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Narborough Road

Coordinates: 52°37′33″N 1°09′05″W / 52.6259°N 1.1515°W / 52.6259; -1.1515
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(Redirected from Westcotes Free Library)

Narborough Road
Narborough Road, October 2008
Former name(s)A46
Part ofA5460
Length2.68 km (1.67 mi)
LocationLeicester
Postal codeLE3
Coordinates52°37′33″N 1°09′05″W / 52.6259°N 1.1515°W / 52.6259; -1.1515
south endBraunstone Lane junction
Major
junctions		Upperton Road, Braunstone Gate
north endA47 King Richard's Road
Other
Known forMost diverse shopping street

Narborough Road is a street in the British city of Leicester. A road since Roman times and one of the principal routes for Leicester to the M1 and M69 motorways, it is also a busy shopping street. In February 2016, it was named the UK's "most diverse" road in a research project by the London School of Economics (LSE).

Geography

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Victorian housing in Narborough Road

Narborough Road is a 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles)-long road on the west of Leicester.[1] It stretches from Braunstone Lane/Middleton Street in the south to King Richard's Road (A46) in the north, and runs through the Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields and the Westcotes electoral wards of Leicester. The road is a section of the A5460 leading from the M1 motorway towards the city centre.[2] According to the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation, Narborough Road is located within areas that are among the 10–20% most deprived in England.[1]

History

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During the period of Roman Britain, Narborough Road formed part of the Fosse Way, the longest of Britain's Roman roads, which passed through Leicester and linked Exeter in the south-west to Lincoln on the east coast.[3] The route left Leicester (then a regional town known by its Roman name Ratae Corieltauvorum) via the West Bridge before heading south-west down the Fosse Way for some 270 kilometres (170 miles) towards Exeter, and was the main route towards the nearby city of Coventry.[4] In 1769, when a Turnpike road was established by act of parliament, it chose to connect to the road already running from Hinckley to Coventry, and thus took a more northerley line, via the Hinckley Road. The Fosse Way route was also included in the same act, but only over the 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) to Narborough.[5] It would appear to be this that gave the name to the short stretch of toll-road serving local traffic through much of the 19th century.

By the 1870s the railways had become established as the main movers of goods traffic. This undermined the economics of the tollroads, and disturnpiking was in full swing across the country. The Turnpike act for the Narborough Road finally expired in November 1874, ending any responsibility for the upkeep of the road.[5] The turnpike had its northern end where it met Braunstone Gate and Hinckley Road. An early suburb for Leicester grew up around these three roads, west of the river, and by this period terraced housing was being built out from both sides of the Narborough Road. The boundaries of the city had undergone a major expansion in 1835, so the town corporation became responsible for a one-mile length of the former turnpike, the town boundary being close to what would later become the junction with Evesham Road and Fullhurst Road, but at that time was still fields.[6]

During the final decades of the 19th century, industries that manufactured products such as footwear, hosiery and knitwear began to grow in Leicester. As a result, the local population increased rapidly as more workers moved to the city from places such as Coventry and Northampton. This, in turn, stimulated the building of new houses and new tramway infrastructure on Narborough Road.[4] In the mid-20th century, Narborough Road was closer to being a residential area; it then became a fashion street, with its retail units mainly selling clothes and fabrics. The opening of a number of restaurants and bars brought in students from the city's two universities, University of Leicester and De Montfort University.[7] As of December 2015, 204 of the 222 units along the street (92%) are non-residential.[1][8]

Notable buildings

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Black-and-white photograph of the Olympia Theatre on Narborough Road in the 1910s
Narborough Road in the 1910s. The Olympia Theatre can be seen in the centre.

The Olympia Theatre (also known as the Olympia Electric Theatre and the Olympia Picture Theatre) was a cinema on Narborough Road, located on the corner of Walton Street. Opened in 1913, it was built by the Loughborough architect Albert King, and could hold up to 1,100 attendees. The cinema was initially ran by Frank D. Gray for over 20 years, until he was replaced by Fred Trueman Towers, who managed the building during World War II. The first sound film to be screened at the Olympia was The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson, in 1929. The cinema closed in 1959, to be demolished to make way for a garage.[9]

Colour photograph of Westcotes Library in February 2024
Westcotes Library was opened on 25 March 1889.

