It's on the corner of Leicester Square and Wardour St. just opposite the KFC and the McDonalds. On spotting it I sighed, as clearly here was just one more notch for rampant consumerism at a time when it's getting harder for the average man to put bread on the table. 'But that's the way of the world these days' I thought. In these straightened times it's nigh on impossible to build anything, particulalrly in the high rent areas around Soho, without big buisness backing.
So I decided to go in, I mean this is a prime retail/leisure location, what had the M&Ms brand put their name to in order to entice passing tourists? It might be a cinema, what with the red and yellow M&Ms now presenting those silly adverts in theatres nationwide. Or maybe some kind of games arcade, with an M&M store inside when you need a chocalatey break. Indeed, I just got the feeling while standing outside that there would be 4 distinct levels, each with their own fun activity...
Oh yes Ladies and Gents, I got that impression because that's what I was promised. So what was inside?
It was a shop. A giant bloody shop selling loads of M&M merchandise. Only a small corner of one of the floors was even devoted to the selling of the snack itself. There were M&M lunchboxes, M&M t-shirts, M&M hats, M&M bibs and much more besides.
Who on earth concocted this idea? What blithering loon thought that there was enough demand for clothing and accessories with a coloured circle with an 'M' in the middle that they would build a giant shrine to the things? I'll tell you one thing, I had no fun at all. I walked round, gagged at the thought of the depths Westminster's planning committee had sunk to, and left, past lots of joyous people all getting their photo taken with a statue of the 'yellow one'.
