Inside Lego's magical new London home

Lego has a new home in the heart of London.

The flagship Lego store sits in the middle of Leicester Square and at 914 square metres, it's the largest Lego store in the world. It's also a dream world for Lego fanatics of any age.

Featuring giant Lego sculptures of Big Ben, a London underground tube carriage and a classic phone box, the store is unashamedly British, with Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, a policeman and various other characters brightening up the place.

We took a look inside the store ahead of its official opening.

The tube carriage is five metres long and is made up of almost 640,000 bricks. It took 3,399 hours to put together.

The spare seat is for you, of course. Share your journey with a guard and Shakespeare.

The London underground is not my favourite place to find poetic inspiration, but this Lego version might fare better for old Bill.

Something's scared this tube driver enough to make him spill his coffee. It's probably nothing that a strike won't solve.

Big Ben -- or the Elizabeth Tower, the actual name of the building -- measures 6.5 metres tall and is built from 344,000 bricks. It chimes on the hour too, just like the real thing.

You need to get up to the second floor to see the whole thing.

The intricate detail on the clock face is incredible.

A Westminster judge plans a surprise attack on a policeman.

The store's mascot is named Lester. We think Lego chose that name to help people properly pronounce "Leicester", although Lego said that's not actually the case. I still think it is.

There's even a Lego tube map to help you navigate around the city.

Not shown: overcrowding.

Lego is clearly expecting crowds, judging by the amount of these barriers.

No London store would be complete without a classic English telephone box.

There are Lego sets from every conceivable series the company has produced. I quite like the look of these Angry Birds ones.

There are areas for kids -- and, evidently, big kids -- to build their own structures in store.

Don't want to buy a particular Lego set? Just pick your own!

A bucket full of heads isn't normal, but in the Lego store it is.

The majestic building sits in the heart of Leicester Square. The big Lego banners won't be up once the store opens officially.

This is Brickley, the Lego dragon that's founding snaking his way through every Lego store. He's been given a bowler hat, monocle and umbrella. Because London.

You'll pass under this Leicester Square tube gates when you enter the store.

This London skyline mosaic is brilliantly intricate and took over 265,000 Lego bricks to make.

The buildings have lovely 3D effects.

CNET's UK managing editor Kent German gets some lessons in Lego crafting.