Leicester Old Town Restaurants

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• Uncover the story - Leicester’s Old Town has many notable attractions but the sightseeing doesn’t have to stop when you fancy a bite to eat, as its restaurants are also steeped in history. <hr> The elegant building housing Middletons Steakhouse & Grill started life as Pares & Co Bank. The grand doors flanked by pillars and decorative panels that ushered in well-heeled Victorians, likely reflect its connections with Leicester’s flourishing hosiery trade. <hr> Today, as diners take their seats in its former banking hall, instead of the chinking of coins being counted, they are surrounded by the sounds of excited chatter and sizzling prime cuts. <hr> By the mid-20th century, Leicester could claim to ‘clothe the world’, and textiles giants clamoured to call it home. One such company was Corah, whose founder traded with local stockingers in one of Leicester’s oldest pubs, The Globe. <hr> Also celebrating this prosperous era is the Cosy Club, a former knitwear factory, which as a modern restaurant stays true to its industrial roots with exposed steel girders and cotton spool decorations a backdrop to tapas and cocktails. <hr> Denoting the year the former Old Grammar School was built, 1573 Bar & Grill overlooks the modern Highcross shopping centre and offers contemporary dining within its stone walls. A plaque outside lists among its benefactors, wool merchant William Wigston, and dinner in his former home, Wygston’s House, is also on Leicester’s menu. This timber-framed restaurant is the oldest dwelling in the city, where instead of the pottage served up in 15th century, diners can tuck into anything from a sirloin steak to a vegan burger.