City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

[davieG]

Bentleys Roof

Humberstone Gate - pre Haymarket

[Free Falling Foxes]

4 hours ago, davieG said:

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent. 

 

Leicester from above… 1935

Before the ring roads, before the sprawl—this is Leicester as you’ve never seen it. Fields still edging the city, streets just beginning to stretch outward… a place on the cusp of change.

But look closer

At the bottom right, a site that would soon play its part in history. The British Thomson-Houston factory—where, just a few years later, women worked tirelessly building radar equipment that helped change the course of the war.

By 1943, this quiet corner of Leicester was linked to one of the most daring missions of WWII—the Dambusters raid. The technology built here helped guide those low-flying Lancaster bombers through the night.

From peaceful rooftops… to a role in global history.

Next time you pass Blackbird Road or Anstey Lane, remember—this ground once helped shape the world.

#Leicester #StoryOfLeicester #WW2History #ThenAndNo

I began my apprenticeship there in 1974. The site had become Marconi Radar by then.

Many of the tools you took out the store still had BTH engraved on them. This was euphemistically referred to as, Big Thick and Heavy.

The large assembly building was called building 29 and a smaller block on the site was referred to as building 13. I assume these were left over references to the BTH days. None of the other buildings had numerical names however that had survived into the 70s.

 

To help folk get their bearings from this aerial shot, that's Abbey Park taking up most of the centre of the picture.

[davieG]

John Ghent Leicester Estate Agent

 

Before the roar of the crowd…

Long before the King Power Stadium lit up match nights, this was the Leicester Light power station—smoke stacks rising, turbines humming, and energy flowing through the city.

It wasn’t just powering homes… it quietly transformed the river too

The warm water discharged back into the Soar created an unexpected effect—bigger fish, ice-free winters, and anglers lining the banks all year round

From industry… to football. From generators… to goals.

Next time you’re at the stadium, imagine the skyline that once stood here.

#Leicester #StoryOfLeicester #KingPower #hiddenhistory

[davieG]

[davieG]

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 20/03/2026 at 13:57, davieG said:

Why would you want to take a flying lesson with Frank Spencer?

[davieG]

 

 

 

 

 

Stan Barnes ·

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Saturday 21st March 2026....

....and blow me, 90 years ago to the day, Saturday 21st March 1936....and Lewis's opened on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.

Didn't quite make 60 years, was a year short of that mark when the wrecking ball did its business in 1995.

Clear memories, when my Mum worked there in the 60s, of how she'd bring home boxes of broken biscuits to delve into....oh look!....chocolate coated!

[Trav Le Bleu]

12 minutes ago, davieG said:

 

 

 

 

 

Stan Barnes ·

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Saturday 21st March 2026....

....and blow me, 90 years ago to the day, Saturday 21st March 1936....and Lewis's opened on Humberstone Gate, Leicester.

Didn't quite make 60 years, was a year short of that mark when the wrecking ball did its business in 1995.

Clear memories, when my Mum worked there in the 60s, of how she'd bring home boxes of broken biscuits to delve into....oh look!....chocolate coated!

Can you imagine anyone building a shop with such flair today? (Can you imagine anyone building a shop!?) Just boxes on boxes.

 

Banks, cinemas, hospitals, schools, all built with artistic design. Not now - just four walls and a ceiling.

 

When did we lose pride in our work?

[davieG]

14 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Can you imagine anyone building a shop with such flair today? (Can you imagine anyone building a shop!?) Just boxes on boxes.

 

Banks, cinemas, hospitals, schools, all built with artistic design. Not now - just four walls and a ceiling.

 

When did we lose pride in our work?

That building could have survived another several hundred years it was built with style and designed to last unlike modern buildings like the now demolished, after 30 years because it was falling apart council building on Welford Road.

[davieG]

Nice looking building but nothing behind the top floors

 

 

Made In Leicester

United Kingdom Time 

 

A Blast from Leicester’s Retail Past

[danny.]

On 23/03/2026 at 08:28, davieG said:

Nice looking building but nothing behind the top floors

 

 

Made In Leicester

United Kingdom Time 

 

A Blast from Leicester’s Retail Past

Where was this?

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, danny. said:

Where was this?

