A new control room in the heart of London's West End linked to a network of CCTV cameras is being opened on Thursday.

The room, in the Trocadero Centre in Piccadilly Circus, has the capacity for up to 600 cameras and will provide 24-hour day coverage.

The West End has been plagued by petty crime and it is hoped the cameras will catch more of the pickpockets and bag snatchers operating in areas such as Soho, Regent Street and China Town.

The new centre follows another crime fighting initiative, the privately-funded Red Cap crime wardens, who started patrolling the West End in July.

Enormous step

Karl Powell, from Westminster City Council, told BBC London they had already detected 800 crimes over the past two months on CCTV.

He said the new control centre would be an "enormous step forward" in the fight against crime.

He said: "The system on its own is not a panacea to all our problems.

"But what this is, is a very powerful tool we are able to link to our other anti-crime initiatives.

"It links directly with the police, our own full time warden system on the streets and also the ability to make sure we put an end to crime in the West End."