Leicester (/ˈlɛstər/ⓘLES-tər)[7] is acity,unitary authority area, and thecounty town ofLeicestershire in theEast Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a population of 388,348 in 2024.[4] The greaterLeicester urban area had a population of 559,017 in 2021, making it the 11th most populous in England,[8] and the13th most populous in the United Kingdom. For three years running, the annual Good Growth for Cities Index has ranked Leicester as the best place to live and work in theEast Midlands. The latest study, which is based on a range of economic factors, rated Leicester as the best performing city in theEast Midlands in 2024 and 20th overall out of 52 other UK cities.[9]
The city lies on theRiver Soar and is approximately 90 miles (140 km) north-northwest of London, 33 miles (53 km) east-northeast ofBirmingham and 21 miles (34 km) northeast ofCoventry.Nottingham andDerby lie around 21 miles (34 km) to the north and northwest respectively, whilstPeterborough is located 37 miles (60 km) to the east. Leicester is close to the eastern end of theNational Forest.[10]
Leicester has a long history extending into ancient times. The site of an Iron Ageoppidum, it developed into theRoman town ofRatae Corieltauvorum following theconquest. The ruins of Ratae were later settled by theAnglo-Saxons, and then captured by theVikings who made it one of theFive Boroughs of the Danelaw. After theNorman Conquest the town came under the authority of theBeaumont andDe MontfortEarls, most notably the famous rebelSimon de Montfort. After his death in 1265 the town passed to theHouse of Lancaster andLeicester Castle became one of their strongholds, a royal residence when the family came to the throne in 1399. Leicester therefore became an important town in the wider nation, the meeting place of the parliaments of 1318,1414, and1450, and a place frequently visited by the King and his court. Most famouslyKing Richard III spent his last days in the town before his death at theBattle of Bosworth and was buried there in August 1485. In theEarly Modern eraPuritanism flourished in Leicester and the town was a supporter of theParliamentarian cause in theCivil War. In theVictorian age the town became known for itshosiery and shoe manufacturing industries. It also rapidly expanded in population and size eventually gainingcity status in 1919. Since the mid-20th century, immigration from countries of theBritish Commonwealth has seen Leicester become an ethnically diverse city, and one of the largest urban centres of theMidlands.
The name of Leicester comes fromOld English. It is first recorded in Latinised form in the early ninth century asLegorensis civitatis and in Old English itself in anAnglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 924 asLigera ceastre (and, in various spellings, frequently thereafter). In theDomesday Book of 1086, it is recorded asLedecestre.[13]
The first element of the name is the name of a people, theLigore (whose name appears inLigera ceastre in thegenitive plural form); their name came in turn from the river Ligor (now theRiver Soar), the origin of whose name is uncertain but thought to be fromBrittonic (possibly cognate with the name of theLoire).[13][14][15][16]
The second element of the name is the Old English wordceaster ("(Roman) fort, fortification, town", itself borrowed from Latincastrum).[13]
A list of British cities in the ninth-centuryHistory of the Britons includes oneCair Lerion; Leicester has been proposed as the place to which this refers (and theWelsh name for Leicester isCaerlŷr). But this identification is not certain.[17]
Map of key historic sites of Leicester Old Town. The Roman and medieval walls are marked by the dotted line. The one surviving Roman ruin is marked in purple. The secular sites are in blue. The towns five surviving ancient churches are in red. Thedissolvedmendicant andchantry foundations are in black. The key site ofLeicester Abbey over the river is beyond the borders of the map to the north east.
Prehistory
Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England, with a history going back at least two millennia.[19] ThenativeIron Age settlement encountered by theRomans at the site seems to have developed in the 2nd or 1st centuriesBC, around a century or so before the arrival of the Romans.[20] Little is known about this settlement or the condition of theRiver Soar at this time, althoughroundhouses from this era have been excavated and seem to have clustered along roughly 8 hectares (20 acres) of the east bank of the Soar. This area of the Soar was split into two channels: a main stream to the east and a narrower channel on the west, with a presumably marshy island between. The settlement seems to have controlled a ford across the larger channel. Thelater Roman name was alatinate form of theBrittonic word for "ramparts" (cf.Gaelicrath and the nearby villages ofRatby andRatcliffe[21]), suggesting the site was anoppidum. The plural form of the name suggests it was initially composed of several villages.[21] TheCeltic tribe holding the area was later recorded as the "Coritanians" but an inscription recovered in 1983 showed this to have been a corruption of the original "Corieltauvians".[22][23] The Corieltauvians are believed to have ruled over roughly the area of theEast Midlands.
It is believed that theRomans arrived in the Leicester area aroundAD 47, during theirconquest ofsouthern Britain.[24] The Corieltauvian settlement lay near a bridge on theFosse Way, aRoman road between the legionary camps atIsca (Exeter) andLindum (Lincoln). It remains unclear whether the Romans fortified and garrisoned the location, but it slowly developed from around the year 50 onwards as thetribal capital of the Corieltauvians under the nameRatae Corieltauvorum. In the 2nd century, it received aforum andbathhouse. In 2013, the discovery of a Roman cemetery found just outside the old city walls and dating back to AD 300 was announced.[24] The remains of thebaths of Roman Leicester can be seen at theJewry Wall; recovered artifacts are displayed at theadjacent museum.
Knowledge of the town following theRoman withdrawal from Britain is limited. It seems to have been continually occupied after Roman protection ceased through the 5th and 6th centuries, although with a significantly reduced population. Its memory was preserved as theCair Lerion[25] of theHistory of the Britons.[26] Following theSaxon invasion of Britain, Leicester was occupied by theMiddle Angles and subsequently administered by the kingdom ofMercia. It was elevated to abishopric in either 679 or 680; this see survived until the 9th century, when Leicester was captured byDanishVikings. Their settlement became one of theFive Burghs of theDanelaw, although this position was short-lived. The Saxon bishop, meanwhile, fled toDorchester-on-Thames and Leicester did not become a bishopric again until the parish church ofSt Martin becameLeicester Cathedral in 1927. The settlement was recorded under the nameLigeraceaster in the early 10th century.[27]
Following theNorman conquest, Leicester was recorded byWilliam'sDomesday Book asLedecestre. It was noted as a city (civitas) but lost this status in the 11th century owing to power struggles between theChurch and thearistocracy[citation needed] and did not become a legal city again until 1919.
