Leicester's NOT A Shiphole - I Want to Make it My Home

[davieG]

3 hours ago, Buce said:

 

 

Queens Rd is Clarendon Park, possibly the best of the inner-city areas.

Yes I know I used to live on Clarendon Park Road. That's why I said I didn't recognise the St George connection. 

[Wymsey]

I come into Leicester by going through both the Belgrave Gate and St. Matthew's areas.

Doubt there's any rougher areas than those in the city tbh..

[Manwell Pablo]

13 minutes ago, Wymeswold fox said:

I come into Leicester by going through both the Belgrave Gate and St. Matthew's areas.

Doubt there's any rougher areas than those in the city tbh..

 

There are a lot scummy areas in Leicester but same could be said of any reasonably large urban area. St Matthews is probably a very good contender for top spot though.

 

As I've said before as far as English cities go Leicester is very average, plenty cities I prefer, plenty I don't, although it is improving. I'd never live there myself but I'm a confirmed country bumpkin.

Edited 12 November 2017 by Manwell Pablo

[The Doctor]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Narborough Rd is definitely more ethnic and properly ethnic. Clarendon Park (as Buce rightly points out) is more what I thing of as, "OK yah! Let's copy that really cool Berber restaurant we saw in Rabat and that bar in Braga with the hip Pimba band playing in it! All our friends will adore it, especially, Horace, Prenderghast, Penelope and Bellatrix-Peony!" enforced hipster ethnicity. My flesh crawls.

 

Narborough Rd is cheaper too!

 

Much cheaper.

I mean you could have just said it's a bit gentrified...

[Izzy]

Having had the previous misfortune of also living in both Hull and Coventry, I can confirm that Leicester is fvckin paradise in comparison...

[Stadt]

Leicester performs well in a lot of metrics and I think (or hope) in 10-15 years time it’ll be seen as a fantastic city to live in 

[Webbo]

4 hours ago, Buce said:

 

 

Queens Rd is Clarendon Park, possibly the best of the inner-city areas.

I was working there last week. I had to park 10 minutes walk from where I was working.It's a great area but the parking's a nightmare.

[FoxyPalace.com]

What ever floats your boat!

[La-Sayona]

1 hour ago, FIF said:

 

Only because, if my memory of oblique mythology is correct, La Sayona is a feminist venezuelan myth.

 

Yes that is correct. La Sayona is a legend from Venezuela.  Our family is Anglo-Cuban in fact.  We've lived in a few areas (including Havana).  Where we live is Oxfordshire rather than Oxford.  It's Ok and quiet, but lots of old white people and range rovers!

 

Thanks for the very useful advice by the way.  You couldn't find authentic advice like this elsewhere on the internet I would say.

 

 

[sdb]

2 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

I've lived not far from Queens Road (Clarendon Park, not St. George's) for 11 years and am not a native.

 

- Pending divorce, I'm now renting. I pay £650pm for a decent 2-bed Victorian terrace, but did see places at £600....though you might have to pay more for a 3-bed.

- Depending on how "ghetto glam" and "multicultural shabby" you want to get (), you'd be able to get a place cheaper in neighbouring Highfields or on the other side of Welford Road. Stick "LE2" or "within half mile of Queens Rd" in Rightmove and that should clarify.

- Clarendon Park is conveniently located if you've no car: takes me 15 mins to walk to station, 20 to football stadium, 25 to city centre (fairly quick walker - pleasant walk across park/down pedestrian pathway to centre)

- It also has a decent bus service (buses from city up London Rd & Welford Rd till late - 11.40pm on London Rd, bit earlier to Queens Rd. Also easy to get out to the country by bus.

- Local shops are open late (11pm Sainsbury's, 10pm Coop) and area is as safe as most places, within reason

- Clarendon Park is a whiter, more middle-class area than most in Leicester, though it is also very international due to its big student population (lots of foreign students/uni staff etc.)

- As someone who's lived in several other cities, I'd say Leicester punches above its weight for cultural events: decent range of gig venues, good independent cinema & multiplexes, Curve (never been inside!) & small theatres

- I find Leicester people not unfriendly but quite subdued, the middle-aged ones anyway, but that might just be the people I've met, compared to wilder, younger days elsewhere

- Parts of the city centre are quite grotty, others are decent, yet others are naff generic retail centres. It's OK but work in progress, money permitting, I'd say.

