City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[davieG]

 

Julia Mason

 

Early 1900s - Highfields. I was born 26 Gordon Street - demolished to make way for the new St Peter’s Estate

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 04/09/2026 at 18:39, davieG said:

Simon 'Schooly' Phillips

AI content

 

Been playing around with an idea and thought I’d share this very rough first attempt.

I’m going to do a little series of Then & Now images of Leicester, taking some of the oldest views I can find and trying to recreate roughly what the same landscape looks like today.

This first one is The South Prospect of Leicester, engraved by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck and published on 25 March 1743.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Look closely at the original and you can see Leicester as a remarkably small town surrounded by open countryside.

The fields in the foreground include land around what would eventually become Highfields and Victoria Park, complete with windmills. In the distance are the hills of Charnwood, also dotted with windmills.

Some of the old Leicester landmarks represented in that eighteenth-century skyline survive, while almost everything around them has changed.

Even Abbey Park has a connection to this landscape: the park itself didn’t open until 1882, but it was created from the former Abbey Meadows, alongside the historic landscape of medieval St Mary’s Abbey.

The second image is NOT a historical photograph, it’s my rough 2026 digital/3D experiment, imagining how a modern version of the Buck brothers’ prospect might be presented today.

Still plenty to correct and refine, but I love the idea of putting nearly 300 years of Leicester into the same view.

I’ll post more of these as I find them.

So I Googled mapped it.

 

 

From that perspective (I have put Vicky Park at the bottom, but it's more SE of the town centre) it would be St Mary DC, St Nick's, St Martin's, All Saints and St Margaret's.

 

So my earlier guesses were wrong too, but more from looking from the wrong perspective, but he's looking from the other side.

Edited 8 September by Trav Le Bleu

[davieG]

 

Highfields the gooddays  · 

Andy Heap

Charles Street 1962

[davieG]

[Free Falling Foxes]

Vaughan St, off Tudor Road.

 

Mrs. FFF's grandparents lived there. Her uncle was the 1st person in the street to have a car. It was the only one parked on the entire street for many months.

A little bit different these days.

[davieG]

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent

Cooling off in Abbey Park in 1969!

 

 

They had to close/clear it as it was regularly vandalised with broken glass bottles thrown in it.

[davieG]

[davieG]

 

Your Leicester ·

Follow

 

Fresh Concept Pics for Walnut Street in Leicester 42 new apartments proposed

New renders have emerged from Staniforth Architects for a major infill scheme on Walnut Street! Positioned close to DMU and Leicester Royal Infirmary, the project aims to transform a fragmented site along the street:

5-Storey Scheme: A modern residential block featuring 42 high-quality apartments.

Ground Floor Workspace: Dedicated commercial/office space at street level.

Outdoor Space: Includes a private courtyard garden and an upper roof terrace for residents.

Urban Design: Structured using architectural breaks and rhythmic facade panels to complement the surrounding brickwork.

With multiple infill developments popping up around this corridor, the area around Walnut Street and the hospital continues to see steady investment.

[Free Falling Foxes]

New Parks Leisure Centre could close

 

If they do close it and redevelop the site, I hope we do have homes built on the site and not 'places of worship'.

I guess it would be safe from any development being further student accommodation, as they tend to be closer to the city centre.

Edited 23 September by Free Falling Foxes

[Innovindil]

1 hour ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

New Parks Leisure Centre could close

 

I they do close it and redevelop the site, I hope we have homes built on the site and not 'places of worship'.

I guess it would be safe from any development being further student accommodation, as they tend to be closer to the city centre.

Under the proposals, Beaumont Leys Library would be relocated to the Leicester Leys Leisure Centre.

New flumes would also be installed.

There would be upgrades to the leisure pool and fun pool area, including new features for babies, toddlers and young children.

 

Reckon this could tempt me into getting the toddlers into swimming a bit tbh. When I'm on earlies I finish at 1.30 so plenty of time to take them for a pre-dinner splash about.

Can't imagine the weather is gonna keep up for going to the park over the winter months 

[davieG]

New walkway to link city centre squares and provide new green space

Designs for a new walkway that would link Leicester’s Green Dragon Square with St Martin’s Square, and complete the route from Town Hall Square, have been revealed by the city council.

 

More here - https://www.leicestermedia.online/post/new-walkway-to-link-city-centre-squares-and-provide-new-green-space?fbclid=IwY2xjawUgpxpwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4gBVSeCLoGju44M_lZd6G_1s513ddwWmxmnOCwczkdsP0M0oHLxKHoPmORXw_aem_rNlbHh3m3wIHMm2-bNMlmw

 

[kenny]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

New walkway to link city centre squares and provide new green space

Designs for a new walkway that would link Leicester’s Green Dragon Square with St Martin’s Square, and complete the route from Town Hall Square, have been revealed by the city council.

 

More here - https://www.leicestermedia.online/post/new-walkway-to-link-city-centre-squares-and-provide-new-green-space?fbclid=IwY2xjawUgpxpwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4gBVSeCLoGju44M_lZd6G_1s513ddwWmxmnOCwczkdsP0M0oHLxKHoPmORXw_aem_rNlbHh3m3wIHMm2-bNMlmw

 

Lovely stuff.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Worlds tiniest gallery

[Free Falling Foxes]

On 25/09/2026 at 19:13, Free Falling Foxes said:

Worlds tiniest gallery

Update on this story

[davieG]

Another sporting/leisure facility lost forever.

[Paninistickers]

On 23/09/2026 at 13:40, davieG said:

New walkway to link city centre squares and provide new green space

Designs for a new walkway that would link Leicester’s Green Dragon Square with St Martin’s Square, and complete the route from Town Hall Square, have been revealed by the city council.

 

More here - https://www.leicestermedia.online/post/new-walkway-to-link-city-centre-squares-and-provide-new-green-space?fbclid=IwY2xjawUgpxpwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4gBVSeCLoGju44M_lZd6G_1s513ddwWmxmnOCwczkdsP0M0oHLxKHoPmORXw_aem_rNlbHh3m3wIHMm2-bNMlmw

 

Good idea. 

 

Additionally, if soulsby can hold his nerve and leave the soon to be renovated market square largely as a free space, the city center will largely be a lovely looking place. The thorny issue is the people who inhabit it 

 

 

 

 

[Narborough Road Fox]

On 23/09/2026 at 13:40, davieG said:

New walkway to link city centre squares and provide new green space

Designs for a new walkway that would link Leicester’s Green Dragon Square with St Martin’s Square, and complete the route from Town Hall Square, have been revealed by the city council.

 

More here - https://www.leicestermedia.online/post/new-walkway-to-link-city-centre-squares-and-provide-new-green-space?fbclid=IwY2xjawUgpxpwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR4gBVSeCLoGju44M_lZd6G_1s513ddwWmxmnOCwczkdsP0M0oHLxKHoPmORXw_aem_rNlbHh3m3wIHMm2-bNMlmw

 

This will be great if it happens. 

[davieG]

Next door to Woolco in Oadby now all replaced by Asda