City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[davieG]

 

 

 

 

History of Leicestershire in Images

Jan Smith  

Syston,En-Tout-Cas. It was on Wanlip Road / Melton Road. My dad worked here in the 1960s. Photos taken in the 1930s.

[davieG]

23 hours ago, kenny said:

https://archive.is/20250620103605/https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/06/19/the-english-midlands-is-unjustly-overlooked

 

Interesting read.

Wrote the other day East Midlands bottom of the pile, Leicester/shire bottom of the East Midlands = Bottom of England when it comes to money in any form from government bodies.

[davieG]

[davieG]

me most of the lidos closed down with the way the weather is changing

 

 

Born and Raised in Leicester ·

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The Lido, Scraptoft Lane, Leicester

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/new-leicester-market-images-unveiled-10300793

 

New Leicester Market Place images unveiled as plans move to next stage
The historic market square is set to be transformed into a joint events and retail space

ByHannah RichardsonLocal Democracy Reporter
16:17, 27 JUN 2025Updated16:22, 27 JUN 2025

The new-look Leicester Market (Image: Leicester City Council)
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The controversial redevelopment of Leicester Market has taken a huge step forward. Plans have now been submitted to Leicester City Council for the scheme, which will ultimately see the historic market square transformed into a joint events and retail space.

The submitted documents reveal the council’s vision for the area, with details of seating, planting, lighting and security measures put forward for approval. The application is the first of two for the project. The second application – setting out the details of a new covered market structure – is expected later in the summer.

The redevelopment has gone through various changes since it was first announced in 2022, after the original scheme was put on hold while Leicester City Council looked at turning it into an events space. Following backlash from traders over the possibility they might not be allowed to return to their historic home, new proposals - to use the square as a shared space for both events and the market - were put forward in October 2024.

 

However, not all those with businesses on the market will be moving back to its historic home. The city council said in February that the new covered market stalls would likely be for food vendors only, meaning dry goods traders would have to find somewhere else to set up their businesses.

Documents made public today (Friday, June 27) set out the authority’s ambition to create an “open and heritage-focused public realm at the heart of the city”. The scheme will see views of the historic Corn Exchange building opened up, with new planting and lighting aimed at “enhancing” and focusing on heritage features.

“Bespoke perch seating” will also be installed “throughout” the site, providing “opportunities for visitors to pause, meet, and enjoy the landscaped setting”, documents add. New security measures will be introduced, including retractable bollards to be installed at the edge of the market square to prevent vehicles driving onto it.

Documents state: “Leicester’s covered market has long been a defining feature of the city’s civic and commercial life. Located at the heart of the historic Market Place, it has for centuries served as a hub for trade, social gathering, and local commerce.

The new-look Leicester Market (Image: Leicester City Council)
“However, in recent decades, the market has faced increasing challenges. Trading conditions and the overall visitor experience declined, falling short of expectations for a modern, accessible city centre destination.”

They add: “The aim for the site is to create a more inclusive, resilient, and engaging city centre space, where heritage, community events, and public life can be enjoyed.”

More information on the plans can be found on the Leicester City Council planning portal, with residents able to comment on them until Tuesday, July 29. A target decision date has been set for Thursday, September 25. The council has previously said it expects the regeneration of the market to be completed by the end of next year.

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble

The Granby Halls looking good.

 

Another facility never replaced

[DJW1]

I only come to Leicester for the football. Of the three East Midlands cities, I think Nottingham is the nicest (sorry), then Leicester then Derby. 

The proposed market development looks quite nice, but let´s see how it turns out.  Leicester market isn´t too bad, despite the bowl system of selling the produce (is it legal?), but could now be housed in a smaller site.

[davieG]

 

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble 

Humberstone Gate 1958.

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  ·

 

A cold and damp High Street February 1956.

[davieG]

Born and Raised in Leicester ·

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Corah's

Sent in by Rob

with thanks x

[davieG]

Spent many an hour in here was a Bernies Inn as well

[davieG]

Born and Raised in Leicester ·

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The Wolsey

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The Wolsey building was finished in 1923 and was the home of the renowned Wolsey Knitwear Company. The company was founded in Leicester in 1755 by Henry and Ann Wood making it one of the oldest textile companies in the world.

