Leicester, Richard III's city

Leicester is one of England's oldest cities and, at the same time, one of its youngest and most multicultural. On the banks of the River Soar, in the East Midlands, it has almost 370,000 inhabitants, rising to over half a million across the urban area. Here the Romans built baths whose walls still stand, here King Richard III was hastily buried, to be found in 2012 under a car park, and here in 2016 a football club written off by everyone won the English league under an Italian manager, Claudio Ranieri. It is also the city that celebrates the largest Diwali outside India, and was among the first British cities where no single ethnic group makes up a majority of the population.

Trains from London St Pancras take just over an hour, and East Midlands Airport is about half an hour away by bus. Leicester is also an excellent base for the Bosworth battlefield, the Leicestershire countryside and nearby Nottingham and Birmingham.

Two thousand years of history

Before the Romans, there was a settlement of the Corieltauvi, a British tribe, on the Soar. The Romans turned it into a town called Ratae Corieltauvorum, the tribal capital, with a forum, basilica and large public baths. After they left the town declined, then revived in Anglo-Saxon times and became one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw, under Viking control.

In the Middle Ages Leicester grew around its castle and abbeys. Its most famous earl was Simon de Montfort, who in 1265 summoned a parliament in which representatives of the towns sat for the first time: for this he is considered one of the fathers of the English Parliament, and the city's second university bears his name. In 1485 King Richard III rode out from Leicester to the Battle of Bosworth, where he died fighting Henry Tudor; his body was brought back and buried without ceremony in the church of the Franciscan friars, the Greyfriars. In 1530 another leading figure of English history, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, fallen from Henry VIII's favour, died at Leicester Abbey while being taken to London to stand trial.

From the 18th century the town became a centre of knitwear and hosiery, then of footwear and engineering. In 1841 a cabinet-maker and Baptist preacher, Thomas Cook, organised a train trip from Leicester for about five hundred people to nearby Loughborough for a temperance rally: it is regarded as the first organised excursion in history, the beginning of modern tourism. In the 20th century came immigrants from Poland, the Caribbean and above all the Indian subcontinent, notably many Gujarati Indian families expelled from Uganda and Kenya in the 1970s. This migration transformed the city, now one of the most diverse in Europe.

Richard III, the king under the car park

Leicester's most extraordinary story is a recent one. For centuries it was thought that the bones of Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, had been thrown into the river when the monasteries were dissolved. In 2012 a group of scholars and enthusiasts led by the writer Philippa Langley persuaded the university to dig in a council car park where the Greyfriars church was thought to have stood. On the first day a skeleton appeared with a severely curved spine, a scoliosis, and the wounds of a violent death. DNA tests, compared with descendants of the king's sister, confirmed in 2013 that it was Richard III.

The discovery made headlines worldwide and revived the debate about the king, portrayed by Shakespeare as a cruel, deformed tyrant but seen by many historians as a ruler slandered by Tudor propaganda. In March 2015 the remains were reburied with great ceremony in Leicester Cathedral, beneath a large slab of pale stone. Next to the site of the find is the King Richard III Visitor Centre, which tells the story of the king, the battle and the discovery, and lets you see through a glass floor the exact spot where the skeleton lay.

What to see in Leicester

The cathedral and the old town

St Martin's Cathedral, a medieval church that became a cathedral in 1927, is small but now much visited for Richard III's tomb. Opposite stands the Guildhall, a 14th-century timber-framed building, one of the best-preserved medieval halls in England, used over the centuries as a guild hall, town hall, court and police station; tradition says Shakespeare performed here with his company. A little further south is the castle area, with the Norman Great Hall, hidden behind a brick façade, and the Newarke Houses, two historic houses turned into a museum of city life and of the Leicestershire regiment.

The Jewry Wall and Roman Leicester

The Jewry Wall is one of the tallest Roman walls still standing in Britain: around nine metres high, it was part of the public baths of the ancient town, whose foundations can be seen alongside. The name has nothing to do with Roman history: it may come from the medieval Jewish quarter or from the jurats, the town councillors who met nearby. The renovated museum next door displays mosaics and finds from Roman Leicester. Beside it stands the Saxon church of St Nicholas, the oldest in the city, which reuses Roman bricks in its walls.

New Walk and the art museum

New Walk is a tree-lined pedestrian promenade laid out in 1785, running south from the centre between Georgian and Victorian houses: a rarity in England, where such promenades have almost all disappeared. Along the way is the free Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, with a rich natural history section, an Egyptian gallery and one of the most important collections of German Expressionism in the country, built from works brought by Jewish families who fled Germany in the 1930s.