WhenSimon de Montfort becameEarl of Leicester in 1231, he gave the borough a grant to expel the Jewish population[30] "in my time or in the time of any of my heirs to the end of the world". He justified his action as being "for the good of my soul, and for the souls of my ancestors and successors".[31][32] Leicester's Jews were allowed to move to the eastern suburbs, which were controlled by de Montfort's great-aunt and rival, Margaret, Countess of Winchester, after she took advice from the scholar and clericRobert Grosseteste, at that timeArchdeacon of Leicester.[33] It would appear, however, that the expulsion was largely effective, and there is no evidence of any Jews remaining in Leicester.[32] De Montfort's acts of anti-Jewish persecution in Leicester and elsewhere were part of awider pattern that led to theexpulsion of the Jewish population from England in 1290.[34]
During the 14th century, the earls of Leicester and Lancaster enhanced the prestige of the town.Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester founded a hospital for the poor and infirm in the area to the south of the castle now known as The Newarke (the "new work"). Henry's son, the greatHenry of Grosmont, 4th Earl of Lancaster and of Leicester, who was made first Duke of Lancaster, enlarged and enhanced his father's foundation, and built the collegiate Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of The Newarke.[35] This church (a little of which survives in the basement of the Hawthorn Building of De Montfort University) was destroyed during the reign of King Edward VI. It became an important pilgrimage site because it housed a thorn said to be from the Crown of Thorns, given to the Duke by the King of France. The church (described by Leland in the C16th as "not large but exceeding fair") also became, effectively, a Lancastrian mausoleum. Duke Henry's daughterBlanche of Lancaster marriedJohn of Gaunt and their son Henry Bolingbroke becameKing Henry IV when he deposed King Richard II. The Church of the Annunciation was the burial place of Duke Henry, who had earlier had his father re-interred here. Later it became the burial place ofConstance of Castile, Duchess of Lancaster (second wife of John of Gaunt) and ofMary de Bohun, first wife of Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) and mother of King Henry V (she did not become queen because she died before Bolingbroke became king). John of Gaunt died at Leicester Castle in 1399. When his son became king, the Earldom of Leicester and the Duchy of Lancaster became royal titles (and the latter remains so).
The Newarke Gateway or Magazine Gateway
At the end of theWar of the Roses,KingRichard III was buried in Leicester'sGreyfriars Church a Franciscan Friary and Church which was demolished after its dissolution in 1538. The site of that church is now covered byKing Richard III Visitor Centre (until 2012 by more modern buildings and a car park). There was a legend his corpse had been cast into theriver, while some historians[36] argued his tomb and remains were destroyed during thedissolution of the monasteries underHenry VIII. However, in September 2012, an archaeological investigation of the car park revealed a skeleton[37] whichDNA testing helped verify to be related to two descendants of Richard III's sister.[38] It was concluded that the skeleton was that of Richard III because of the DNA evidence and the shape of the spine. In 2015 Richard III was reburied in pride of place near the high altar inLeicester Cathedral.
On 4 November 1530,Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from Yorkshire. On his way south to face dubious justice at theTower of London, he fell ill. The group escorting him was concerned enough to stop at Leicester to rest at Leicester Abbey. There, Wolsey's condition quickly worsened. He died on 29 November 1530 and was buried atLeicester Abbey, nowAbbey Park.
Lady Jane Grey, who claimed the English throne for nine days in June 1553, was born atBradgate Park near Leicester around 1536.[39]
The Corporation of Leicester opposed the efforts of Charles I to disafforest the nearbyLeicester Forest, believing them to be likely to throw many of its residents into poverty and need of relief.Sir Miles Fleetwood was sent to commission the disafforestation and division of lands being used in common.[42] Riots destroyed enclosures in spring 1627 and 1628, following a pattern ofanti-enclosure disturbances found elsewhere including the Western Rising.[43]
Petitions challenging the enclosures were presented by the Corporation of Leicester and borough residents to the King andPrivy Council. They were unsuccessful so petitioned theHouse of Lords in June 1628 who however supported Fleetwood but asked for proceedings made by the Crown against the rioters to be dropped. Compensation made to the legal residents of the forest was reasonably generous by comparison with other forests. The Corporation of Leicester received 40 acres (16 ha) for relief of the poor.[44]
Civil War
Leicester was a Parliamentarian (colloquially calledRoundhead) stronghold during theEnglish Civil War. In 1645, KingCharles I of England andPrince Rupert decided to attack the (then) town to draw theNew Model Army away from the Royalist (colloquially calledCavaliers) headquarters ofOxford.Royalist guns were set up onRaw Dykes and, after an unsatisfactory response to a demand for surrender, the assault began at 3pm on 30 May 1645 by a Royalist battery opposite the Newarke. The town – which only had approximately 2,000 defenders opposed to the Royalist Army of approximately 10,000 combatants – was sacked on 31 May 1645, and hundreds of people were killed by Rupert's cavalry. It was reported that 120 houses had been destroyed and that 140 wagons of plunder were sent to the Royalist stronghold ofNewark.[45]
Following the Parliamentarian victory over the Royalist Army at theBattle of Naseby on 14 June 1645, Leicester was recovered by Parliament on 18 June 1645.
Industrial era
The Leicester Seamstress byJames Walter Butler (1990) Leicester, Hotel Street
The construction of theGrand Union Canal in the 1790s linked Leicester to London andBirmingham. The first railway station in Leicester opened in 1832, in the form of theLeicester and Swannington Railway which provided a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries.[46][47] TheMidland Counties Railway (running fromDerby toRugby) linked the town to the national network by 1840. A direct link toLondon St Pancras was established by theMidland Railway in the 1860s. These developments encouraged and accompanied aprocess of industrialisation which intensified throughout the reign ofQueen Victoria. Factories began to appear, particularly along the canal and river, and districts such asFrog Island andWoodgate were the locations of numerous large mills. Between 1861 and 1901, Leicester's population increased from68,100 to211,600[citation needed]and the proportion employed in trade, commerce, building, and the city's new factories and workshops rose steadily.Hosiery, textiles, and footwear became the major industrial employers: manufacturers such asN. Corah & Sons and the Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company were opening some of the largest manufacturing premises in Europe. They were joined, in the latter part of the century, by engineering firms such as Kent Street's Taylor and Hubbard (crane makers and founders[clarification needed]), Vulcan Road'sWilliam Gimson & Company (steam boilers and founders), Martin Street's Richards & Company (steel works and founders), andBritish United Shoe Machinery Co (manufacturer offootwear machinery and materials).