 

I'd give Leicester 7 out of 10, less than London, Manchester or Brighton, but more than Coventry, Plymouth or Salford (other places I've lived).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very good and fair write up! 

[Spudulike]

Something that you might want to bear in mind is that Leicester people love running down their city. I don't know why but it's always been that way. Must be in our DNA.

 

As a contrast, I lived in Swansea which to me was a dump but the locals will tell you that it's heaven on earth.

 

I don't live in Leicester now but visit as often as I can and not just for LCFC. I'd move back there in a heatbeat given the chance.

[Strokes]

3 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Something that you might want to bear in mind is that Leicester people love running down their city. I don't know why but it's always been that way. Must be in our DNA.

 

As a contrast, I lived in Swansea which to me was a dump but the locals will tell you that it's heaven on earth.

 

I don't live in Leicester now but visit as often as I can and not just for LCFC. I'd move back there in a heatbeat given the chance.

I travel the whole of the UK in my job, I have done for years. There aren’t many cities as bad as Leicester when you consider all aspects but I’m more of a rural type of guy anyway. I hate London, Birmingham, Sheffield..... the only city I would comfortably live in is Manchester. Leicestershire and Rutland is beautiful, one of the best countryside in the world imo.

[Wolfox]

Leicester is a nice town…

 

i live out in the sticks now, but, would move back to Clarendon Park (Queens Rd) if it were purely down to me…. I was brought up round there and went to Avenue Rd junior school

 

youll rent a two bed terrace for about £650 round there

 

Grounded kithchen is great for lunch 

 

a few nice bars (I like Babelas)

 

pavlos do do the best Doner in town

 

And, most importantly, it has a nice atmosphere 

 

try and get a house between Adderley Rd and Queens Rd (the sweet spot)

 

One of the nicest urban walks anywhere to get into town via New Walk

 

My neice went to Uni in Oxford and although beautiful, it was rammed with tourists and over priced 

 

I don’t think you’d regret the move 

 

 

[La-Sayona]

21 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Leicester is a nice town…

 

i live out in the sticks now, but, would move back to Clarendon Park (Queens Rd) if it were purely down to me…. I was brought up round there and went to Avenue Rd junior school

 

youll rent a two bed terrace for about £650 round there

 

Grounded kithchen is great for lunch 

 

a few nice bars (I like Babelas)

 

pavlos do do the best Doner in town

 

And, most importantly, it has a nice atmosphere 

 

try and get a house between Adderley Rd and Queens Rd (the sweet spot)

 

One of the nicest urban walks anywhere to get into town via New Walk

 

My neice went to Uni in Oxford and although beautiful, it was rammed with tourists and over priced 

 

I don’t think you’d regret the move 

 

 

¡Sí Señor!  This!

 

In Oxford there are lots and lots of student tourists all with matching backbacks marching along behind the tour guide.  It can be a big nuisance and some of them don't seem to have the same concern as us about giving you a good shove if you're in their way!   They have Monday in London, Tuesday in Stratford-on-Avon, Wednesday in Oxford and so on.    

 

It was nice to walk around Leicester centre yesterday and there was nearly nobody there in the morning.  It was amazingly quiet.  We were nearly the only customers in the cafe.  

 

Thanks for the very useful advice.  We also have a 7 year old (his nickname is '4 cyclones' for reasons you can probably imagine) so we will want to be near a decent primary school.  

 

I think the Clarendon Park area is definitely where we want to be.  I had called it 'St George's' because that was what was written on the tourist map they gave us.  It said "St George's Cultural Quarter" or something similar.  Probably just one of those council over-hyping things.....

 

 

 

[Great Boos Up]

As a kid I lived in Newport, Bahamas for a year . It's corrugated poverty drug infested shanty town. Grew up in Germany. That's more right wing that than you could ever imagine. Educated in Oxford. It's a low income violent place to live. Moved to Charnwood at 17. I'm now a rep who travels the country. Pound for pound I will never move from Charnwood.

