As well as exploring all things Richard III on my trip to Leicester I also took a lot of photographs of buildings that caught my eye – finding out about the significance of these buildings was greatly aided by information panels conveniently positioned nearby, a practice of which I heartily approve and that Nottingham could really do with emulating.
The above Turkey Cafe is in the Art Nouveau style which I really like and was built in 1900. It’s supposed to represent Turkish architecture as envisaged at the time of its design, but also clearly linked with the bird as well. It opened as a café in 1901 and remained one until the 1960s; it’s now back to being a café again.
This beautiful tile Turkey at the top of the building was made by Royal Doulton and really makes the building stand out.
This lovely statue, called The Leicester Seamstress, was sculpted by James Butler, and is meant to represent the importance of the hosiery industry to the city.
The same sculptor also made the below statue of Thomas Cook, the famous travel agent, whose first ever organised trip was from Leicester to Loughborough.
Below is the Guildhall, a Grade I listed building of timber frame and one of the best preserved such buildings in the country. Most of it is 15th century, but the earliest part is from around 1390.
Finally. this sign is on the wall of the Globe pub, one of the oldest pubs in Leicester. Supposedly the name was inspired by the glass globe filled with water that was hung in windows by framework knitters to help spread the light to work from.
You can find more photos of Leicester here and further posts on some of Leicester’s interesting buildings will follow in the new year.
Louise Jayne's Blog 