The decline of Leicester

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

Not forgetting all the Charity shops and Eating places.

There are a lot of cafés that's true.

 

I think there are no more charity shops than any other provincial town, it just seems a lot in Hinckley because they're almost all situated on the main shopping street and quite close together.

[foxy boxing]

Probably lots of factors at play Covid, austerity, out of town shopping centres,  people buying stuff online instead! I'd say the pedestrianisation of the city centre hasn't helped and a lot is down to Peter Soulsby. The vast number of empty shops and the place just looks dirty all the time. As well as a number of rough sleepers and people begging for change.

[kingfox]

Made a few visits into town recently after strongly avoiding it for the past 5-6 years. 
 

Usually cut through the St Martins area which I’d class as one of the better parts. 
 

High Street and Gallowtree Gate are a total mixture nowadays. Haymarket, Belgrave Gate, Humberstone Gate and Charles Street are tacky shitholes. 

[RoboFox]

Market Harborough seems to have absolutely rode out the changes mind.

 

Last time I was there on Saturday the town centre was absolutely rammo. The larger high street franchises seem to have all disappeared and almost every shop is an independent, boutique or small upmarket chain and there are loads more cafes, small eateries and bars than there used to be. 

 

However, I suppose it has the demographic of people who can afford to support them. Definitely a rare example of a place that seems to have actually improved. 

 

 

Edited 9 September 2025 by RoboFox

[ElusiveEd]

You only have to watch a few episodes of Billy Moores' "All Or Nothing" on YouTube, as he ventures around and documents the towns around the country, to see what state the whole country is in.

 

As bad as Leicester is, and my God is it bad, you should see the state of other places, but below are 2 links to his visits to our city.....

 

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

Visiting from Australia, the UK seems to have lost its pride in keeping the place tidy, let alone filling the potholes or empty shops and so on.  And that is visiting wealthy Surrey.

[CosbehFox]

35 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

Market Harborough seems to have absolutely rode out the changes mind.

 

Last time I was there on Saturday the town centre was absolutely rammo. The larger high street franchises seem to have all disappeared and almost every shop is an independent, boutique or small upmarket chain and there are loads more cafes, small eateries and bars than there used to be. 

 

However, I suppose it has the demographic of people who can afford to support them. Definitely a rare example of a place that seems to have actually improved. 

 

 

Obviously affluence but it's one of the major shift changes post COVID. Market towns, well to do suburbs and secondary towns did better out of it. People are willing to go independent 

[RoboFox]

31 minutes ago, ElusiveEd said:

You only have to watch a few episodes of Billy Moores' "All Or Nothing" on YouTube, as he ventures around and documents the towns around the country, to see what state the whole country is in.

 

As bad as Leicester is, and my God is it bad, you should see the state of other places, but below are 2 links to his visits to our city.....

 

 

 

This just looks like right wing ragebait. 

 

 

Edited 9 September 2025 by RoboFox

[ElusiveEd]

11 minutes ago, RoboFox said:

This just looks like right wing ragebait. Getting all the Reform lads foaming at the mouth. 

 

 "Looks like"

 

But it ain't!

 

I'd try watching em

Edited 9 September 2025 by ElusiveEd

[CosbehFox]

19 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Visiting from Australia, the UK seems to have lost its pride in keeping the place tidy, let alone filling the potholes or empty shops and so on.  And that is visiting wealthy Surrey.

Austerity - every council has had to substantially reduce those council ran services. District/parish councils appear capable of picking up the slack as it stands. 

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

Austerity - every council has had to substantially reduce those council ran services. District/parish councils appear capable of picking up the slack as it stands. 

Which then creates a spiral of diminishing returns. 

 

Which is also why austerity was a horrible idea in the first place. 

[Tommy G]

40 minutes ago, ElusiveEd said:

You only have to watch a few episodes of Billy Moores' "All Or Nothing" on YouTube, as he ventures around and documents the towns around the country, to see what state the whole country is in.

 

As bad as Leicester is, and my God is it bad, you should see the state of other places, but below are 2 links to his visits to our city.....

 

 

 

That St Matthews and Highfields footage is horrific 

[Grebfromgrebland]

I think the wealthy transfer from the poor and the treasury to the super rich and banks in 2008 started the process which the UK never survived.

 

 

[izzymuzzet]

The reality is that most city/town centres are essentially too big. The retail-led high street grew in the post-industrial and post-war era as shopping became a leisure activity. It reached its apex/nadir (depending on your viewpoint) in the early 2000s with the development of inner city shopping centres like Westfield as a response to concerns that out of town complexes like Fosse Park were having a negative impact on town/city centre economies. The rise of internet retail over the last 20 years has killed those as well, although some have effectively pivoted to more experience and food/drink led offerings. 

