Westminster Reference Library

This is a very special library with the most incredible selection of theatre books.
Lots to be proud of!

Quaint little library located just behind Leicester square which seem to be full of homeless people. Its a strange feeling browsing the books of this village feeling library as the worlds famous strut their stuff in front of an audience just 100yard away. Especially with the crowds roaring in the background whilst i was trying to get some work done.
OK internet access, although there’s always a pc available(but the pcs are set to a weird resolution). Open 6 days a week until 7pm(5 on Saturdays) with polite although not efficient staff).
I have yet to explore the movie section of this library as mention in the previous review but am looking very forward to it.

This place is great for internet users, as you can wifi several places from here, including MI6. Sadly there’s a password required for some reason, but it’s nice to see MI6 popping up there on your screen. I think I’m right in saying it was Newton’s old house. Newton or Wordsworth, someone incredibly famous. Shows a certain lack of research. But all the original features are there. There is a huge cinema and theatre library, full of old film books, and I’ve bought several ancient cinema books from here when they were selling old stock, including work by Pudovkin. There is a vast range of magazines to read, and a lot of foreign papers. ACTORS: the library on the first floor has PCR behind the desk, which you can read (and possibly photocopy) for free, you don’t have to be a member. The top floor used to be a quaint little art library under the eaves, and I always suspected the librarian there never left, just have built a little flat for himself, hidden amongst the stacks. I was watching the ancient british movie Blackout the other day and was delighted to see it featured in a scene where the strange hero, Maxwell Reed (famous for marrying Joan Collins and treating her a bit badly) looks up an address in an enormous directory. They shot on location in the library, and it hasn’t changed at all. Since 1950. Quite an important plot point as well, since Maxwell witnessed a murder when he was blind at an address he didn’t want to go to. (Film Noir.) So come to Westminster Library and sit at a desk graced by Maxwell Reed, forgotten star of British B-Movies.