The Golden Mile and Belgrave

North of the centre, Belgrave Road, nicknamed the Golden Mile, is the heart of the Indian community: jewellers full of gold, sari and fabric shops, sweet shops, Hindu temples and Gujarati vegetarian restaurants. During Diwali, the festival of lights, the road is lit by thousands of lamps and hosts fireworks and shows that draw tens of thousands of people: it is considered one of the largest celebrations in the world outside India. A visit here is also the best way to taste Gujarati and Punjabi food at very low prices.

The National Space Centre

North of the city, next to Abbey Park, the National Space Centre is the UK's largest museum devoted to space, recognisable from afar by its transparent tower housing two real rockets. It has a planetarium, simulators, the story of British space missions and an area for children. In nearby Abbey Park you can see the ruins of the abbey where Cardinal Wolsey died.

The market and the Clock Tower

Leicester Market, open-air and covered, has existed for more than seven centuries and is one of the largest in England: fruit, vegetables, spices, fish, fabrics and a lively atmosphere. The landmark of the centre is the Clock Tower, a Victorian clock tower of 1868 at the junction of the main streets, with statues of four of the city's benefactors, including Simon de Montfort.

St George's Cultural Quarter

Between the station and the centre, St George's, once a district of hosiery factories and warehouses, has been transformed into the city's cultural quarter. Here you will find the Curve theatre, the Phoenix cinema and arts centre, galleries, artists' studios and bars set in old brick factories. It is the best area for an evening at the theatre followed by dinner or a gig, and during festivals it fills with outdoor events.

Around Leicester: Bosworth and the countryside

Some twenty kilometres to the west is the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, which tells the story of the battle of 22 August 1485, which ended the Wars of the Roses and brought the Tudors to the throne. A walking trail crosses the fields where, according to recent research, the fighting really took place, a few kilometres from where it had been believed to be for centuries. In the Leicestershire countryside you will also find Melton Mowbray, home of the pork pie and one of the centres of Stilton cheese production, and Rutland Water, the largest man-made lake in England by surface area.

Sport: the Leicester City miracle

In the 2015-2016 season Leicester City, who had narrowly avoided relegation the year before, won the Premier League. At the start of the season the bookmakers offered odds of 5,000 to 1. The manager was Claudio Ranieri, greeted with scepticism and within months a local hero, with players such as Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kanté. It is considered one of the greatest upsets in sporting history. The club's stadium is south of the centre.

The city loves rugby too: the Leicester Tigers are one of England's most successful clubs and play at Welford Road, a few minutes' walk from the centre. Leicestershire also has a first-class cricket team.

Culture, festivals and food

Leicester has a lively and very varied cultural life. The Curve theatre, opened in 2008 in the cultural quarter near the station, is one of the most modern in the country. February brings the Leicester Comedy Festival, the longest-running comedy festival in Britain; August the Caribbean Carnival, one of the largest in the UK after London's Notting Hill. As well as Diwali, the city celebrates Sikh Vaisakhi and Muslim Eid with large public events.

At the table, Leicester is one of Britain's capitals of Indian food, but also the home of Walkers crisps, founded here in the 1940s, and of the orange Red Leicester cheese, made in the county. Leicester is also the birthplace of Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man" made famous by David Lynch's film, born here in 1862.

Living in Leicester

Leicester is a young city, with two universities: the University of Leicester, where in 1984 geneticist Alec Jeffreys discovered DNA fingerprinting, and De Montfort University. Rents and house prices are lower than in the south of England, and the city is just over an hour from London by train, making it attractive for commuters. The economy is based on healthcare, education, retail, logistics and small businesses, many linked to textiles and food. As in other industrial cities, some neighbourhoods have low incomes, but the coexistence of different communities is often cited as a model.

Getting there and getting around

• By train: East Midlands Railway trains from London St Pancras take about an hour and ten minutes; there are also direct services to Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Birmingham. Outside the station stands the statue of Thomas Cook.
• By air: East Midlands Airport is linked to Leicester by Skylink buses.
• In the city: the centre is easy to explore on foot; frequent city buses serve the National Space Centre and the Golden Mile.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and for other cities British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: one day is enough for Richard III, the cathedral, Roman Leicester and the market; add half a day for the National Space Centre and one for Bosworth.
• When to go: late October to November for Diwali, August for the Caribbean Carnival, February for the comedy festival.
• What to eat: a Gujarati vegetarian lunch on the Golden Mile and a Melton Mowbray pork pie.
• For history lovers: combine the Richard III sights in the centre with the Bosworth battlefield, following his story from beginning to end.

Leicester on the map

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