Why has a prized garden in central London been closed for 200 days?

There’s a small, sun-drenched patch of grass in the heart of London that has been behind tape and metal poles for months.

There are no warning signs, no obvious works, just a fenced off garden and dozens of tourists eating lunch on a concrete wall instead.

The idyllic patch of land is in Leicester Square and is one of the few places in central London where you can sit on real grass.

But it has been closed since October 13 and, nearly 200 days later with spring well underway, it’s still off limits.

The space was originally taped off for the installation of an ice rink over Christmas.

Now that temperatures are reaching the double figures, nobody is really sure why it is still roped off.

Abdul, who works in a café around the corner, told Metro he finds it annoying. He said: ‘It should be a place for people to relax, eat their lunch while they’re on their break and look at the fountain.

‘It’s ugly and it ruins the atmosphere.’

Normally you can walk on the paving between the lawns or sit on the benches, but on the day we visited the whole gardens were padlocked.

Tourists stood looking at the locked gates, disappointed they didn’t have somewhere to take a load off their feet.

The gardens were closed ahead of the premiere of the Devil Wears Prada 2 which was taken that night.

That left the statues of Mr Ben, Paddington and Mary Poppins – all part of ‘Scenes in the Square’ – out of reach.

Simon Thomas, chairman of the Hippodrome Casino which overlooks the gardens, took a picture of a family navigating a spider’s web of tape, rope and barriersto try and get a picture with Mr Ben.

He said: ‘It is one of the most visited squares in the UK, and it looks like a building site.

‘Visitors travel across the world to see us, and this is the message we send them. They will hardly be thinking, “at least the council earnt some money over Christmas”. They’ll be wondering why we aren’t as nice as Paris.’

The grass is taped off like this every year, but with spring in full bloom and tourist numbers rising, it raises the question of why it takes so long to reopen one of central London’s most precious green spaces.

A spokesperson for Westminster City Council said: ‘Returfing of the lawn areas commenced as soon as weather conditions allowed. The lawns will reopen on the May 1 to allow the public to enjoy them over the summer months. The Gardens and seating areas have remained open to the public throughout the returfing period.’

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