Is the City of Leicester a dump?

[Great Boos Up]

The history of Leicester and Leicestershire is just not promoted well enough. History; you think of London, then York. Leicester should be next.

[Simi]

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/leicester-building-been-painted-huge-323953

 

Thoughts? Think it looks pretty tacky personally. Also, why would anyone pay £12-15 for fish and chips?

[CosbehFox]

Madness for a place formerly considered classy. 

 

Although after a personal situation where I found the business use students to cover hospitality events on a 'trial basis'. Make them work a seven hour shift and then tell them no longer needed. I hope it fails badly. 

[Parafox]

10 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Madness for a place formerly considered classy. 

 

Although after a personal situation where I found the business use students to cover hospitality events on a 'trial basis'. Make them work a seven hour shift and then tell them no longer needed. I hope it fails badly. 

Won't bother if this is how they serve the food. Looks like they chuck it at you.

 

[Parafox]

25 minutes ago, Simi said:

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/leicester-building-been-painted-huge-323953

 

Thoughts? Think it looks pretty tacky personally. Also, why would anyone pay £12-15 for fish and chips?

Don't think I'll bother if this is how they serve the food. Looks like they chuck it at you.

 

[Innovindil]

32 minutes ago, Simi said:

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/leicester-building-been-painted-huge-323953

 

Thoughts? Think it looks pretty tacky personally. Also, why would anyone pay £12-15 for fish and chips?

I'm all for celebrating Britain, but you are absolutely right, it looks tacky as hell and looks to be a fairly pathetic advertising ploy. 

[SkidsFox]

As an exile I think sometimes people forget about the good parts of Leicester. Yes, much of the centre is bland and functional, but there are good parts too. The curry mile on Belgrave Road is famous nationwide, the river pathway is great, and in New Walk you have an absolute gem. If only a "second New Walk" could be put in place.

The saddest part used to be the Silver Arcade as it had great atmosphere - has it improved since being refurbished?

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, Simi said:

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/leicester-building-been-painted-huge-323953

 

Thoughts? Think it looks pretty tacky personally. Also, why would anyone pay £12-15 for fish and chips?

"British seafood classics including lobster and skinny fries"

 

Yeah, a day at the seaside never feels quite right without a plate of that...

[Simi]

1 hour ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Madness for a place formerly considered classy. 

 

Although after a personal situation where I found the business use students to cover hospitality events on a 'trial basis'. Make them work a seven hour shift and then tell them no longer needed. I hope it fails badly. 

It's gone dramatically downhill since they lost their chef to White Peacock, never quite recovered since. 

[SecretPro]

4 hours ago, SkidsFox said:

As an exile I think sometimes people forget about the good parts of Leicester. Yes, much of the centre is bland and functional, but there are good parts too. The curry mile on Belgrave Road is famous nationwide, the river pathway is great, and in New Walk you have an absolute gem. If only a "second New Walk" could be put in place.

The saddest part used to be the Silver Arcade as it had great atmosphere - has it improved since being refurbished?

it's still virtually empty. The shops were never filled but those that did move in moved out after 2 months because the rent the owners were charging was ridiculous apparently, to the point where it was putting off other businesses from moving in and the result was zero footfall. Think there are maybe three shops in it at the moment, hairdressers and a deli. The upstairs was a restaurant and bar for all of 2 weeks . Appears the greedy willy puller owners are content to leave it empty than to actually try and get any trade in by reducing the rent. Absolute waste of space. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

I went in Maiyango once and the toilets were ****ing atrocious and the food was well underwhelming.

 

 

[RonnieTodger]

Wandered down the high street on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in ages. Anything within a 300 metre radius of the clock tower is shit. Full of freaks, smack heads and freaky smack heads . 

Edited 16 August 2017 by RonnieTodger

[Wymsey]

9 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

Wandered down the high street on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in ages. Anything within a 300 metre radius of the clock tower is shit. Full of freaks, smack heads and freaky smack heads . 

Shame that area is the "centre" of Leicester. 

The whole place, barring the Highcross needs an uplift.

Looks depressing all-round and dull.

Same as London Road, quite scruffy and the certain types that hang around in that area - though there's a few decent bars there tbf.