Where Primark is now

[davieG]

Hidden Leicester  · 

Graham Hulme 

 

An old postcard view of Belgrave Gate, looking towards Haymarket, with the old Palace Theatre towards the right of the picture. The card was posted to Derbyshire in March 1930. The Palace Theatre of Varieties, as it was originally called, was built on part of the site of the old Floral Hall and opened on Monday 17th June 1901. (The original Floral Hall was built in 1876 as a skating rink, but was subsequently used for many purposes, including indoor markets and circuses. Much of it was demolished for the new Palace Theatre, but a new Floral Hall Picture Theatre was built in 1910, behind the Palace, with a narrow entrance to it from Belgrave Gate.) The Palace Theatre was built for Oswald Stoll (1866-1942) the theatre manager and impresario who established a national chain of variety theatres in London and the provinces. Together with his business partner Edward Moss he also presented the first Royal Variety Performance (originally called the Royal Command Performance) in 1912. Stoll used one of the most renowned of British theatre architects, Frank Matcham (1854-1920) to design the Palace Theatre, and used him for several other theatres. Matcham's most famous theatres include the London Coliseum (1904), the London Palladium (1910), the Victoria Palace London (1911), the Buxton Opera House (1903) and the Blackpool Grand (1894) as well as the Blackpool Tower Ballroom (1897-98). The architect designed his Leicester theatre in an elaborate Moorish style and gave it a very large stage. The original seating capacity was 3,500 and at the time of its opening it was the largest theatre outside London, having a splendid auditorium with three tiers above the stalls on the ground floor. These were the Grand Circle, Upper Circle and Gallery, plus three stage boxes either side of the proscenium arch. Inside the building there was also a Winter Garden, with rockeries, fountains and wells, intended to represent scenery of the Peak District. This was known as the Crush Room and had a glass and iron domed roof. The vestibule had an ornate Moresque dome. The auditorium had a sliding roof for ventilation. Among the performers in the first week of the Palace's opening was the famous music hall singer Charles Coburn, known especially for his song 'The Man Who Broke the Bank at Montecarlo'. In its great early years many of the top stars of the day performed there, including Marie Lloyd, W. C. Fields, Dan Leno, Sir Harry Lauder, Florrie Forde and Vesta Tilley. Charlie Chaplin also appeared here in his early days, with the Fred Karno Company. Following World War One revues began to be presented at the theatre and by 1929 Movietone News was being screened. The Palace went over to showing films in the early 1930s but returned to variety shows after the Second World War. These attracted such stars as Max Miller, Ted Ray, Robb Wilton, John Hanson, Jimmy Jewel and Ben Wariss, Frank Randle, Shirley Bassey, Frankie Vaughan, Terry-Thomas, Harry Worth, Peter Sellers, Roy Castle, Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan) and her daughter Kitty, the Billy Cotton Band Show, Geraldo, Benny Hill and the great silent movie star Buster Keaton (who appeared there in June 1951 for the theatre’s 50th anniversary). Even Bela Lugosi appeared there to play his famous Dracula in August 1951. After Oswald Stoll's death in 1942 his company was taken over by the impresario Prince Littler, but during the later 1950s, with the rise of television, the theatre's popularity began to decline dramatically. The Palace Theatre closed on 21st February 1959 after the Leicester Operatic Ensemble's production of 'The King and I' had played to a packed house of 3,000. Having been sold to Sketchleys Ltd. and the contents of the building auctioned off, the theatre was demolished shortly after its closure - a great shame for Leicester. The Floral Hall cinema also closed but for a time remained in use as a warehouse for Stead & Simpson. It was itself demolished about 1970. A parade of shops was subsequently built on the site of the Palace Theatre.

This information is mostly drawn from the article written by David Garratt, which features on the Arthur Lloyd website. http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/.../PalaceTheatreLeicester.htm

 

[davieG]

Leicester's Hospitals  ·

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Changes are beginning at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

This month, you will start to see early works on site, marking the first step towards our brand new £12.8m Urgent Treatment Centre.

This might look like routine building work, but it marks the start of a transformation that will mean quicker assessments, clearer pathways, and a calmer experience for patients, with better designed spaces for our colleagues too.

This is just the beginning of creating a better urgent care service for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Read more here: https://www.uhleicester.nhs.uk/.../next-step-to-our.../

[davieG]

Cool As Leicester ·

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It's always exciting when Leicester's on the telly, so go and enjoy a rewatch of the latest episode of Do You Know Your Place? on BBC Two. The whole episode is based on Leicester.

See some familiar sights and see how many questions you manage to get right.

Available now on iPlayer.

[davieG]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg461mq10go

 

Strategy for 20,000 new city homes set for approval
An expanse of grass dotted with trees
Image source,Steve Walters

The former Western Park golf course is earmarked for hundreds of homes and warehousing

ByDan Martin
Leicester political reporter

A plan earmarking land for thousands of new homes in Leicester over the next 10 years is set to be approved by councillors.

Leicester City Council faces a government-set target of finding sites for 20,730 homes by 2036 to accommodate the city's growing population.

