Is the City of Leicester a dump?

[Wymsey]

Think London Road (going towards the city centre) needs renovating, as well as Charles Street.

[Freesolo]

To be fair its been about 6 years since I've been, used to know a few lads from there who I went to college with, whenever I went there something always seemed to kick off.

 

We have a new railway station, Olympic swimming pool, 3 different tresham colleges, the town has been renovated and has some half decent shops, they are just about to open a new Cinema

 

plus they have got rid of almost all the shitty housing and rebuilt some nice houses, Don't get me wrong it no utopia and it still has its bad parts the fighting you mention it happens in nightclubs with pissed up lightweight kids who get brave most the time, but i have been to Leicester, B'Ham, Notts and seen fighting everywhere its more a cultural problem than a town problem

[Guest]

On my visits I see how varied and little Leicester really is.

 

Compare St.Matthews to Swithland.

 

I think it's a great if boring City.

 

What strikes me most though is how fat the people have become over the last 2 or 3 decades. Especially the women!

 

An overweight woman of any age is the norm now. Fit birds (and I'm not talking about the overly exertive 30 something joggers) are becoming a rarity. 

 

Viva la France.

[Guest MattP]

Why would you compare St Matthews to Swithland? One of them isn't in Leicester. Leicestershire is in the main lovely, Leicester in the main is a dump. (In my experience of course)

 

Fair point on the obesity comment mind, at least we lead Europe in something, I've done my bit for the cause.

 

[Guest]

Why would you compare St Matthews to Swithland? One of them isn't in Leicester. Leicestershire is in the main lovely, Leicester in the main is a dump. (In my experience of course)

 

Fair point on the obesity comment mind, at least we lead Europe in something, I've done my bit for the cause.

 

 

Sorry, having been born on the periphery of the City when I think of Leicester I think of Leicestershire.

 

I have to say that the pedestrian areas of the City Centre are a vaste improvement on what they used to be. My brief view of St Matthews looked an improvement. Highfiields seemed less wild, Stoneygate and Clarendon park were still looking "posh", the West End changes are good in places and monstrous in others, the Saff looked much the same, New parks a little less dangerous, Melton Road has risen slightly as the poor whites have moved away, Oadby looked more slummy. Hamilton looked like a hideous reflection of itself. The shire areas are magnificent and better than many areas in the Midlands and SE.

[Guest]

The English white women in particular are all overweight fatties without waistlines. Thankfully not so many immigrants look like walking sacks of blubber.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Racist! Sexist! Flabberphobic!

[ADK]

How do they know anyway?

[ADK]

Find it hard to believe almost 25% of the uk is obese.

[Frank to be]

I for one think it's great that we live in a country where the women feel free to indulge their chocolatey and alcoholic desires and to subsequently show off their ample and complex array of curves.

[Thracian]

A number of the stalls I visited are gone, and on the first level there is now a large horrible space, where I used to buy some of their large variety of cheeses, pork pies, and bacon and ham etc. Also the large china stall, once shown on a tv documentary program has gone. I used to enjoy the way they sold their stuff, stacking the goods, higher and higher. Great fun. The shoe stalls were not there either, when I last went, a couple of years ago, and I couldn't see the Lineker's fruit and veg stall, either.

 

One amusing thing though was that my partner and I were staying at Premier Inn. I bought some strong smoked cheese, a couple of days before we left, as we were told the market was not open for the next two days. It was well sealed, but when we got back to our room it still smelt strong. My partner left it in the bathroom, but outside in the corridor we could still smell it. She then ran cold water into the bath, and sunk the bloody thing, but still we could smell it. It was so bad we had to apologise to room service! 

 

 

The market is being quietly and cynically reduced in size. The indoor market is now all but demolished and the food hall it contained has been resited in the expensive glazed building at the north end which has itself replaced several rows of stalls

Shortly they'll be demolishing more stalls on the town hall side of the market to give the place more Mediterraneanisation for all that Leicester is a generally cold and draughty city and noticably more so now the demolition work has created a wind tunnel.

Traders will supposedly be offered alternative accommodation but it hasn't happened at the time of writing and it will be interesting to see whether like-for-like options can be found for anyone cos I can't see them.

There's been no consultation as I'm aware of and the people affected seem collectively disgruntled not to mention longstanding customers.