The politics of Victorian Leicester were lively and very often bitter. Years of consistent economic growth meant living standards generally increased, but Leicester was a stronghold ofRadicalism.Thomas Cooper, theChartist, kept a shop in Church Gate. There were serious Chartist riots in the town in 1842 and again six years later.[48] TheLeicester Secular Society was founded in 1851 butsecularist speakers such asGeorge Holyoake were often denied the use of speaking halls. It was not until 1881 thatLeicester Secular Hall was opened. The second half of the 19th century also witnessed the creation of many other institutions, including the town council,the Royal Infirmary, and the Leicester Constabulary. It also benefited from general acceptance (and the Public Health Acts )[citation needed] that municipal organisations had a responsibility to provide for the town's water supply, drainage, and sanitation. In 1853, backed with a guarantee of dividends by the Corporation of Leicester the Leicester Waterworks Company built a reservoir at Thornton for the supply of water to the town. This guarantee was made possible by the Public Health Act 1847 and an amending local Act of Parliament of 1851. In 1866 another amending Act enabled the Corporation of Leicester to take shares in the company to enable the construction of another reservoir at Cropston, completed in 1870. The Corporation of Leicester was later able to buy the waterworks and build another reservoir at Swithland, completed in the 1890s.[49]
Leicester became acounty borough in 1889, although it was abolished in 1974 as part of theLocal Government Act, and was reformed as a non-metropolitan district and city. The city regained its unitary status, being administered separately from Leicestershire, in 1997. The borough had been expanding throughout the 19th century, but grew most notably when it annexedBelgrave,Aylestone,North Evington,Knighton, andStoneygate in 1892.
Early 20th century
Edwardian city centre
In 1900, theGreat Central Railway provided another link to London, but the rapid population growth of the previous decades had already begun to slow by the time of Queen Victoria's death in 1901.World War I and the subsequent epidemics had further impacts. Nonetheless, Leicester was finally recognised as a legal city once more in 1919 in recognition of its contribution to the British war effort. Recruitment to the armed forces was lower in Leicester than in other English cities, partly because of the low level of unemployment and the need for many of its industries, such as clothing and footwear manufacturing, to supply the army. As the war progressed, many of Leicester's factories were given over to arms production; Leicester produced the first batch of Howitzer shells by a British company which was not making ammunition before the war. After the war, the city received a royal visit; the king and queen received a march-past inVictoria Park of thousands of serving and demobilised soldiers. Following the end of the war, a memorial arch—theArch of Remembrance—was built in Victoria Park and unveiled in 1925. The arch, one of the largest First World War memorials in the UK, was designed bySir Edwin Lutyens, who also designedthe Cenotaph in London and is a grade Ilisted building. A set of gates and lodges, again by Lutyens, were added in the 1930s, leading to the memorial from the University Road and London Road entrances to Victoria Park.[50][51][52]
In 1927, Leicester again became a cathedral city on the consecration ofSt Martin's Church as the cathedral. A second major extension to the boundaries following the changes in 1892 took place in 1935, with the annexation of the remainder ofEvington,Humberstone,Beaumont Leys, and part ofBraunstone. A third major revision of the boundaries took place in 1966, with the net addition to the city of just over 450 acres (182 ha). The boundary has remained unchanged since that time.
Leicester's diversified economic base and lack of dependence on primary industries meant it was much better placed than many other cities to weather the tariff wars of the 1920s andGreat Depression of the 1930s. The Bureau of Statistics of the newly formedLeague of Nations identified Leicester in 1936 as the second-richest city in Europe[53] and it became an attractive destination for refugees fleeing persecution and political turmoil incontinental Europe. Firms such as Corah and Liberty Shoes used their reputation for producing high-quality products to expand their businesses. These years witnessed the growth in the city oftrade unionism and particularly theco-operative movement. The Co-op became an important employer and landowner; when Leicester played host to theJarrow March on its way to London in 1936, the Co-op provided the marchers with a change of boots. In 1938, Leicester was selected as the base for Squadron 1F, the first A.D.C.C (Air Defence Cadet Corp), the predecessor of theAir Training Corps.
World War II
Leicester was bombed on 19 November 1940. Although only three bombs hit the city, 108 people were killed in Highfields.[54]
Contemporary
The years afterWorld War II, particularly from the 1960s onwards, brought many social and economic challenges.
Urban expansion; central rapprochement
Central Leicester (looking WNW)
Mass housebuilding continued across Leicester for some 30 years after 1945. Existing housing estates such as Braunstone were expanded, while several completely new estates – of both private and council tenure – were built.[citation needed] The last major development of this era was Beaumont Leys in the north of the city, which was developed in the 1970s as a mix of private and council housing.[citation needed]
There was a steady decline in Leicester's traditional manufacturing industries and, in the city centre, working factories and light industrial premises have now been almost entirely replaced. Many former factories, including some onFrog Island and atDonisthorpe Mill, have been badly damaged by fire. Rail and barge were finally eclipsed by automotive transport in the 1960s and 1970s: the Great Central and the Leicester and Swannington both closed and the northward extension of theM1 motorway linked Leicester into England's growing motorway network. With the loss of much of the city's industry during the 1970s and 1980s, some of the old industrial jobs were replaced by new jobs in the service sector, particularly in retail. The opening of the Haymarket Shopping Centre in 1971 was followed by a number of new shopping centres in the city, including St Martin's Shopping Centre in 1984 and the Shire Shopping Centre in 1992.[55] The Shires was subsequently expanded in September 2008 and rebranded as Highcross.[56] By the 1990s, as well, Leicester's central position and good transport links had established it as a distribution centre; the southwestern area of the city has also attracted new service and manufacturing businesses.
