to want to bring back The Swiss Centre in Leicester Square?

[pmTea]

Anyone who is now if their 40s will remember the amazing Swiss Ctr in Leicester Square which shut its door back in 2008, I think (Westminster Council apparently didn't think it offered the public enough...more like the land it was sitting on was worth an epic fortune).
It had the best food court down in the basement, with all manner of Swiss foodie stuff, cooked individually for you from several little stalls, and the quality was amazing: Rosti, Movenpick ice-cream,bratwurst....mmm.
I spent bloody hours in the place, sharing a plate of food with mates (we were all students back then) and it was the best meeting point too ("Meet you outside the swiss centre at 8"
Iconic.
G'won, indulge me peeps!

I'm sure there were claims that it was moving to Victoria, but suspect it was all lies.

mmm fondue

I actully really like the M&M smell...it's the noise and endless tat that gets me.

After walking past the Movenpick sign, I use to walk past Lillywhites and laugh becuase I thought is sounded like a sanitry product.

It was just me, wasn't it.

"I didn't know normal people could go in there. I assumed it was a kind of embassy, national airline HQ. . "

what meglet said. I wish I'd known back then too!

(so this is where the dreaded M&M world is. At least I can avoid it now)

Lily whites was a fab sports shop! and the lovely old gold cinema has gone too, as has the Denman St classic cafe.

Leicester Square is a nightmare.

Leicester square is no more of a nightmare than it ever was.

There is still that nightclub on the corner.....never been in. Never wanted to. And it's unlikely I ever will now. [girn]

I do too much girning on this forum!

Ah, I went to a birthday party there when I was ten ish. Was lovely - we dressed up and had fondue. Beat McDonald's!

I bloody loved the Swiss Centre. Went there all the time in my early twenties. I was devastated when I tried to take a friend there years later and discovered it had gone.

St Moritz in Soho is still a weird and wonderful place for excellent fondue though.

When i was young( long time ago) i worked at the swiss center. I really loved working there.

I don't have a relationship with my father any more, but one of my fondest childhood memories of him involved the Swiss Centre. Back in the day when you could go home for lunch during the school day, my Dad must have been off work and told me that I wasn't going back to school for the afternoon. He took me to Leicester Square for lunch at the Swiss Centre and to see The Lady and The Tramp. It was one of my happiest days.

I didn't know it had gone as I don't live in London any more.

Oh YES, I bloody loved the place. Now youre taking me back to when I was 21 and my first summer working in London. We needto start a campaign to bring it back. Come on MNetters!

I used to work there in the 80's too. There was a hairdressing school there and that's where I worked. Have many happy memories, it definitely had its own smell! Was lovely. So many places ruined now, bloody m&m shop indeed

When I first moved to London back in the mid '90s I was a country girl from Hicksville, but I was always at my happiest in Leicester Square, I used to time it just so I could get there to watch the clocks at the Swiss Centre. Then I'd go inside and get the most delicious soup in the world.

The most magical thing about Leicester Square is I nearly always used to meet somebody I knew, even if it was someone I hadn't seen for years and who didn't come from London. Those were the happiest days of my life and so the Swiss Centre is all tied up in those happy memories.

I'm really sad to think that the Swiss Centre has gone, when I think of taking the DCs back to London for a trip it's always in my head as one of the places to take them.

My grandma took sister and I to the swiss centre once for pasta and ice cream. Since I could never find it as an adult, when I moved to London, I assumed it must have been somewhere like swiss cottage she took us to! Now I find that a) the swiss centre was real and b) I could have gone there when I moved to London in 2004!

Why did they close it?

I worked there in the 80s. Horrible place.

There was always some weird and fascinating film on ... many a rainy Saturday afternoon happily whiled away.

I didn't know it had gone. Shame

Yes it was a great meeting point. We used to meet inside down the basement.

never went in there, though I remember the bells. Haven't been to Leicester Square for ages as it was such a hole, though DH tells me it's been poshed up and is quite naice these days!

i loved it too and Covent Garden General Store

but no it is better to have an M&M World and M&S in their place apparently :(

Covent Garden was much nicer when it was not full of high street shops

Campaign to bring it back - brilliant idea!!!
Ah, so happy many of you peeps out there have as fond memories as mine
I have refused to set foot inside M&M world and can't believe that they actually pump smell of m&M into street? For real??
Taking DH to St. Moritz for his 45th this week, now you mention it *Rhubarb" (he's German but lived in Zurich) and yes, it's cheesy by name and nature, but love it!
Never had fondue at Swiss Ctr as was too skint in those days - it was more like a raclette amonst 4 mates, followed by an ice cream!
Sigh...

Blimey, I must have walked past the Swiss Centre 100s if not 1000s of times when I worked in London in the 80s yet, like a few others, I too imagined it was some sort of embassy/trade place and never ventured inside. Now you lot are making me kick myself for all those lost opportunities !

As for M&M World, that'd be an abomination wherever it was ....

I remember it too. Never went in though.

I rather suspect it would still be open if it was making money.

of course it would be but M&M are taking over the world

ds wanted to go in i refused he does not even like M&M's we stick to smarties and i still long for treats :(