[Benguin]

Leicester is a great place. People just tend to hate where they're born. I've lived in 7 places in the UK and Leicester was only beaten in my rankings by Weymouth, and that was only because it was coastal.

[Wolfox]

1 hour ago, La-Sayona said:

¡Sí Señor!  This!

 

In Oxford there are lots and lots of student tourists all with matching backbacks marching along behind the tour guide.  It can be a big nuisance and some of them don't seem to have the same concern as us about giving you a good shove if you're in their way!   They have Monday in London, Tuesday in Stratford-on-Avon, Wednesday in Oxford and so on.    

 

It was nice to walk around Leicester centre yesterday and there was nearly nobody there in the morning.  It was amazingly quiet.  We were nearly the only customers in the cafe.  

 

Thanks for the very useful advice.  We also have a 7 year old (his nickname is '4 cyclones' for reasons you can probably imagine) so we will want to be near a decent primary school.  

 

I think the Clarendon Park area is definitely where we want to be.  I had called it 'St George's' because that was what was written on the tourist map they gave us.  It said "St George's Cultural Quarter" or something similar.  Probably just one of those council over-hyping things.....

 

 

 

Avenue Rd Junior school is great little school - really impressive for a small kid as it’s 150 year old Victorian building 

 

St Johns is very popular, but, a C of E school 

 

Avenue Rd school has more charm!

 

i think there is a Facebook page for Clarendon Park, which is quite well used - good for understanding what’s going on

 

great little Library for the young lad too as well as l

 

Lots of little hidden play areas as well as a massive park!

 

 

Edited 12 November 2017 by Wolfox

[La-Sayona]

What a shame and disappointment to find that the Golden Lux Café in Market Street has closed down!

 

Had to come to Leicester to deliver the eldest back to uni and marched round there determined to this time buy a whole box of their delicious pasteles de nata (custard tarts) but the windows were papered over and it said it had closed for good.

 

A real loss to the city centre an authentic café like that I'd say.

 

 

[Wymsey]

Has any announcement been made on what the old Fenwick building is going to be now?

Just hope it's not more student accommodation.

Edited 15 January 2018 by Wymeswold fox

[Countryfox]

32 minutes ago, Wymeswold fox said:

 

Just hope it's not more student accommodation.

 

Studentism has no place in modern society .... 

[La-Sayona]

When your money gets low, it's time to change your town.  

 

We are on our way.  With thinly-disguised relish I've 'thrown the apron on the floor' at my work and told them I'm off.  Plenty of notice.  End of September and that's yer lot.  Told the rental agency that they can not bother rolling their eyes at me for another rent increase and another contract.  They've had more than their pound of flesh in the 10 years we've been here.  The rent is £925 of your English pounds each calendar month for a miserable ex-council 3 bed semi.  And an increase pending.  The two older children are gone or going to university and only one left to worry about.  Right.  So you understand why we're offski.  

 

As I think we said, we're determined for Leicester.  We've liked it each time we've been there (the eldest is at university there).  And it's more suited to our economy.  The prices here are exceptional.  The prices here would make a Maharajah gasp.  And also we are moving for the company.  We are fed up with Cameron's cosy Cotswolds.  We are an eclectic family.  Anglo-Cuban and colours of the rainbow.  Spanglish spoken here.  Also revolutionary values.  Firm and decided values.  We have not really fitted in here.  I won't go into boring detail, but it is like people from different planets.  I will give only one example which is that when we moved in, they shouted "Go Back to Afghanistan!" at us as we unloaded the removal van. And I'm white!

 

So I have applied for now 5 or 6 humble jobs in Leicester and once I've got a job then I shall sort out a casa and school for the youngest.  My biggest hope of the jobs is a porter at the hospital.  It is not anything different for us to move somewhere new.  

 

We should arrive there in October.  We are joker-smoker, chess players.  Very humble and modest.  We like reggaeton and rum.  We are now in our 40s and 50s and feel that old age coming on.  We are a not fans of consumerism.   I hope we will fit in well there in Leicester and be contributing and positive members of the community.  I think to maybe teach Spanish and Maths there too.   Having looked at the area we are settled that it must be the centre.  