Immigration
1972 advertisement in theUganda Argus newspaper to discourage Ugandan Asians from settling in Leicester
Since World War II Leicester has experienced large scale immigration from across the world. Many Polish servicemen were prevented from returning to their homeland after the war by the communist regime,[57] and they established a small community in Leicester. Economic migrants from theIrish Republic continued to arrive throughout the post war period. Immigrants from theIndian sub-continent began to arrive in the 1960s, their numbers boosted byAsians arriving from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s.[58][59]
In 1972,Idi Amin announced that the entireAsian community in Uganda had 90 days to leave the country.[60] Shortly thereafter, Leicester City Council launched a campaign aimed at dissuading Ugandan Asians from migrating to the city.[61] The adverts did not have their intended effect,instead making more migrants aware of the possibility of settling in Leicester.[62] Nearly a quarter of initial Ugandan refugees (around 5000 to 6000) settled in Leicester, and by the end of the 1970s around another quarter of the initially dispersed refugees had made their way to Leicester.[63] Officially, the adverts were taken out for fear that immigrants to Leicester would place pressure on city services and at least one person who was a city councillor at the time says he believes they were placed for racist reasons.[64] The initial advertisement was widely condemned, and taken as a marker of anti-Asian sentiment throughout Britain as a whole, although the attitudes that resulted in the initial advertisement were changed significantly in subsequent decades,[65] not least because the immigrants included the owners of many of "Uganda's most successful businesses."[66]
Forty years later, Leicester's mayor SirPeter Soulsby expressed his regret for the behaviour of the council at the time.[64]
In the 1990s, a group of Dutch citizens ofSomali origin settled in the city. Since the 2004enlargement of the European Union a significant number ofEast European migrants have settled in the city. While some wards in the northeast of the city are more than 70% South Asian, wards in the west and south are all over 70% white. TheCommission for Racial Equality (CRE) had estimated that by 2011 Leicester would have approximately a 50% ethnic minority population, making it the first city in Britain not to have awhite British majority.[67] This prediction was based on the growth of the ethnic minority populations between 1991 (Census 1991 28% ethnic minority) and 2001 (Census 2001 – 36% ethnic minority). However, Professor Ludi Simpson at theUniversity of Manchester School of Social Sciences said in September 2007 that the CRE had "made unsubstantiated claims and ignored government statistics" and that Leicester's immigrant and minority communities disperse to other places.[68][69][67]
The Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group[70] is a forum, set up in 2001 by the editor of theLeicester Mercury, to co-ordinate community relations with members representing the council, police, schools, community and faith groups, and the media.
Coronavirus
TheCOVID-19 pandemic has brought many social and economic challenges across the country and across the world. Leicester has been particularly badly affected in the United Kingdom; from July 2020 during the imposition of the first local lockdown which saw all non-essential retail closed again and businesses such as public houses, restaurants and hairdressers unable to reopen. Businesses such as these in areas such as Glenfield and that part of Braunstone Town which outside of the formal city council area, have since been allowed to reopen following a more tightly defined lockdown area from 18 July 2020.[71][72]
TheOffice for National Statistics has defined aLeicester Urban Area (LUA); broadly the immediate Leicesterconurbation, although without administrative status. The LUA contains the unitary authority area and several towns, villages and suburbs outside the city's administrative boundaries.
Leicester experiences amaritime climate with mild to warm summers and cool winters, rain spread throughout the year, and low sunshine levels. The nearest official Weather Station was Newtown Linford, about 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Leicester city centre and just outside the edge of the urban area. However, observations stopped there in 2003.[citation needed] The current nearest weather station is Market Bosworth, about 10 miles (16 km) west of the city centre.[citation needed]
The highest temperature recorded at Newtown Linford was 34.5 °C (94.1 °F) during August 1990,[73] although a temperature of 35.1 °C (95.2 °F) was achieved at Leicester University during August 2003.[74] However, the highest temperature since records began in Leicester is 36.7 °C (98.1 °F) on 15 July 1868.[75] More typically the highest temperature would reach 28.7 °C (83.7 °F) – the average annual maximum.[76] 11.3 days of the year should attain a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above.[77]
The lowest temperature recorded at Newtown Linford was −16.1 °C (3.0 °F) during January 1963.[78] Typically, 54.9 air frosts will be recorded during the course of the year.
Rainfall averages 684.4 mm per year,[79] with 1 mm or more falling on 120.8 days.[80] All averages refer to the period 1971–2000.
Climate data forNewtown Linford,[b] elevation: 119 m (390 ft), 1971–2000 normals, extremes 1960–2002
On 5 May 2011, thedirectly electedMayor of Leicester role came into effect after the inaugural election. This post exists in addition to that ofLord Mayor which goes back to the Middle Ages and is these days a ceremonial role.
The first mayor of Leicester was aNorman knight, Peter fitz Roger ("Peter, son of Roger") in 1251.[82][83] Following the restoration of city status in 1919 this title was elevated to "Lord Mayor." In 1987 the first Asian Mayor of Leicester was indirectly elected by the councillors, Councillor Gordhan Parmar.[84] After institution of a directly elected mayor in 2011 the Lord Mayor of Leicester still exists as a ceremonial role underLeicester City Council.[85]
On 1 April 1997,Leicester City Council became aunitary authority. Previously, local government had been a two-tier system: the city and county councils were responsible for different aspects of local-government services. That system is still in place in the rest of Leicestershire.Leicestershire County Council retained its headquarters atCounty Hall inGlenfield, just outside the city boundary but within the urban area. The administrative offices of Leicester City Council are in the centre of the city atCity Hall in Charles Street, having moved from Welford Place. The 1970s council offices at Welford Place were declared unsafe in 2010 and demolished on 22 February 2015.[86] In 2018 a newly built New Walk Centre was completed as a privately funded mix of offices, shops and flats, alongside tree-lined open spaces.[87] Some services (particularly the police and the ambulance service) still cover the whole of the city and county, but for the most part the councils are independent.