The labour council just carries on without any apparent concern for anyone else yet the people of the city keep voting for more of the same so they get what they presumably want which, right now, is a rapidly diminishing market in terms of stalls, increasingly less choice, a perceived lowering of standards and all the seemingly rapidly increasing social problems which are readily apparent to anyone with their eyes open.   

[davieG]

The market is being quietly and cynically reduced in size. The indoor market is now all but demolished and the food hall it contained has been resited in the expensive glazed building at the north end which has itself replaced several rows of stalls

Shortly they'll be demolishing more stalls on the town hall side of the market to give the place more Mediterraneanisation for all that Leicester is a generally cold and draughty city and noticably more so now the demolition work has created a wind tunnel.

Traders will supposedly be offered alternative accommodation but it hasn't happened at the time of writing and it will be interesting to see whether like-for-like options can be found for anyone cos I can't see them.

There's been no consultation as I'm aware of and the people affected seem collectively disgruntled not to mention longstanding customers.

The labour council just carries on without any apparent concern for anyone else yet the people of the city keep voting for more of the same so they get what they presumably want which, right now, is a rapidly diminishing market in terms of stalls, increasingly less choice, a perceived lowering of standards and all the seemingly rapidly increasing social problems which are readily apparent to anyone with their eyes open.   

The phrase that comes to mind for the 'new' stuff is  - It's all style and no substance and style is in the eye of the beholder.

[Guest]

Racist! Sexist! Flabberphobic!

 

I did my best.

 

Find it hard to believe almost 25% of the uk is obese.

 

Me too. It seems more like 33.3% - must be thinner in the north and the countryside.

 

I for one think it's great that we live in a country where the women feel free to indulge their chocolatey and alcoholic desires and to subsequently show off their ample and complex array of curves.

 

Did you say that with a straight face?

 

Of course being politically correct so do I, except for the strain it puts on both their clothing and the NHS budget.

[Freesolo]

What do people that live in Leicester dislike most about the City? 

[lavrentis]

What do people that live in Leicester dislike most about the City? 

 

It's good for students, plenty of cheap dingy bars.

 

I just think it's a bit boring though, with no atmosphere.

 

There is no reason to be in Leicester over any other city. (football isn't everything)

[Wymsey]

That tall blue tower (near to London Road train station), think it's a call centre now?

 

Looks in the wrong place from miles away.

[lavrentis]

And I don't know if the Highcross has brought new life to Leicester or sucked life away. It's just a generic shopping centre.

[Webbo]

I really don't what people expect from a medium sized provincial city. Leicester's okay. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Stadt]

It's the shitty rundown areas that piss me off, but everywhere has them.

[Spudulike]

I live 140 miles away but would move home in a heatbeat if I could.

[ssilver80]

What do people that live in Leicester dislike most about the City?

[ssilver80]

I dislike the fact that most the people who think Leicester's a dump are the same ones who chuck there rubbish on the floor and expect someone else to clean it up for them.

I am Leicester born and bred. I love the diversity and culture that Leicester has to offer.

The Richard III story has put us on an international stage and I have never seen the city cleaner or buzzing with so many tourists.

Think what Robin Hood has done for that city who's name slips my mind!

Well that's a myth. Ours is real.

Leicester has a bright future and I certainly won't slagging my home city off and winging about it...

[Guest Col city fan]

Again...yes

Leicester City is a shit-hole.

The County is very nice.

There are much much nicer Cities in the UK. In terms of road layout, architecture, shops, parklands etc.

As soon as I retire, we are intending to move away.

[Merging Cultures]

It'll be designated for that but probably never happen. Same as plenty of others, it all seems a great idea, the plans will g out to engineers etc who spend loads of time creating the new services, etc, and then they'll discover there isn't enough money to do it. Same old story.

Surely there is a better use for the building anyway, it's grand inside! I remember when I was a kid, being in awe at the place.

I used to love that building too. Used to go in there with my Nan.

[BlueSi13]

It's TRYING to improve.  But there's a still a reason why the vast majority of Leicesterians who get educated here end up leaving.  

 

I can think of precious few people who have visited and spent time in the city say anything nice about the place (plenty to like about the Shire though).

 

Sad to say but from my experience I could reel of at least twenty places I'd rather live and work (will be leaving for one of them next year if all goes well)