What is Leicester to you?

[Manley Farrington-Brown]

Everything everyone's said.

 

Plus Pork Pie Island.

[Crinklyfox]

This is going back to my childhood mostly:

 

Abbey Park (went there mostly with my parents but did visit with my friends as well)

Hovis Bakery (used to cycle to it then stand on the corner by the park and breathe in the gorgeous smell of the baked bread)

Charles Street shops (Marks, Woolworths and the bike shop whose name I can't remember where my Gran bought me my first bike)

Bruccianis (Ice cream soda for a treat after shopping)

Fenwicks (for toys and games)

Drawing Office Requisites (where my Dad used to work)

Aylestone and Jarrom Streets where my Grans lived - Jarrom Street had a sort of sweet shop you now only see in Victorian era films (this was in the 50's)

De Montfort Hall

Wyggeston Boy's School (of the day, huge site shared with the University, spent seven years there)

The ravine (which is what we called the grassed area between Mowmacre Hills and Stocking Farm estates where we used to play - unfortunately it's a road now)

Town Hall square and fountain (loved the lions)

Leicester market (the traders used to shout out the prices of their wares, always a vibrant place)

[Finnegan]

Narborough - ROAD 

Evington - ROAD 

Granby Street 

& the one by McDonald's

 

#PutSomeCheeseOnIt

[Finnegan]

Just now, Finnegan said:

Narborough - ROAD 

Evington - ROAD 

Granby Street 

& the one by McDonald's

 

#PutSomeCheeseOnIt

 

Or alternatively, 

 

 

 

[The boy Linacre]

St Matthews - Wyggeston Boys - Victoria Park

Revolver - Ainleys - HMV - De Mont

Brierleys - Don Millers!!! - Lestah Market

City - Tigers - County - Riders 

Hansom Cab - The Wellington - Saracens Head - The Standard - The Bohemian - Fish & Quart

Caspers (Weds till 1) - Fan Club -Brannigans - Harveys

Proud of my geographical heritage and LE postcode 

Though maybe the city could do with a bit of work now 

[Stuntman_Mike]

Fosse Road North

Fosse Park (the actual park)

The Rally

Newfoundpool WMC

 

 

 

 

[boots60]

OK lets get a bit more up to date

 

Nail Bars

Cash Converters

Crap Takeaways with no star hygiene ratings

Cycle Lanes

Roadworks

Chinese paving slabs

the F Bar

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

St Margaret's Bus Station (the old concrete one)

 

St Margaret's baths (just slightly too short for competitive swimming it was designed for - so Leicester!)

 

Frog Island.

 

Croggies and jitties.

 

Marconi.

 

Thorn Lighting.

 

The County Arms (never went in, but frequently used as a landmark when giving directions )

 

The Very Bazaar.

 

Voodoo.

 

Castle Gardens.

 

The Peacock Cafe.

 

Alfred Lenton shop.

 

Lewis's Lighthouse 

 

Plus most of what's gone before 

 

Edited 9 January by Trav Le Bleu

[foxfanazer]

Fame fashion

Maryland chicken 

Stilettos

Tramplighters

 

All the classy joints

Edited 9 January by foxfanazer

[Trav Le Bleu]

The fact that most of us have walked down Every Street in Leicester.

[ALC Fox]

Knighton Park

The Cradock Arms

Queen's Road

The Aberdale

Aylestone Leisure Centre

Victoria Park

The Clock Tower

The sports statue near the Clock Tower

The Shires (High Cross)

The Lanes

Fox Cub buses

Rope swings

Filbert Street

Stoughton Farm Park

Mucking about in railway arches

The game of kirby

Saffron Lane Sports Centre

The tuck shop on Tick Tock Park

The Clarendon

The Loaded Dog (a long, long time ago)

The Dry Dock

"which Varsity?"

Fat Cats (a long, long time ago)

Super Bowl (then Mega Bowl)

Rack N Roll

Zanzibar

Mosh

Liquid

Fan Club

Life

Squares

The Sporting Green (then the Sporting Blue)

Neville Foulger

Casa Romana

The Golden Mile

Chiltern Green

Hanging out on Pendlebury Drive

 

Shit loads more but this is already too long 

[RonnieTodger]

Load of freaks at the clock tower

[Corky]

39 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Load of freaks at the clock tower

Several definitely look like they'd invite Matt Le Tissier as a celebrity guest speaker.