Edited 16 August 2017 by Wymeswold fox

[SemperEadem]

The German Doner gaff is a good addition to Granby Street.

[Rob1742]

On 15/08/2017 at 13:05, SkidsFox said:

As an exile I think sometimes people forget about the good parts of Leicester. Yes, much of the centre is bland and functional, but there are good parts too. The curry mile on Belgrave Road is famous nationwide, the river pathway is great, and in New Walk you have an absolute gem. If only a "second New Walk" could be put in place.

The saddest part used to be the Silver Arcade as it had great atmosphere - has it improved since being refurbished?

New Walk, the home of the homeless by day, and prostitutes at night. 

[ruletheworld]

All big cities look dirty where big crowd of people. And most people don't care about keeping city celan anyway unless if they were born there.

[The Fox Covert]

I think some of the people on here should work somewhere else before they run down Leicester. When I go back I can't help noticing how clean and how much green space there is compared to most cities.

I have recently lived and worked in some real dumps, Doncaster, Irvine and now Bilston. Bilston/Ettingshall is quite possibly the dirtiest place on the planet. Even the street names are naff. Round the corner from where I work there are two roads called Stom Road and Chem Road. If you actually went out to create a horrible environment that nobody cares about, choosing an unpleasant street name would be a good place to start. I think the sign making department at the local council ran out of letters one week and the workers were told to just make up a couple of names from what they had left.

Still, the money I am getting from working in the Black Country is three to four times what I would get if I took a job where my home is in sleepy Somerset.

[Buce]

5 minutes ago, The Fox Covert said:

I think some of the people on here should work somewhere else before they run down Leicester. When I go back I can't help noticing how clean and how much green space there is compared to most cities.

I have recently lived and worked in some real dumps, Doncaster, Irvine and now Bilston. Bilston/Ettingshall is quite possibly the dirtiest place on the planet. Even the street names are naff. Round the corner from where I work there are two roads called Stom Road and Chem Road. If you actually went out to create a horrible environment that nobody cares about, choosing an unpleasant street name would be a good place to start. I think the sign making department at the local council ran out of letters one week and the workers were told to just make up a couple of names from what they had left.

Still, the money I am getting from working in the Black Country is three to four times what I would get if I took a job where my home is in sleepy Somerset.

 

I think some of the people on here should live in Leicester before they big it up.

 

Shit may be preferable to dysentery, but it still stinks.

[The Fox Covert]

I grew up in Leicester. Work took me out of the town and unless the right job comes up I won't go back.

Can't get over Black Country accents. Bilston/Wolverhampton is a generally friendly place but how they speak!

Looking out the window now: 'Eet's royneeng'.

Or some of the other places I have worked in the last year: 'Chuffin' wether' or 'Dreich day'.

[The Fox Covert]

11 hours ago, Rob1742 said:

New Walk, the home of the homeless by day, and prostitutes at night. 

In Brighton and Bristol, the ladies of the night will even rap on your car window if you stop at a traffic light.

Thorne Road, Doncaster, home of the tattooed BBW plying her trade on the street corner. Hope they sell good strong beds in Donneh!

[davieG]

Revamped Haymarket Theatre will host spectacular online games shows with $250k prizes

Council ploughing extra £600k into refurbishing abandoned theatre

 

 

 

Spectacular online games tournaments with prizes up to $250,000 will soon be taking place in Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre.

Leicester City Council is ploughing an extra £600,000 into refurbishing the abandoned theatre to make it one of the best venues for eSports, as online gaming is known, in Britain.

The 1970s-built theatre is already undergoing a £3 million refit so that it can once again stage plays, musicals, concerts, corporate events and awards nights.

There will also be a new National Training Theatre, working in partnership with Leicester College.

Central to the plans is a partnership with leading Leicester-based eSports business ESL UK, which broadcasts live tournaments to fans around the world.

There are competitions for hundreds of games, with the biggest four for ESL right now being League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Hearthstone and Dota 2.

Fans around the world watch as top players battle it out in games such as League of Legends

As well as featuring live gaming action on the huge stage in front of 900-strong audiences, the venue will have a purpose-built broadcasting suite, supported by fibre optic cabling throughout.