The Labour-run authority is set to vote to adopt its new local plan - a strategy for allocating potential housing and new employment sites - at a meeting on Thursday.

Campaigners have warned the proposed plan risks destroying remaining vital green spaces in the city.

The city's local plan, which has been assessed by a government planning inspector, sets out proposals to concentrate more than 6,000 homes in the city centre, while proposing four strategic housing sites on the edge of Leicester for development.

The council said the plan would allocate sites for 3,362 new homes, alongside 7,188 homes that already have planning permission.

However, it warns there is not enough space to accommodate the city's full housing target within its current boundaries, and that an "unmet need" of 18,694 homes will have to be built in surrounding districts in Leicestershire, with their agreement.

The city council said it would work with developers to promote the sites and would aim for 30% of the new homes to be affordable (file picture)

The 131-acre (53-hectare) former Western Park Golf course in the north west of the city has been allocated as a site for 412 homes and industrial buildings.

A similar-sized site to the east of the current city council-led Ashton Green development, in Beaumont Leys, could take a further 670 homes, as well as a new 1,200-pupil school.

A further 420 homes are proposed on a site north of the A46 Western Bypass, along with new health and education facilities.

At least 336 homes are also proposed on another site west of Anstey Lane.

The city council said it would work with developers to promote the sites and would aim for 30% of the new homes to be affordable.

The authority said dozens of further smaller sites across the city could be developed to help reach the housing target.

'So much wildlife'
Glenfield resident Steve Walters, of the Western Golf Course Area Action Group, has campaigned against the development of the area since the city council closed the golf course 12 years ago.

"It would be devastating to lose this amazing area," he said.

"We've always argued such large-scale development would cause flooding and we'd lose one of the last large green areas in this part of the city.

"It has so much wildlife - badger, muntjac deers, and more.

"The city council will tell you all the brownfield sites are exhausted, but we think they could do more before targeting prime green land."

'It would be desecration'
The proposed local plan also includes plans for a 49.4-acre (20-hectare) industrial development, as well as a transit site with gypsy and traveller pitches, at Beaumont Park in Beaumont Leys.

Conservative city councillor for Beaumont Leys, Hazel Orton, said 3,300 people had signed a petition against the development.

"When this place is gone, it's gone," she said.

"It would be desecration.

"We think they could condense the industrial buildings into a much smaller area and keep most of the green space."

Deputy city mayor Elly Cutkelvin said: "I totally understand why people might resist building on green spaces, but this is a high-level strategic document to show the government we have a serious plan to meet its target.

"It's not approving any development on any site, and residents will be able to engage with the plans as individual applications go in.

"I would say that 71% of the housing allocation in the plan is earmarked for brownfield sites."

Cutkelvin said the council would start a further review of the local plan shortly after it was formally adopted.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg461mq10go

 

Strategy for 20,000 new city homes set for approval
An expanse of grass dotted with trees
Image source,Steve Walters

The former Western Park golf course is earmarked for hundreds of homes and warehousing

ByDan Martin
Leicester political reporter

A plan earmarking land for thousands of new homes in Leicester over the next 10 years is set to be approved by councillors.

Leicester City Council faces a government-set target of finding sites for 20,730 homes by 2036 to accommodate the city's growing population.

The Labour-run authority is set to vote to adopt its new local plan - a strategy for allocating potential housing and new employment sites - at a meeting on Thursday.

Campaigners have warned the proposed plan risks destroying remaining vital green spaces in the city.

The city's local plan, which has been assessed by a government planning inspector, sets out proposals to concentrate more than 6,000 homes in the city centre, while proposing four strategic housing sites on the edge of Leicester for development.

The council said the plan would allocate sites for 3,362 new homes, alongside 7,188 homes that already have planning permission.

However, it warns there is not enough space to accommodate the city's full housing target within its current boundaries, and that an "unmet need" of 18,694 homes will have to be built in surrounding districts in Leicestershire, with their agreement.

The city council said it would work with developers to promote the sites and would aim for 30% of the new homes to be affordable (file picture)

The 131-acre (53-hectare) former Western Park Golf course in the north west of the city has been allocated as a site for 412 homes and industrial buildings.

A similar-sized site to the east of the current city council-led Ashton Green development, in Beaumont Leys, could take a further 670 homes, as well as a new 1,200-pupil school.

A further 420 homes are proposed on a site north of the A46 Western Bypass, along with new health and education facilities.

At least 336 homes are also proposed on another site west of Anstey Lane.

The city council said it would work with developers to promote the sites and would aim for 30% of the new homes to be affordable.

The authority said dozens of further smaller sites across the city could be developed to help reach the housing target.