In more recent years the building was home to another local knitwear company Sangra Textiles. Leicester Housing Association purchased the building in 2009 for redevelopment.

Now the new building contains accommodation for people over 55 who have care needs, of the 102 new homes on the site, 62 are dedicated extra care apartments, with an additional 40 affordable homes for rent and low-cost ownership.

While most of the building was demolished a corner comprising of a six story wall topped with a large sandstone cameo of Cardinal Wolsey (after who the company was named) was retained and incorporated the construction.

Photo: Taken from the top of the new flyover in 1976 this image shows children playing in the fountain and Wolsey building in the background

[davieG]

Another good pub gone now residential.

[davieG]

One of many lost industrial businesses

 

 

Bentley’s Art Deco-style factory in Parker Drive, Leicester. The site is now Forest Park Business Centre

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/recalling-engineering-firm-closed-two-2706927

 

 

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  

 

The old St Margaret's Bus Station taken from the Thames Tower.

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  ·

 

Meanwhile rotting away on Royal East Street St Patricks School (back of Abbey Street).

[davieG]

Born and Raised in Leicester ·

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Leicester's 'temporary' prefabs were good family homes for decades

Final few were eventually demolished in the 1980s

These two-bedroom bungalows were meant to last only 10 years when they were put up in 1946 to ease the acute housing shortage at the end of the Second World War.

They survived way beyond that time and proved popular with the people who lived in them.

In 1970, the council rented them to tenants at £2 a week.

Prefabricated houses, to give them their full name, were once a fairly common sight in Leicester.

They were mostly single-storey dwellings, with a sitting room, two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen, built during or just after the Second World War as temporary housing.

Despite their projected lifespan of 10 years, many of Leicester’s prefabs proved to be much more durable, with some lasting four times as long as originally thought.

On the Braunstone estate, there were 140; just over 200 were erected in Hinckley Road; New Parks estate had 120 in Aikman Avenue; and there were 141 on the Groby Road side.

There were 158 in Wicklow Drive and 31 in Hughendon Drive.

Prefab homes off Hinckley Road, Leicester, in 1970

[davieG]

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  

The Sultan of Egypt

237 Belgrave Gate.

 

There used to be quite a few pubs between the Clock Tower and Charles Keene College, popped in them, not all in one go on my way home after doing a P/T engineering course there on day release as well as Friday Night  and Saturday morning

[Stadt]

The St Margaret’s bus station is way better than you’d expect and pretty reasonably priced. A place you wonder why you don’t use it more frequently 

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 02/07/2025 at 10:44, davieG said:

 

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble  

The Sultan of Egypt

237 Belgrave Gate.

 

There used to be quite a few pubs between the Clock Tower and Charles Keene College, popped in them, not all in one go on my way home after doing a P/T engineering course there on day release as well as Friday Night  and Saturday morning

Only pub me and my mates were ever kicked out of was along there. It may well have been The Sultan

 

Our crime? Simply walking in. There was 3 or 4 of us and our first visit. As we walked in the largely empty bar, the guy behind the bar looked at us and said out.

[davieG]

 

 

 

Made In Leicester

Fer Jarvis  

Hinckley Road, On the left is where the shops are now, the house in the middle with the big chimney is on the corner of Kirby Road and was knocked down with most of the ones next to it.

[davieG]

On 04/07/2025 at 18:28, Free Falling Foxes said:

Only pub me and my mates were ever kicked out of was along there. It may well have been The Sultan

 

Our crime? Simply walking in. There was 3 or 4 of us and our first visit. As we walked in the largely empty bar, the guy behind the bar looked at us and said out.

Maybe it was this one

 

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Fer Jarvis 

Toilets on the junction of Hinckley road and Narborough road in the 1970s.

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble 

 

Granby Street 1947.

[davieG]

Made In Leicester

Rob Hubble

Post War

Gallowtree Gate.