[Finnegan]

Holy shit it's still on the internet.

 

 

Absolute fvcking classic.

 

[ElusiveEd]

The Horsefair nightclub.

Granny's

Aunties

The Palais

The Birdcage

Mr Keisers

The Snooty Fox

The 39 Steps

The Corn Exchange

Spencers (Which was also called Winstons and Churchills in the past)

Adam & Eve

Pinch Of Snuff

Peggotys

King Richard III

The Kohinoor Indian

Casablanca

Costa Brava just off St Mathews

Joe Rigatoni's

The Old Dixie Arms on Humberstone Road

LAOB WMC

Showaddywaddy

The Swinging Laurels

The sportswear shop on Belgrave Gate in the 80's that I used to long to be able to buy a Fila, Sergio Tachini, Ellesse or Lacoste trakky top from but just couldn't afford it.

Haymarket (Before it was as sad a place as it is now)

Meeting at the Clock Tower

Buying a bottle of Kouros from Boots on Gallowtree gate. (That place has not changed since the 80's)

Lewis's

 

Can You tell I was an 80's teenager? Great days! 

 

 

 

Edited 9 January by ElusiveEd

[Balders65]

Mr Keisers…. My all time favourite group REM played there 👍

[Wymsey]

The Black Thunder Girls (Leicester Sound).

 

Burley's Flyover and that horrible big green building which presumably is still there nearby.

 

Lazer Quest.

Edited 9 January by Wymsey

[Aus Fox]

I think everyone has already said most of the things that spring to mind, just to add The Turnstile Pub on a match day. 
Not sure if there is an equivalent these days, but was brilliant before and after games in there.

[fuchsntf]

Charles Keene college..chip butties

New Parks..

neighbours Braunstone,across Western park cut.

Braggie park

Abbey Park..

Blackbird

Empire

Norths toy shop melton road

Leicester Market of old..> best in the land<

Fusion

Baileys nite club

Dirty Duck

Yates

Palais

Free wheeler

Grannies

Annabels

Tigers, & SLRFC

Coritanians 

forgot it’s Name Disco tucked behind in near StMargets Swimming baths

 

Every pub in Leicester & shire 1967-1978:-

Belgrave gate/Belgrave road to End of Melton Rd::‘

The pubs and fish n chip shops on every bloody corner

Seven hills

All early Indian & Chines restaurants

Lotus to Kohinoor

Then the slow build of Indian town restaurants

Workingmens social clubs..

Bentleys all factories.

 

Rose, Samira,Annette,Carol my first Cidre with Rosie..escapades & true loves.

 

 

[Vlad the Fox]

1 hour ago, fuchsntf said:

Charles Keene college..chip butties

 

Was that from the hole in the wall round the back? Moe I think he was called. If so then yes they were great. 
 

Seeing as we’re in that part of town I’ll add getting drunk and playing darts in the ‘ye old pack horse’ at lunch times then ****ing around in collage all afternoon.  

[fuchsntf]

10 hours ago, Vlad the Fox said:

Was that from the hole in the wall round the back? Moe I think he was called. If so then yes they were great. 
 

Seeing as we’re in that part of town I’ll add getting drunk and playing darts in the ‘ye old pack horse’ at lunch times then ****ing around in collage all afternoon.  

You know what.. I am not sure now.. 

I went to 2 colleges in the course of my Aprrenticeship & extension

One place, but different addresses.. 

What college was on the now Clarence house...???? 

[Tommy G]

Walkers Pork Pies 

Dominoes Toy Shop

The Shires

Brucciani's

Leicester Museum & Art Gallery 

Zanzibar (RnB room)

Liquid Envy

Parody

Squares  

[fuchsntf]

3 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

You know what.. I am not sure now.. 

I went to 2 colleges in the course of my Aprrenticeship & extension

One place, but different addresses.. 

What college was on the now Clarence house...???? 

It was Charles Keene College.. 

Clarence house, was one of the locations fof CKC.. On some days, at the lunch break.. Went around to Lotus house for a businessmans Lunch 50p.

 

On weekend, with Rugby friends we use to have get together at Jazz-night at Lotus house... 

 

Back to CKC.. WHEN I was a student, & those great Chip butty days.. Some of old Leicester was to be found and mixed with old Haunts & New. Baileys a must, but also the old Palais. Different estates would do their weekend pub crawls at different pubs, but mix a other's.. Hollyrood, then a new haunt, the cliques would mix, where Humbestone gate pubs usually had their split customers..

