Lego aims high as six-metre Big Ben dominates its biggest store in the world

The world's biggest Lego store opens in London on Thursday marked by the unveiling of a six-metre high 200,000-brick Big Ben.

The structure dominates the two-storey 914 square metre store in Leicester Square after taking 2,280 hours to build, and features a working clock face which will be illuminated at night.

The opening also includes the unveiling of a new Lego mascot named Lester, an English tea-drinking Minifigure, and the first Lego London skyline replica set ahead of its worldwide release in January.

The phenomenally successful Danish company reports having sold more than 72 billion Lego "elements" or pieces last year.

Loren Shuster, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Lego said: "We want to inspire and develop children across the globe through creative Lego play experiences, and our Lego Brand retail stores allows children, parents and fans to explore the many different Lego products while getting a truly unique and immersive experience of the Lego brand."

Lego made headlines last week when it announced it had no further plans for free giveaways in the Daily Mail following a campaign calling on advertisers to boycott newspapers promoting "demonisation and division" during the Brexit debate.

The company - which ended its relationship with Shell in 2014 after a Greenpeace video highlighted the oil group's plans to drill in the Arctic - declined to say if it was responding to the campaign or if it had changed its marketing plans.