Anonymous and congested it may be, but Piccadilly Circus, is, for many Londoners, the nearest their city comes to having a centre. A much-altered product of Nash’s grand 1812 Regent Street plan, and now a major traffic bottleneck, it may not be a picturesque place, but thanks to its celebrated aluminium statue, popularly known as Eros , it’s prime tourist territory.

The fountain’s archer is one of the city’s top attractions, a status that baffles all who live here. Despite the bow and arrow, it’s not the god of love at all but the Angel of Christian Charity, erected to commemorate the Earl of Shaftesbury, a Bible-thumping social reformer who campaigned against child labor.

If Eros’s fame remains a mystery, the regular queue outside the nearby Rock Circus (Mon, Wed, Thurs & Sun 10am-8pm, Tues 11am-8pm, Fri & Sat 10am-9pm; £8.25; www.rock-circus.com) is a good deal more perplexing. Billed as an all-singing extravaganza, it’s little more than an array of Madame Tussaud’s waxen rock legends accompanied by snippets of their hits.

Next door is the equally tacky Trocadero (Mon-Fri 10.30am- midnight, Sat & Sun 10.30am-1am), Europe’s largest indoor virtual-reality theme park. For all the hype, this is really just a glorified amusement arcade with a few virtual-reality rides thrown in.