The current directly elected mayor is Sir Peter Soulsby of the Labour Party.[89][90]
After a long period of Labour administration (since 1979), the city council from May 2003 was run by aLiberal Democrat/Conservative coalition underRoger Blackmore, which collapsed in November 2004. The minority Labour group ran the city until May 2005, under Ross Willmott, when the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives formed a new coalition, again under the leadership of Roger Blackmore.
In the local government elections of 3 May 2007, Leicester's Labour Party once again took control of the council in what can be described as alandslide victory. Gaining 18 new councillors, Labour polled on the day 38 councillors, creating a governing majority of +20. Significantly however, the Green Party gained its first councillors in the Castle Ward, after losing on the drawing of lots in 2003, though one of these subsequently resigned and the seat was lost to Labour in a by-election on 10 September 2009.[91] The Conservative Party saw a decrease in their representation. The Liberal Democrat Party was the major loser, dropping from 25 councillors in 2003 to only 6 in 2007. This was in part due to the local party splitting, with a number of councillors standing for theLiberal Party.
In the local government elections of 5 May 2011 and those of May 2015, Labour won 52 of the city's 54 seats, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats winning one seat each.[92] In the 2019 local elections, the Labour Party gained the sole Conservative held ward of Knighton leavingNigel Porter of the Liberal Democrats as the only opposition member on the city council.
The current composition of Leicester City Council is as follows:
There have been four changes in party affiliation since the last full council election in May 2023. Councillor Diane Cank left the Labour group in August 2023. Councillor Sanjay Modhwadia, the Conservative Party candidate in the2024 Leicester mayoral election, was suspended from the Conservative Party following an argument with group leader Deepak Bajaj in a public car park over who should be the next group leader.[94] Conservative group leader Deepak Bajaj subsequently defected to the Labour Party on 8 April, lambasting a culture of violence, racism, religious divides, threats and bullying within the Conservative Party in Leicester.[95][96][97] The conservative group was further reduced in June 2024 when councillor Nagarjun "Nags" Agath quit the party to stand as an independent candidate inLeicester East in the2024 United Kingdom general election. Agath cited displeasure in the choice of the Conservative candidate, Shivani Raja, as his reason to stand, branding her as an "inexperienced candidate" that had been "dumped" on the city.[98][99]
Arms of the City of Leicester:Gules, a cinquefoil ermine pierced of the fieldFull coat of arms with the supporters granted in 1929
The Corporation of Leicester'scoat of arms was first granted to the city at the Heraldic Visitation of 1619, and is based on the arms of the firstEarl of Leicester, Robert Beaumont. The charge is acinquefoil ermine, on a red field, and this emblem is used by the city council. After Leicester became a city again in 1919, the city council applied to add to the arms. Permission for this was granted in 1929, when the supporting lions, from the Lancastrian Earls of Leicester, were added.
The motto"Semper Eadem" was the motto ofQueen Elizabeth I, who granted a royal charter to the city. It means "always the same" but with positive overtones meaning unchanging, reliable or dependable, and united. The crest on top of the arms is a white or silver leglesswyvern with red and white wounds showing, on a wreath of red and white. The legless wyvern distinguishes it as a Leicester wyvern as opposed to other wyverns. The supporting lions are wearing coronets in the form of collars, with the white cinquefoil hanging from them.
In the 2021 census, the population of the Leicester unitary authority area was 368,581, an increase of 11.7% compared to theUnited Kingdom Census 2011 figure of 329,839. The widerLeicester Urban Area,[101] showed an estimated population of 509,000. The population of the Leicester unitary authority area is marginally higher than that of Nottingham, while Nottingham has a higher urban area population compared to Leicester.Eurostat'sLarger Urban Zone lists the population of the Leicester LUZ at 886,673 (2017) below that of Nottingham;[102] metropolitan and city region populations tend to be similar. According to the 2011 census Leicester had the largest proportion of people aged 19-and-under in the East Midlands at 27 per cent. Coventry, to the south west, has a population of 352,900 (2016 est.) compared to Leicester's 348,300 at the same date. Nonetheless, Coventry has an area one third greater than Leicester's, approximately equivalent to a combined 'Leicester +Oadby and Wigston' with a respective population of 404,100 (2016 est.).
The Eurostat regional yearbook 2015 classifies Leicester as one of country's eleven 'Greater Cities', together with Birmingham and Nottingham in the Midlands. Leicester is second only to Bristol as the largestunitary authority city in England (List of English districts by population 2015 estimates), and ninth largest counting both unitary authority cities and cities within metropolitan counties.
As of 2015[update], Leicester is the second fastest growing city in the country.[104]
Languages
A demographic profile of Leicester published by the city council in 2008 noted:
Alongside English, around 70 languages and/or dialects spoken in the city. In addition to English and the primary western and central European languages, eight ethnic languages are sometimes heard:Gujarati is the preferred language of 16% of the city's residents,Punjabi 3%,Somali 4% andUrdu 2%. Other smaller language groups includeHindi andBengali. With continuing migration into the city, new languages and or dialects from Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are also being spoken in the city.In certain primary schools in Leicester, English may not be the preferred language of 45% of pupils and the proportion of children whose first language is known, or believed to be, other than English, is significantly higher than other cities in the Midlands or the UK as a whole.[105]
Certain European languages such as Polish will undoubtedly feature in current statistics, although their prevalence may reduce subsequently as future generations rapidly assimilate or return to places of origin, given cultural and geographic proximity and changes in the geo-political environment.
TheONS 2014 basis population projections indicate the city will be home to 400,000 inhabitants by around 2035.
