In city, city centre, restaurants, eat and drink, food, Shopping

Leicester city centre is constantly changing and we're delighted to reveal a whole host of exciting new openings, from restaurants to shops and cafés. Combine this with new and easier ways to get into and around the city centre, there has never been a better time to come and explore our city. Read on to find out more!

The city centre now offers a fantastic mix of retail, restaurants, cafés and bars as well as theatres, independent and multiplex cinemas and a range of leisure offers. Due to this wide offer and work to convert old factories and new builds, there has also been a large increase in the number of people living and working in the city centre.

This now gives us a thriving and busy city centre with many new openings, including loads of independent businesses. Thanks to pedestrianisation of the city centre, increasing amounts of cycle lanes and improvements to the public realm plus the Park & Ride buses and the free Hop circular bus, it’s easier than ever to get into and around Leicester city centre.

New cafés and restaurants

Currant Affairs is a well-established business in the city centre and has recently moved from Loseby Lane to its new home in St Martin’s Square. St Martin’s Square is one of the big success stories of recent years with its tantalising great food and drink businesses offering al fresco dining . Also along the Lanes, the new Heritage Café specialising in Goan and Portuguese food has opened in the former Café Mbriki space and Wonderlust, a new confectionery shop is due to open on Loseby Lane. New Indian restaurant Sangeeth will be opening in St Martins, filling the space where the much-loved Case restaurant was. The area is also celebrating the opening of Patina who offer street wear and fashion items from well-known brands.

On Market Street, new high end Indian Fusion restaurant Peara is busy fitting out and will open soon in The Gresham building. Home to some of the best coffee and cakes in the city, Bread and Honey on King Street has expanded into the building next door to welcome even more customers to try their great coffee and fantastic snacks.

Butterwick Bakery has branches around the Midlands and will be opening its latest branch in Highcross, offering sweet treats and celebration cakes. Smart Buns is a new burger bar opened on the corner of Granby Street not far from Leicester Train Station, and Fresh Bake is another new bakery that has opened on Belgrave Gate.

Unico Italian Restaurant have recently opened their doors on Humberstone Gate West and on Churchgate PHỞ LÊ is bringing a taste of Vietnam to the city offering you the chance to dine in or takeaway. Desi Street Food has just relocated from Pocklingtons Walk to larger premises on Horsefair Street near to Leicester Town Hall and offer great priced street food.

Highcross continues to succeed

Highcross is one of the city’s success stories, with the shopping centre welcoming £15.8 million people every year. Now under new management by Ellandi, who manage shopping centres around the country, they are committing 30 million of investment into the centre to deliver physical improvements and bring in new well-known brands, with Card Factory and Sunglass Hut being two of the more recent additions.

John Lewis is one of Highcross’s flagship stores and has recently invested in its cosmetic and fragrance beauty department. They have also refreshed the Place to Eat restaurant on the top floor to create a more cosy and relaxing environment for their customers. Highcross is continuing to build its retail offer, to the shopping centre.

Our changing city

Despite our motto, Semper Eadem, meaning always the same, Leicester is proud to be a city which is constantly changing. From our diverse independent retail offer to the way the city serves its visitors and residents with loads more to do. Whether you’re looking to have a few drinks, get a fantastic meal, go bowling, climbing, golfing or axe throwing, there’s absolutely loads to explore in our city.

You can read more about our city’s shopping history here.

Related

3 Comments

Comments

  1. Comment removed by Post Author

  2. Comment removed by Post Author

  3. Comment removed by Post Author

Comments are disabled for this post.