 3D image of the spacecraft etc appears on the screen.
There is also the Mosaic Maker which is an amazing photo booth than transforms a photo of you into a LEGO® design so that you can build you very own face out of LEGO®.
LEGO® Store – buy! buy! buy!
I’ve told you all about what the store includes but almost forgot about the amazing selection of products available within the store. With a host of exclusives, including the London Architecture set that will only be exclusively availble from the LEGO® Store Leicester Square until January. Alongside the beautiful displays of sets there is also a touchscreen available for you to search through the set available in case you have missed something that is on display. Perfect if you know which set your child (or partner) has asked for but don’t know where to locate it.
Boo Roo and Tigger Too’s thoughts…
Being a LEGO® family, obviously, I am going to tell you that we loved it and that you should visit at your earliest convenience. But, in all seriousness, it really is more than just a shop. It is somewhere where no matter how old you are and how much you enjoy LEGO® you are welcomed and invited in to see the amazing world of LEGO® and everything it has to offer.
Disclosure: We were invited to and exclusive preview of the LEGO® Store Leicester Square
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