Westcotes Library is a library of Leicester City Council, and was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. It was funded in part by public subscriptions, and was designed by the Leicester architect Stockdale Harrison. The building opened during the afternoon of 25 March 1889 as the Westcotes Free Library—a branch of the Leicester Free Libraries—and originally held approximately 6,000 books. As of 2024, the library continues to operate and serve the local community.

Narborough Road also includes two Grade II listed buildings. The first to be listed was the former Narborough Road School in March 1999. The school opened in 1900, and was also known as Westcotes Secondary Modern School. The second building to be listed was the Robert Hall Memorial Baptist Church in September 2006.

Diversity

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In 2015, a research project titled "Super Diverse Streets", funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), was undertaken by the LSE. Led by urban ethnographer Suzanne Hall, the project sought to "explore how urban retail economies and spaces are shaped by and shape migrant practices".[10] Four streets were selected to be studied by the project: Rookery Road in Birmingham, Stapleton Road in Bristol, Cheetham Hill in Manchester, and Narborough Road. These four streets were selected for their ethnic diversity and their deprived urban locale.[10] After surveying a sample of shopkeepers from each of the four streets, the project concluded that Narborough Road's 108 surveyed proprietors came from a total of 22 countries of birth, over four continents.[1][7] The street was thus named the most diverse in the UK.[11][7]

The sampled shopkeepers observed that the ethnic make-up of the street had changed quickly. Tajinder Reehal, a Kenyan-born owner of an accessories shop, remarked: "I've seen the street change in the past 16 years. ... It's much more vibrant." Hairdresser Dipak Maru, also Kenyan-born, agreed, and felt that "in the last ten years [the road has] become lively and vibrant".[12] The researchers observed that, despite its high levels of economic deprivation, the high levels of diversity in the street had enabled business owners to trade skills with one another – for example, a Canadian couple who ran a book shop helped others with filling in forms in exchange for a free meal or a free haircut.[11] Speaking about the street's community, Lloyd Wright—the half-English, half-Polish owner of the music shop IntaSound—noted: "There's no tension. It's a very relaxed atmosphere."[13]

As a result of the conclusions of the project, in July 2016 the TV channel Channel 4 invited some of the shopkeepers of Narborough Road to provide voiceovers for announcements for their programmes.[14] A total of 21 residents and shopkeepers were invited to provide announcements, which took four days to record.[15][16] These announcements were broadcast on Channel 4 during the week beginning 23 July.[16]

References

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Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Hall, King & Finlay 2015, p. 4.
  2. ^ Turner, Anna; Mendes, Rui (26 June 2018). "Narborough Road: a world in one street (yeah, and...?)". Medium. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  3. ^ "The very best Roman road trips in Britain". English Heritage Travel. 28 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Popping to the Shops". Leicester Museums & Galleries. 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  5. ^ a b Arthur Cossons (2003). The Turnpike Roads of Leicestershire and Rutland. Kairos Press. p. 49. ISBN 9781871344301.
  6. ^ R.A. McKinley, ed. (1958). The Victoria history of the county of Leicester. Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ a b c "A world in one street: How Narborough Road is home to a united nations of shopkeepers". Leicester Mercury. Trinity Mirror. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  8. ^ Hall, King & Finlay 2015, p. 7.
  9. ^ Godddard, Jane (16 June 2018). "Impressive cinema could seat 1,100 film-goers when it first opened". Leicester Mercury. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  10. ^ a b Hall, King & Finlay 2015, p. 1.
  11. ^ a b Marlow, Lee (3 February 2017). "Britain's most diverse high street revealed – and it's home to shopkeepers from 23 different countries". Daily Mirror. London: Trinity Mirror. OCLC 223228477. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  12. ^ Gutteridge, Nick (5 February 2017). "Snapshot of 2016 Britain: The shops on one high street run by TWENTY-THREE nationalities". Daily Express. London: Northern and Shell. OCLC 173337077. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  13. ^ Reynolds, Mark (4 February 2017). "Cosmopolitan Street: Leicester high street boasts business owners from 23 nationalities". Daily Express. London: Northern and Shell. OCLC 173337077. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  14. ^ Dryden, Fiona (21 July 2016). "Narborough Road traders hit national television screens". Leicester Mercury. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  15. ^ Mack, Tom (30 July 2016). "Watch Channel 4's film on Narborough Road – Britain's most diverse street". Leicester Mercury. Trinity Mirror. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  16. ^ a b "C4 launch new project with voices from Britain's most diverse street". London: Channel 4. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2017.

Sources

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