'So much wildlife'
Glenfield resident Steve Walters, of the Western Golf Course Area Action Group, has campaigned against the development of the area since the city council closed the golf course 12 years ago.

"It would be devastating to lose this amazing area," he said.

"We've always argued such large-scale development would cause flooding and we'd lose one of the last large green areas in this part of the city.

"It has so much wildlife - badger, muntjac deers, and more.

"The city council will tell you all the brownfield sites are exhausted, but we think they could do more before targeting prime green land."

'It would be desecration'
The proposed local plan also includes plans for a 49.4-acre (20-hectare) industrial development, as well as a transit site with gypsy and traveller pitches, at Beaumont Park in Beaumont Leys.

Conservative city councillor for Beaumont Leys, Hazel Orton, said 3,300 people had signed a petition against the development.

"When this place is gone, it's gone," she said.

"It would be desecration.

"We think they could condense the industrial buildings into a much smaller area and keep most of the green space."

Deputy city mayor Elly Cutkelvin said: "I totally understand why people might resist building on green spaces, but this is a high-level strategic document to show the government we have a serious plan to meet its target.

"It's not approving any development on any site, and residents will be able to engage with the plans as individual applications go in.

"I would say that 71% of the housing allocation in the plan is earmarked for brownfield sites."

Cutkelvin said the council would start a further review of the local plan shortly after it was formally adopted.

Grew up near here and spent many summer hours fishing for frogs and newts in the ponds amongst dense thickets. Completely unsupervised, easy access into the golf course, no one bothered us. Bliss!

 

If they build across the whole course, this will essentially turn Kirby Muxloe (and possibly Ratby) into just another suburb of Leicester.

[kenny]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Grew up near here and spent many summer hours fishing for frogs and newts in the ponds amongst dense thickets. Completely unsupervised, easy access into the golf course, no one bothered us. Bliss!

 

If they build across the whole course, this will essentially turn Kirby Muxloe (and possibly Ratby) into just another suburb of Leicester.

Its just a policy of low-density sprawl to encourage people to move from the city to the suburbs. 

 

Hey ho, plenty more green space where that came from.

[davieG]

It looks like Soulsby will get his wish with the land grab of Wigston, Oadby, Glenfield etc based on the results from sSouthampton.

 

• Preferred Option (1A): The council supports forming a new authority consisting of Southampton, Eastleigh, and surrounding areas including Chilworth, Fawley, Hythe, Dibden, Marchwood, Nursling, Rown, and Totton and Eling.

[davieG]

Another view of the Magazine before a large section was demolished.

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

27 minutes ago, davieG said:

Another view of the Magazine before a large section was demolished.

 

I guess in the 60s nobody thought, "let's restore this, people might come to see it and bring ££££ to the city."

[ozleicester]

 

 

[davieG]

59 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I guess in the 60s nobody thought, "let's restore this, people might come to see it and bring ££££ to the city."

Nothing got in the way of the inner ring road except when it came to the station. Where it would have been so much better to go around the back of it down Conduit St, they did clear a lot of that street but it was abandon due to costs and getting across the railway. I assume Swain Street Bridge wasn't considered suitable.

[Free Falling Foxes]

5 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Grew up near here and spent many summer hours fishing for frogs and newts in the ponds amongst dense thickets. Completely unsupervised, easy access into the golf course, no one bothered us. Bliss!

 

If they build across the whole course, this will essentially turn Kirby Muxloe (and possibly Ratby) into just another suburb of Leicester.

I really do think that area to the west of the city has had more than its share of development over the last 55 odd years. This also includes the very recent past.

Numerous housing developments and also industrial buildings/warehouses. 

Throw into the mix that a new tip (recycling centre) is proposed for the golf course site, despite another opening very recently just a few hundred yards away on the Sunningdale industrial estate, really means all sorts of environmental pressure is placed on the area.

Plus, of course, you have the M1 running along it's boundary as well several other major roads.

Surely it would be an idea to leave the open space area as it is, to provide a natural 'lung' for the local area.

Perhaps those who campaigned hard against these development plans missed a trick? They could have proposed developing the area as The Peter Soulsby Arboretum. That would have appealed to the local politicians vanity and need for a legacy and would have been far more environmentally beneficial. 

 

Re the need for housing and the government's 1.5 million homes pledge. I listened to a discussion recently that argued there is sufficient brown field sites up and down the land - including Leicester.

It would help locally if we stopped developments aimed for students and building new places of worship.

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, davieG said:

Another view of the Magazine before a large section was demolished.

 

I will never understand why the city council demolished the barracks, an important part of the city's history.

 

But it seems the council have a long track record from then to now, of ignoring our historic buildings.