Tourism
The city of Leicester is considered to be one of the birthplaces of popular tourism. Visit Leicester, who are based at the King Richard III Visitor Centre, define the city as 'The Place Where Tourism Began.'[109][110][111]
The city of Leicester is regularly rated as the best place to live and work in the East Midlands. The Good Growth for Cities Index is an annual study which ranks UK cities based on a range of economic factors. In 2022, the Index placed Leicester 14th out of 50 UK cities and the best performing city in the East Midlands.[114] In 2023, the index ranked Leicester first of seven East Midlands cities, and 16th overall across the country.[115] In 2024, the Good Growth for Cities Index again rated Leicester as the best performing city in the East Midlands, and 20th overall out of 52 other UK cities.[9]
Textiles
The city has historically had a strong association with the production of textiles, clothing and footwear. While important companies such asCorah, Liberty Shoes and Equity Shoes have closed, companies such as Next andBoden are still active andASOS andNew Look manufacture in the city. Moreover, in recent years the higher transport prices and longer lead-times associated withglobalised production in Asia has led some textile manufacturers to locate to the city.[116][117]
There have long been concerns about the working conditions in this sector. Leicester's garment district is home to more than 1,000 factories employing as many as 10,000 workers. It has received fewer than 60health and safety inspections and only 28fire inspections since October 2017.HMRC has made just 36 visits checking on compliance withminimum wage legislation; it has issued penalties to fewer than 10 textile firms and claimed just over £100,000 in arrears relating to 143 workers.[118] Research at the University of Leicester in 2010 and published in 2015 found there were 11,700 employees in the East Midlands garment industry. 75-90% of them were being paid £3 per hour, which was less than half of the then legal minimum wage.[119] In 2017Peter Soulsby, Mayor of Leicester called together 40 regulatory organisations to coordinate a response. He aimed to make sure that Leicester had the highest standards of employment; that workers are properly paid, well trained and work in safe environments,[120] In 2020 the HSE was alerted toCOVID-19 non-compliance, made inspections and gave advice.[121]
Engineering companies include Jones & Shipman (machine tools and control systems), Richards Engineering (foundry equipment), Transmon Engineering (materials handling equipment) andTrelleborg (suspension components for rail, marine, and industrial applications). Local commitment to nurturing British engineers includes apprenticeship schemes with local companies, and academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments atLeicester University,De Montfort University, and nearbyLoughborough University. Leicester was also home to the famousGents' of Leicester clock manufacturers.
Shopping
Main city centre shopping area
The city centre has two large shopping malls –Highcross Leicester and theHaymarket Shopping Centre. The Haymarket Shopping Centre opened in 1974 and has two levels of shopping, multi-storey parking for up to 500 cars, a bus station and is home to theHaymarket Theatre. Highcross Leicester opened in 2008 after work to redevelop "The Shires Centre" was completed at a cost of £350 million (creating 120 stores, 15 restaurants, a cinema, 110,000 m2 of shopping space).
St Martin's Square and the Leicester Lanes area has numerous designer and specialist shops; several of the city's Victorian arcades are located in the same neighbourhood.Leicester Market is the largest outdoor covered market in Europe.[122] It central feature, theLeicester Corn Exchange, has been converted into a public house.[123]
TheGolden Mile is the name given to a stretch of Belgrave Road renowned for its authentic Indian restaurants,sari shops, andjewellers; theDiwali celebrations in Leicester are focused on this area and are the largest outside the sub-continent.[124]
Henry Walker was a successful pork butcher who moved fromMansfield to Leicester in the 1880s to take over an established business in High Street. The first Walker's crisp production line was in the empty upper storey of Walker's Oxford Street factory in Leicester. In the early days the potatoes were sliced by hand and cooked in an ordinarydeep fryer. In 1971 theWalker's crisps business was sold toStandard Brands, an American firm, who sold on the company toFrito-Lay.Walker's crisps makes 10 million bags of crisps per day at two factories in Beaumont Leys, and is the UK's largest grocery brand.[125] The Beaumont Leys manufacturing plant is world's largest crisp factory.[126]
Meanwhile, the sausage and pie business was bought out bySamworth Brothers in 1986. Production outgrew the Cobden Street site and pork pies are now manufactured at a meat processing factory and bakery in Beaumont Leys, coincidentally near to the separately owned crisp factories. Sold under the Walker's name and under UK retailers own brands such asTesco,[127] over three million hot and cold pies are made each week.[128] Henry Walker's butcher shop at 4–6 Cheapside sold Walker's sausages and pork pies until March 2012 when owner Scottish Fife Fine Foods ceased trading, although the shop was temporarily open and selling Walker's pies for the Christmas season of 2012.[129]
20th-century architecture: Leicester University Engineering Building (James Stirling & James Gowan : Grd II Listed), Kingstone Department Store, Belgrave Gate (Raymond McGrath : Grd II Listed),National Space Centre tower.
East Midlands Airport (EMA), atCastle Donington 20 miles (32 km) north-north-west of the city, is the closest international airport. The airport is a national hub for mail/freight networks.
Leicester Airport (LRC) is a small airport, some 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Leicester city centre; it does not operate scheduled services.
Road
Burleys Way, Leicester, England
Leicester is at the midpoint of the primary English north/southM1 motorway between London and Leeds, served by junctions 21, 21A and 22. This is where the M1 transects with one of the primary north-east to south-west routes, theM69 motorway/A46 corridor linking to theA1 andM6 motorway at Newark-on-Trent and Coventry respectively. TheM42 motorway towardsBirmingham Airport terminates innorth-west Leicestershire, some 12 miles (19 km) west-north-west of the Leicester urban area. Leicester is at the nexus of the A6/(A14), A50, A47 and A607 trunk roads and A426 and A5199 primary routes.
TheStar trak real time system was introduced in 2000 by Leicester City Council; it allowed bus tracking and the retrieval of bus times by text message or online. The system was discontinued in 2011.
There are three permanentPark and Ride sites at Meynells Gorse (Leicester Forest East), Birstall and Enderby; buses operate every 15 mins from all sites. The park and ride services are branded asquicksilver shuttle and are contracted to Roberts' Coaches from theCity Council andCounty Council; buses use a purpose-built terminal near St. Nicholas Circle.
Leicester has two circular bus services:Hop! which operates anticlockwise in the city centre via the railway station and Haymarket bus station, and the larger 30-mile (48-kilometre) longOrbital which operates in both directions.[130][131]
Cycling
National Cycle NetworkRoute 6 passes through Leicestershire along with other secondary routes. TheLeicester Bike Park is in Town Hall Square.Cycle Works Bike Mechanic Training Centre is in Wellington Street Adult Education Centre and former Central Lending Library.