 

There are some interesting cases of towns/cities changing how they manage their centres. Stockport is pretty much making its town centre smaller - converting empty shops into flats and attracting bars and restaurants with cheap rents. Bradford built an enormous park/square smack bang in the middle of the city centre to give it a real focal point and make it attractive for families. On a smaller scale, Altrincham has responded to its town centre retail offer being gutted by the Trafford Centre by turning into a proper foodie destination. There's no future for retail-led centres apart from the largest cities - London, Birmingham, Manchester etc. Smaller cities like Leicester will need to attract people in different ways. Think the key thing for every city/town is to make it a pleasant place to visit - keep the streets clean, empty bins, tackle petty crime, brighten up shop fronts etc. 

[bovril]

Quite funny how england is now portrayed in various media like a Brit documentary from ten years ago portrayed Eastern Europe, or basically anywhere that wasn't the UK.

[Samilktray]

2 hours ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

I know I'm in a minority but I can think of nothing worse than spending any length of time in Fosse Park

A truly soul destroying place, people who choose to go to this place for fun are slugs imho

[FoxyPalace.com]

Who remembers Ainsley ? I loved going into that shop to buy my records / tapes / CDs. Such a shame things have changed so

much. Going into town was a weekend joy mulling around the shops etc. 

[RoboFox]

31 minutes ago, ElusiveEd said:

 "Looks like"

 

But it ain't!

 

I'd try watching em

Got about thirty seconds in to realise that yes, I was indeed correct the first time around. The comments on the videos confirm. 

 

Ragebait and poverty / trauma porn exploiting vulnerable people for views under the guise of being some sort of "journalist." He's a ghoul. 

[leicsmac]

13 minutes ago, bovril said:

Quite funny how england is now portrayed in various media like a Brit documentary from ten years ago portrayed Eastern Europe, or basically anywhere that wasn't the UK.

It's almost as if said media have an axe to grind against the current government. 

[bovril]

6 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It's almost as if said media have an axe to grind against the current government. 

Or that the English have run out of other countries to call shitholes

[Trav Le Bleu]

And yet immigrants are literally risking life and limb to get here.

 

Go figure!

[STEVIE B]

28 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

And yet immigrants are literally risking life and limb to get here.

 

Go figure!

Most are probably risking life & limb by living in their homeland unfortunately. 

[kenny]

59 minutes ago, izzymuzzet said:

The reality is that most city/town centres are essentially too big. The retail-led high street grew in the post-industrial and post-war era as shopping became a leisure activity. It reached its apex/nadir (depending on your viewpoint) in the early 2000s with the development of inner city shopping centres like Westfield as a response to concerns that out of town complexes like Fosse Park were having a negative impact on town/city centre economies. The rise of internet retail over the last 20 years has killed those as well, although some have effectively pivoted to more experience and food/drink led offerings. 

 

There are some interesting cases of towns/cities changing how they manage their centres. Stockport is pretty much making its town centre smaller - converting empty shops into flats and attracting bars and restaurants with cheap rents. Bradford built an enormous park/square smack bang in the middle of the city centre to give it a real focal point and make it attractive for families. On a smaller scale, Altrincham has responded to its town centre retail offer being gutted by the Trafford Centre by turning into a proper foodie destination. There's no future for retail-led centres apart from the largest cities - London, Birmingham, Manchester etc. Smaller cities like Leicester will need to attract people in different ways. Think the key thing for every city/town is to make it a pleasant place to visit - keep the streets clean, empty bins, tackle petty crime, brighten up shop fronts etc. 

It isn't helped that Leicester City Planning department is grim and development in the city centre is hampered at every turn. We need to increase the number of people that actually live in the city which means stopping Rayners attack on the countryside and producing a proper cities for the future plan.

 

In Leicester we also have the problem of horrendous public transport and a mayor that has no interest in improving it. All the new cycle lanes are barely used and in some cases (Aylestone Road) are ugly and sh*t. We have nice paths like the GCR that are unusable at night due to the lack of lighting and crimes.

 

TLDR Sort the transport out.

 

Sort the planning authority out. Stop building in the countryside.

[Voll Blau]

2 hours ago, RoboFox said:

Market Harborough seems to have absolutely rode out the changes mind.

 

Last time I was there on Saturday the town centre was absolutely rammo. The larger high street franchises seem to have all disappeared and almost every shop is an independent, boutique or small upmarket chain and there are loads more cafes, small eateries and bars than there used to be. 

 

However, I suppose it has the demographic of people who can afford to support them. Definitely a rare example of a place that seems to have actually improved. 

 

 

Weekends are when all the people who moved there from down south because The Sunday Times/Telegraph told them to come out to play.

 

It's changed the identity of the town centre and I'm glad it's still vibrant, but I'm not convinced it's doing much for natives who have been priced out of living there.

[VLC86]

1 hour ago, FoxyPalace.com said:

Who remembers Ainsley ? I loved going into that shop to buy my records / tapes / CDs. Such a shame things have changed so

much. Going into town was a weekend joy mulling around the shops etc. 

Ainleys was class. Used to book gigs with coach tickets from there a fair bit.
 

Rockaboom was great after.