 

Just before Grannies started Fusion was where lads n lasses strut their stuff, and just  before Palais was maybe at its peak. with GERRY DORSEY a patron.. 

Bentleys factories through Apprentices & workers, plus many other then top workshop & factories, served the center well, not forgetting the summer forages to the various shire pubs. 

 

I suppose the kick off time, for the salt of the earth working class finding their city favorite restaurants. 

I was lucky..

I had 5 cliques.. for my pastimes.. 

Old best mates.. Rugby cliques.. Sporting contacts either participants or fans,... Family pub "locals" and despite Engineering background, I had time in the gastronomy mainly "Cellarman" and pool landlord.a family within itself. 

Strange That  an injury..... 

( no more 6 days training and off to play or compete plus work) Seen me into the world of expeditions & self discovery.. Work on foreign projects, or just going off grid.. 

 

Now I am fcked, shattered, fighting hard.. but had to work and play hard to accomplish this acclaim. 

 

Edited 10 January by fuchsntf

[Stadt]

Unbelievable sporting heritage, history, cultural/musical output, hardy and understated people, the accent, cuisine(?) there's so much more. Some of these probably spill out into the county a but as the county town it's a quibble distinction.

 

Sporting heritage

Aside from counties with multiple teams nobody can hold a candle to Leicester(shire), hugely outsized success and I've never been able to ascertain why exactly.

Greatest sporting story ever in our title win

Leics CCC have overachieved relative to our size, most successful T20 side.

Most successful British rugby team

Most successful British basketball team

Selby's success

We're responsible for two England greats in Shilton, Lineker and a lesser extent, Banks

 

Industry

All sorts of manufacturing, I love old images from along the soar, so evocative. Easy to see why the city was purportedly the 2nd richest non-capital in Europe in the interwar years.

Hosiery 

Aggregates 

Steelworks

Mines

Shoe making

 

History

Rich Roman history 

Richard III discovery 

1st DNA conviction - fantastic scientific contribution 

1st local radio broadcast

Leics regiment - great storied history, shame about the amalgamation

Thomas Cook's holiday innovation

Henry Walter Bates first observed mimicry in animals 

Robert Bakewell's selective breeding - hugely influential discovery and utilisation.

John Wycliffe's translation of the bible into English - probably the single most significant thing to happen in Leicestershire.

Codex Leicester

 

Architecture 

Great variety, it's a shame what's happened post-war, without any extensive bombing 

Lutyens' city hall and war memorial 

Town hall/square

The Guildhall 

The Corah Suite

Recognisable local red brick

One of the eldest churches intact churches

Abbey Park is great

 

Accent

Neither northern or southern, love the bluntness and the pace (fastest speakers statistically)

Supposedly the birthplace of modern English 

Hard to mimic

 

Cultural 

Gimson's furniture and design 

Sue Townsend 

The Attenborough brothers grew up here

A Monty Python

 

 

Music full or part contributions

Another outsized contribution 

Kasabian 

Queen

Bassment Jaxx

Cornershop

Englebert

Mark Morrison

h2O

Sea Girls

Matt Darey

Mahalia

Easy Life

Fun Loving Criminals

 

...Cuisine?

The crips, Walkers, KP, Cofresh

Curries

Stilton

Red Leicester 

Foxs glacier mints

Everards

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Parafox]

On 09/01/2024 at 15:23, Trav Le Bleu said:

St Margaret's Bus Station (the old concrete one)

 

St Margaret's baths (just slightly too short for competitive swimming it was designed for - so Leicester!)

 

Frog Island.

 

Croggies and jitties.

 

Marconi.

 

Thorn Lighting.

 

The County Arms (never went in, but frequently used as a landmark when giving directions )

 

The Very Bazaar.

 

Voodoo.

 

Castle Gardens.

 

The Peacock Cafe.

 

Alfred Lenton shop.

 

Lewis's Lighthouse 

 

Plus most of what's gone before 

 

 

This was iconic and yet passed by without a thought by so many.

 

I went in once to see if the "display" in the window matched the stuff in the shop.

 

It did. Random stuff. Dusty old books and bits of train sets, various bits of Meccano, Airfix models that had been completed, and other random things.

 

As a kid I used to imagine Lenton's was a gateway to a kind of Narnia world.