From 2021 to 2023, the city had anelectric bicyclesharing scheme, Santander Cycles Leicester. The scheme was a joint venture betweenLeicester City Council, the operator Ride On, Enzen Global as delivery partner and additional funding provided through sponsorship withSantander.[132]
The rail network is of growing importance in Leicester and, with the start ofEurostar international services fromLondon St Pancras International in November 2007,Leicester railway station has gained connections at St. Pancras station to Lille, Brussels and Paris onwards.
Inter-city services are operated byEast Midlands Railway providing connectivity on 'fast' and 'semi-fast' services to London, the south-east and to major locations in the East Midlands and Yorkshire; there are also local services operating within the East Midlands region. Trans-regional services to theWest Midlands andEast Anglia are provided byCrossCountry, enabling connections at nearbyNuneaton, onto theWest Coast Main Line, and atPeterborough to theEast Coast Main Line.
The 99 miles (159 km) fromLeicester Railway Station toLondon St Pancras International on the Midland Main Line are covered in an average of 1hour 25minutes during the morning peak, with journey times as low as 1hour 6minutes later in the day. Transfers ontoLondon Underground orThameslink train services to London City or West End add another 15 to 25minutes to the journey time; double that to Canary Wharf. The journey time toSheffield is around one hour, with Leeds and York taking approximately two.Birmingham is 50minutes away andCambridge, via Peterborough, can be reached in around 1hour 55minutes with further direct services available onto Stansted Airport in north Essex.
The decommissionedLeicester Central railway station is on the late Victorian Great Central Railway line that ran from London Marylebone northwards.Beeching cuts closed the route in the late 1960s. A preserved section, however, remains operational in the East Midlands centred onLoughborough Central railway station providing tourist services through central Leicestershire, passing Swithland Reservoir on to theLeicester North railway station terminus.
Waterways
Section of the River Soar in central Leicester
Two navigable waterways join at Leicester: TheLeicester Line of theGrand Union Canal, and theRiver Soar Navigation. The Grand Union Canal links Leicester with London and Birmingham to the south, and joins the Soar in Leicester, which links the city to theRiver Trent, and theTrent and Mersey Canal to the north.[133]
Leicester is home to a number of comprehensive schools and independent schools. There are three sixth form colleges, all of which were previously grammar schools.
The Leicester CityLocal Education Authority initially had a troubled history when formed in 1997 as part of the local government reorganisation – a 1999Ofsted inspection found "few strengths and many weaknesses", although there has been considerable improvement since then.
Tudor Grange Samworth Academy anacademy whose catchment area includes the Saffron and Eyres Monsell estates, was co-sponsored by theChurch of England and David Samworth, chairman of Samworth Brothers pasty makers.
Leicester City Council underwent a major reorganisation of children's services in 2006, creating a new Children and Young People's Services department.
Leicester is home to two universities, theUniversity of Leicester, which attained itsRoyal Charter in 1957 and was ranked 12th by the 2009 Complete University Guide,[135] andDe Montfort University, which opened in 1969 asLeicester Polytechnic and achieved university status in 1992. In 2025, the University of Leicester was named as the Daily Mail University of the Year.[136]
It is also home to theNational Space Centre off Abbey Lane, due in part to the University of Leicester being one of the few universities in the UK to specialise in space sciences.
TheChurch of England parish church ofSt Nicholas is the oldest place of worship in the city. Parts of the church certainly date from about 880 AD, and a recent architectural survey suggested possible Roman building work. The tower isNorman. By 1825 the church was in an extremely poor condition, and plans were made for its demolition. Instead, it was extensively renovated between 1875 and 1884, including the building of a new northaisle. Renovation continued into the twentieth century. A fifteenth-century octagonalfont. from the redundantChurch of St Michael the Greater, Stamford, was transferred to St Nicholas.[143]
St Peter's Lane takes its name from the former medieval church of that name, which closed in the 1570s, its parish having merged with All Saints church.[144]
In 2011 Christians were the largest religious group in the city at 32.4%, withMuslims next (18.6%), followed byHindus (15.2%),Sikhs (4.4%),Buddhists (0.4%), and Jews (0.1%). In addition, 0.6% belonged to other religions, 22.8% identified with no religion and 5.6% did not respond to the question.[148] The city is home to places of worship or gathering for all the faith groups mentioned and many of their respective sub-denominations. In the case of Judaism, for example, with only 0.1% declaring it as their faith, the city hosts two active synagogues: oneLiberal and oneOrthodox.[citation needed]
The city hosts annually aCaribbean Carnival and parade (the largest in the UK outside London),Diwali celebrations (the largest outside of India),[155] the largest comedy festival in the UKLeicester Comedy Festival and aPride Parade (Leicester Pride). Belgrave Road, not far from the city centre, is colloquially known as "The Golden Mile" because of the number of Jewellers.
The Leicester International Short Film Festival is an annual event; it commenced in 1996 under the banner title of "Seconds Out". It has become one of the most important short film festivals in the UK and usually runs in early November, with venues including thePhoenix Cinema and Arts Centre.[156][157][158]
ThePeepul Centre, Designed by Andrzej Blonski Architects, the £15 million building was opened in 2005 and houses an auditorium, restaurant, cyber café, gym and dance studio for the local people, as well as being used for conferences and events. The centre has even been host to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other senior Labour Party figures for hustings during the deputy leadership contest.
Phoenix Cinema and Arts Centre, in Midland street opened in 2009.[161]
TheSue Townsend Theatre in Upper Brown Street– which opened in the former Phoenix Arts Centre.
Leicester is the setting for the fictional diaries ofAdrian Mole, created bySue Townsend. In the early books he lives in a suburb of Leicester and attends a local school where he first meets "the love of his life", Pandora Braithwaite.
After a period of years spent working in Oxford and London, Mole returns to Leicester and gets a job in a second-hand bookshop and a flat in an "upmarket" development on a swan-infested waterfront, which is a barely disguised representation of the area near to St. Nicholas Circle. Vastly in debt he is forced to move to the fictional village of Mangold Parva. The local (fictional)Member of Parliament (MP) for the town of Ashby de la Zouch is his old flame, Pandora Braithwaite.
Leicester is the setting forRod Duncan's novels, theFall of the Gas-Lit Empire series and the Riot trilogy.
