Ten things to love about Leicester

With a mere three weeks to go until The Boy moves back to Leicester, I thought I would put together a little list of some of the things he can look forward to.  Now, I haven't always loved my adopted hometown, but there is much to love here.  Ten things, in fact.

 



1. You're never more than a few miles away from open countryside.  Like many UK cities,  the bright lights of the town centre are never terribly far from lovely countryside.  A ten minute drive - or a twenty minute bike ride - is all I need to be amongst open fields.  Leicester, being notoriously flat (remember Adrian Mole's unpublished novel, Lo! The Flat Hills Of My Homeland?  Yeah, that's Leicester in a nutshell), doesn't really do good views, but there are some very pretty corners.

2. Curve Theatre is a masterful piece of architecture, dominating the Cultural Quarter and providing an excellent venue for world-class theatre, dance and other performances.  Recent shows I have loved there include Some Like It Hip-Hop and One Man Two Guv'nors, and I'm looking forward to seeing Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and the new Alan Bennett play in their autumn/winter season.

3. Phoenix Arts, our independent cinema is always a good bet to see great new releases in a much more pleasant environment than the local multiplex. It also has a good bar and cafe with a buzzy atmosphere, and a great membership scheme.

4. The wonderful bars, including the Orange Tree chain (The Orange Tree in the city centre, The Lansdowne near Leicester University, and O Bar in the studenty surroundings of Braunstone Gate), which are all really wonderful for good food, good drinks, retro surroundings and a convival atmosphere; The Exchange Bar, in a gorgeous flatiron building, hosts great open mic nights in the basement; Manhattan 34, which sells amazing mulled cider in the winter; The Crumblin' Cookie, which is part-cafe, part-bar, part-comedy and music venue, all-awesome... there are so many good places to eat, drink and be merry in Leicester!

5. ... but I don't love them quite as much as I do my home from home, Firebug.  I write about this place a lot, because I do spend rather a lot of time there.  Whether it's lunch and a pint during a shopping trip, Tuesday evening dinner before book club, or a Saturday night drinking session, Firebug is always a relaxed place to hang out alone or with friends.  If and when my aunt Jenny ever makes the long-promised visit to the UK from South Africa, we've already agreed that this place will be our first stop!

6. St Martins Square & The Lanes is an area of entirely independent shops in the city centre. There are vintage stores galore, gift shops, interiors and fashion boutiques, tattoo parlours, a great haberdashery, Rockaboom Records, a cook shop, plus lovely places to eat and drink (Taps is a favourite bar, which features actual beer taps on the tables in the cellars, and the World Peace cafe is a great veggie/vegan option).

7. Leicester is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the UK.  Not only that, but it's regularly held up as an example of how to get multi-culturalism right; while not perfect, Leicester has far fewer tensions than others of its ilk.  We have an annual Caribbean Carnival, fantastic food in the numerous 'ethnic' restaurants and cafes (including a plethora of vegetarian and vegan options in the hundreds - thousands? - of Indian eateries), the biggest Diwali celebrations outside of India... I could go on and on.  Having grown up in Bradford, I loved moving to Leicester and experiencing life in a truly integrated multi-cultural city.

 

8. Clarendon Park is a lovely area just to the south of Victoria Park. Queens Road, its main thoroughfare, is a hotchpotch of independent shops, delis, cafes and restaurants. I love to wander up here to do my weekend shopping the old way: fruit and veg from the greengrocer, flowers from the florist, meat from the butcher, cheese and bread from the deli (and usually a couple of finds from the numerous secondhand bookshops). Green & Pleasant is a great store for organic and fairtrade food; Vintage Utopia is chock full of retro furniture at very reasonable prices; The Offie is the place to be if you're a beer and ale fan, with over 500 different brews.

  

9. New Walk New Walk is a unique, mile-long 18th century pedestrian walkway that links the centre of town to Victoria Park.  The majority of the buildings along the route are also late-18th or early-19th century and, with old iron lamp-posts, quiet squares and trees lining the walk, it makes a wonderfully traffic-free and peaceful way to get to and from the city centre.

10. Finally, the very best thing about Leicester is that it's easy to leave!  Being pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the country, it's very well-connected.  London, Birmingham, Nottingham and Sheffield are all within an hour's reach, and it doesn't take too long to get anywhere else in England other than the very furthest reaches.