 

If anyone would like to come around and have a glass of rum and a quick mambo when we arrive, then let me know and we'll be glad to meet you.  

 

No Tories please thankyou.

Edited 11 August 2018 by La-Sayona

[La-Sayona]

On 12/11/2017 at 12:53, Trav Le Bleu said:

Narborough Rd is definitely more ethnic and properly ethnic. Clarendon Park (as Buce rightly points out) is more what I thing of as, "OK yah! Let's copy that really cool Berber restaurant we saw in Rabat and that bar in Braga with the hip Pimba band playing in it! All our friends will adore it, especially, Horace, Prenderghast, Penelope and Bellatrix-Peony!" enforced hipster ethnicity. My flesh crawls.

 

Narborough Rd is cheaper too!

 

Much cheaper.

Yes!  I know this type.  That is OK.  They pay top dollar for salsa lessons.  The only problem is to find a bar to hold it because they don't drink from the bar - only bottles of water!  They take it very, very seriously.  

 

It's supposed to be fun. 

 

Narborough Road is top of our list.

Edited 11 August 2018 by La-Sayona

[PAULCFC]

Welcome to our city!Get a ciy shirt and you will fit in fine!One question? what is a joker-smoker and reggaeton?I get the rum!

[La-Sayona]

Gracias Paul!  First person we know in Leicester!

 

I'm suprised Reggaeton hasn't arrived here yet.  It's in Italy. It's in Spain.  It's in Portugal.  It's in France.  It's that 'despacito' military style thing.  rat-tatta-tat-ratta-tat stuff.   It has killed salsa, cumbia, bachata, rumba, merengue, danzon and the cha cha bloody cha.  It has steamrollered all in front of it.  But you have to admit it is quite infectious.  It sounds better after rum.

 

A joker is a person, I'm ashamed to say, with a lack of respect or awe for authority or rich people.  Someone who even on occasions, I'm even more ashamed to say, when especially drinking rum, can on occasions make fun of their excesses and comical ways of living.   

 

A smoker is a person who sets light to substances.  Typically tobacco.  Unless it's a party and there's a bottle of rum open.

 

 

[Buce]

5 hours ago, La-Sayona said:

When your money gets low, it's time to change your town.  

 

We are on our way.  With thinly-disguised relish I've 'thrown the apron on the floor' at my work and told them I'm off.  Plenty of notice.  End of September and that's yer lot.  Told the rental agency that they can not bother rolling their eyes at me for another rent increase and another contract.  They've had more than their pound of flesh in the 10 years we've been here.  The rent is £925 of your English pounds each calendar month for a miserable ex-council 3 bed semi.  And an increase pending.  The two older children are gone or going to university and only one left to worry about.  Right.  So you understand why we're offski.  

 

As I think we said, we're determined for Leicester.  We've liked it each time we've been there (the eldest is at university there).  And it's more suited to our economy.  The prices here are exceptional.  The prices here would make a Maharajah gasp.  And also we are moving for the company.  We are fed up with Cameron's cosy Cotswolds.  We are an eclectic family.  Anglo-Cuban and colours of the rainbow.  Spanglish spoken here.  Also revolutionary values.  Firm and decided values.  We have not really fitted in here.  I won't go into boring detail, but it is like people from different planets.  I will give only one example which is that when we moved in, they shouted "Go Back to Afghanistan!" at us as we unloaded the removal van. And I'm white!

 

So I have applied for now 5 or 6 humble jobs in Leicester and once I've got a job then I shall sort out a casa and school for the youngest.  My biggest hope of the jobs is a porter at the hospital.  It is not anything different for us to move somewhere new.  

 

We should arrive there in October.  We are joker-smoker, chess players.  Very humble and modest.  We like reggaeton and rum.  We are now in our 40s and 50s and feel that old age coming on.  We are a not fans of consumerism.   I hope we will fit in well there in Leicester and be contributing and positive members of the community.  I think to maybe teach Spanish and Maths there too.   Having looked at the area we are settled that it must be the centre.  

 

If anyone would like to come around and have a glass of rum and a quick mambo when we arrive, then let me know and we'll be glad to meet you.  

 

No Tories please thankyou.

 

9

 

Good man.

 

I like you already.