Leicester and the surrounding county are settings for severalGraham Joyce novels, includingDark Sister,The Limits of Enchantment andSome Kind of Fairy Tale.
The Clarendon Park and New Walk areas of the city, along with an unnamed Charnwood village ("vaguely based upon Cossington", according to the author) are some of the settings of the 2014 novelThe Knot of Isis by Chrid McGordon.
Leicester is the setting for the British children book series,The Sleepover Club, by authors Rose Impey, Narinder Dhami, Lorna Read, Fiona Cummings, Louis Catt, Sue Mongredien, Angie Bates, Ginny Deals, Harriet Castor and Jana Novotny Hunter.
The city of Leicester has a successful record in sport. In 2016, it was named the UK's Greatest Sporting City, and in 2008, it was named as a European City of Sport.[162][163][164][165]
Leicester Tigers have been the most successful Englishrugby union football club since the introduction of a league in 1987, winning it a record eleven times, five more than eitherBath orWasps. They won the Premiership title most recently in 2022.[169]
Leicester Riders are the oldest professional basketball team in the country. In 2016, they moved into the new Charter Street Leicester Community Sports Arena.[170]
Leicestershire County Cricket Club who are a professional cricket club based at Grace Road, Leicester, currently play in the second tier of the county championship. They won the County Championship in 1975, 1996 and 1998.[171]
Leicester City Hockey Club was founded in 1894, and a men's team was established in 2018. The women's team is regarded as one of the oldest and most successful teams inEngland with six league titles.[172]
In the public sector,University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust is one of the larger employers in the city, with over 12,000 employees working for the Trust. Leicester City Primary Care Trust employs over 1,000 full and part-time staff providing healthcare services in the city. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust[176] employs 3,000 staff providing mental health and learning disability services in the city and county.
In the private sector are Nuffield Hospital Leicester and the Spire Hospital Leicester.
A co-operative and independent newspaper, theGreat CentralGazette, was launched online in March 2023. It was renamed the Leicester Gazette in 2024 and plans to launch a print edition in 2025.[178]
^"After this unhappy fate ofBladud, Leir, his son was advanced to the throne, and nobly governed his country sixty years. He built, upon the river Sore a city, called in the British tongue Kaerleir, in the Saxon, Leircestre."
^Weather station is located 5 miles (8 km) from the Leicester city centre.
^abcThe Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), s.v.LEICESTER,LEIRE.
^Stevenson, W. H. (1918). "A note on the derivation of the name 'Leicester'".The Archaeological Journal.75. Royal Archaeological Institute (London): 30 f.Dudley, John (1848)."Etymology of the Name of Leicester".The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. 184. pp. 580–582. citing Wilford,Asiatick Researches vol. ii. No. 2 (1812),p. 45:"The learned Somner says that the river which runs by it [Leicester] was formerly called Leir by the same contraction [from Legora], and it is probably the river Liar of the anonymous geographer. Mr. Somner, if I be not mistaken, places the original own ofLigora near the source of the Lear, now the Soar".
^Gelling et al. (eds.),The names of towns and cities in Britain, B. T. Batsford, 1970, p. 122.
^Tomlin, R S O (1983). "Roman Leicester, a Corrigendum: For Coritani should we read Corieltauvi?".Transactions of the Leicester Archaeological and Historical Society.48.
^Geoffrey of Monmouth. Lewis Thorpe (trans.) asThe History of the Kings of Britain, pp. 81 & 86. Harmondsworth, 1966.William Shakespeare took the name of hisKing Lear from Geoffrey; there is now[year needed] a statue of the final scene of Shakespeare's Lear inWatermead Country Park.Paul A. Biggs, Sandra Biggs,Leicestershire & Rutland Walks with Children, Sigma Leisure, 2002, p. 44.
^William Kelly,Royal Progresses to Leicester (Leicester, 1855), pp. 8–9.
^Walter Seton, 'Early Years of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Charles, Duke of Albany',Scottish Historical Review, 13:52 (July 1916), pp. 373-4.
^Buchanan Sharp (1980),In contempt of all authority, Berkeley: University of California Press,ISBN0-520-03681-6,OL4742314M, 0520036816p70-71
^William, David (13 October 2010).UK Cities: A Look at Life and Major Cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. New Africa Press. p. 127.ISBN978-9987160211.
^Huttman, Elizabeth D. (1991). Blauw, Wim; Juliet Saltman (eds.).Urban housing segregation of minorities in Western Europe and the United States. Durham: Duke University Press.ISBN978-0822310600.
^Agnes Johnson Glimpses of ancient Leicester – Page 60 1891 "The first Mayor of Leicester, A.D. 1251.
^The history of the boroughs and municipal corporations of the ... – Page 229Henry Alworth Merewether, Archibald John Stephens – 1835 "The mayor of Leicester and his brethren, having, with the consent of the commonalty, by the last ordinance, placed the town under the government of the aldermen, appear, in the 4th year of the reign of King Henry VII., to have adopted 1488. a ..."
^What participation by foreign residents in public life at local ... – Page 91 Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe – 2000 "In 1981 serious riots broke out in the city that were dubbed "race riots" in Highfields and the City centre. ... In 1987 the first Asian Mayor of Leicester was elected, Councillor Gordhan Parmar and the first AsianMember of Parliament (MP), Keith Vaz
Hoskins, W. G. (1957).Leicestershire: an illustrated essay on the history of the landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Hoskins, W. G. (September 1951). "Leicester".History Today.1 (9):48–56.
Sharp, Buchanan (1980).In Contempt of All Authority. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 58–59,70–1, 88.ISBN0-520-03681-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Tomlin, R. S. O. (1983). "Roman Leicester, a Corrigendum: For Coritani should we read Corieltauvi?".Transactions of the Leicester Archaeological and Historical Society: 48.
Turner, Barry (2009).The Screenwriter's Handbook 2010. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 218.
Wilford, J. (1812). "History of Leicester".Asiatick Researches.2 (2): 45.
William, David (13 October 2010).UK Cities: A Look at Life and Major Cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. New Africa Press.ISBN978-9987160211.
.jpg)
_cropped.jpg)
.svg)
.jpg)