Leicester city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the upgraded theatre would be the icing on the cake for a revamped Haymarket shopping centre.

The revamped centre will include:

a new 67 room Travelodge hotel.

investment totalling “hundreds of thousands of pounds” in the rooftop car park, after the council signed a new 20-year-lease for the facility.

new, out-of-ours lift access to the hotel, theatre and car park costing between £300,000 and £500,000-plus depending on which floors it goes up to.

a £7 million scheme to pedestrianise and improve Belgrave Gate and Churchgate in front of the theatre.

eSports contests have all the production values of traditional live TV sports shows

The council is tied to the Haymarket Theatre on a 99-year lease, but the venue will be managed by an independent, five-strong team of industry specialists.

The extra £600,000 investment in the theatre will go on improving public areas, changing rooms, toilets and bar areas, and support TV-quality broadcasting.

Sir Peter said: “Since we initially decided to do the refurbishment of the theatre, a number of exciting things have happened, including moving forward with improvements to the public space in Belgrave Gate next year.

“The other thing that has changed is the growth of eSports, which now gives the theatre new potential, different to the original proposals, exciting as they were.

“That gives us the chance to bring something new and sophisticated to the theatre.

“So I have decided to invest significantly in the car park – one of the grottiest in the city – and somewhat more in the theatre to bring it up to the level of sophistication needed for eSports.

The Haymarket and Belgrave Gate are getting a much needed make-over

“The Haymarket is going to be ESL’s showcase venue, for something that is now a worldwide phenomenon – and the last thing we want is people coming to see it live going into a building that is a bit bleak and a car park that is grotty.”

James Dean is the managing director of ESL UK, which currently operates from a warehouse off Saffron Lane in the city.

He will host at least 10 competitions at the Haymarket in the first year, and plans to move his offices to the city centre.

He said: “What’s happening at the Haymarket is perfectly timed. It’s going to be industry leading, and we think our first production there will be early next year.

 

“I would expect this to generate revenues in the hundreds of thousands of pounds for the Haymarket, and the biggest competition we have hosted so far in Leicester was worth £250,000.

“Competitive gaming is a new type of entertainment and works on the premise that kids naturally want to watch it – whether that’s a big tournament or a one-off “influencer” playing on-line.

“There are a huge number of theatrical aspects to our productions, so we need a big stage to be able to do it.

“The big thing we are adding will be a TV gallery so it can all be streamed out to a massive audience.”

 

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/business/haymarket-theatre-esports-leicester-council-496066

[davieG]

Compared to how it was as recently as the early 50s it's utopia.

 

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/the-slums-of-leicester-541382

[Out Foxed]

hosting e sports events is an interesting idea. quite forward thinking for us. 

[Stadt]

Met somebody today and they thought Leicester was supposedly quite nice, I don't think he'd been though  

[The Fox Covert]

8 hours ago, davieG said:

Compared to how it was as recently as the early 50s it's utopia.

 

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/the-slums-of-leicester-541382

Interesting post. There is an excellent book on the subject by a fella called Ned Newitt, which I found and promptly bought last time I was in Leicester a couple of weeks ago. I haven't got it at the moment and ... because I lent it, it is still in Leicester. One thing I noticed was that as each slum neighbourhood was cleared, most people were rehoused in the same street in the new council estates, usually in Braunstone or New Parks. Often, the streets populated with people rehoused from the worst slum housing became the most troublesome streets in the new council estates. Hand Avenue anyone???

By the late sixties most of the housing which could not be improved had gone, and Leicester City Council was intent on continuing the process by demolishing late Victorian terraced housing in areas like Tudor Road and Humberstone Road. A vocal opponent of the council, which was accused of wilfully destroying well-established local communities in these areas, was a certain Peter Soulsby.

Perhaps there is someone on here who knows what the poorer housing in the other towns and villages in Leicestershire was like. I suspect it was very likely even worse, as councils in rural areas had smaller budgets and fewer powers. They were and still are more likely to be Conservative dominated, and institutionally disinclined to spend ratepayers' money on building new houses for people who will not generally show their gratitude by voting for them.