Leicester’s Lord Mayor – a keen advocate for the ‘Leicester tourism experience’

Showcasing the city to visitors from our twin city

2010-04-29T12:13:00.004+01:00

This week we have enjoyed a visit from the Oberbürgermeister of our twin city of Krefeld in Germany. Our guests were very impressed with the city and places visited included Curve, the National Space Centre and the new digital media centre at Phoenix Square.

I enjoyed personally showing our German visitors around the historic old town area from the Roman Jewry Wall to the Castle area and the historic old town walls in the vicinity of Ruperts Gateway. We also visited the Guildhall and the exhibition of German expressionist art at New Walk Museum & Art Gallery.

And of course, we had lovely sunny weather throughout the whole of their three day visit!

Make the most of Leicester's history

2010-04-19T09:58:00.004+01:00

The Lady Mayoress and I enjoyed an interesting visit to Leicester Castle this week.

We visited the historic courtrooms, went down into the medieval John of Gaunts Cellar and went up to the top of the Castle mound.

For centuries our castle was at the very centre of Leicester's political life. Today it is in need of considerable restoration but we still do have regular tours of the building advertised in the local press. In addition, Castle Gardens are open for all to enjoy and St Mary de Castro remains one of the most magnificent old churches in Leicester.

We anticipate showing this and many other historic features of our city to the Oberburgomeister of our twin city Krefeld when he visits us later this month.

High praise from High Commissioner

2010-03-22T11:12:00.003Z

Back again in Leicester this weekend was the High Commissioner for Namibia who so enjoyed his last visit to the City that this time he brought with him a superbly talented group of young Namibian dancers.

They visited our National Space Centre, performed at Curve and went on to London to help celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Namibian independence. During the course of their visit the young dancers also met pupils from Forest Lodge School.

I am posting pictures of the dancers on my photo album on the Lord Mayor's website at www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/

Twin city visitors enjoy their stay

2010-03-12T17:38:00.001Z

It was good to welcome to the Town Hall this week a group of young people from our twin City of Strasbourg. They were spending the week in Leicester based at Judgemeadow Community College and had also enjoyed visiting our museums and other places of interest in the city.

Needless to say, they all loved looking over our splendid nineteenth century courtroom and a visit to the cells beneath.

So a reminder that we offer Town Hall Tours open to the public free of charge at 2pm on the first Wednesday of each month – no advance booking required.

New touring exhibition opens

2010-02-23T15:44:00.002Z

I was delighted to attend the launch yesterday of an impressive exhibition of the History of Girl Guiding, currently on display at the Records Office in Wigston. The exhibition is set to go on tour to various locations in Leicester and Leicestershire over the next few months and is well worth a visit.

2010-02-02T11:35:00.003Z

With the Leicester Comedy Festival coming up there will be a lot of extra visitors to the city in the next few weeks. I have also had the opportunity to meet a number of people visiting Leicester for the first time including the Australian Deputy High Comissioner who is definitely looking forward to a return visit with his wife and family.

It is encouraging to discover how highly these visitors rate key attractions such as Curve, the National Space Centre our fine museums and Highcross.

Cold snap doesn't deter visitors to city

2010-01-08T12:37:00.002Z

With the foreseeing temperatures in and around the city, not many people turned out for our very first Town Hall Tour of 2010. Amongst those who did however was Paul – all the way from Melbourne, Australia!

Paul was born and brought up in Evington but emigrated to Oz 15 years ago and has not visited Leicester since. It was great to meet him and hear his comments on all the new developments within the city. Paul was also pleased to find many of his favourite places still unspoiled and was clearly very much enjoying the visit to his birthplace.

Christmas in Leicester

2009-11-30T15:01:00.004Z

We had official visitors from both China and Korea to the Town Hall last week.

Both groups were entranced by our Christmas tableaux in the Town Hall Square, depicting Paddington Bear and scenes from the Wind in the Willows.

Cameras were clicking away enthusiastically and pictures are likely to be featuring on Facebook or its equivalent all around the world !

Our Christmas lights are proving very popular again this year and on Wednesday December 2nd we welcome our pre Christmas tour of the Town Hall - open to all without the need to book in advance - starting at 2pm*. Then we have a huge variety of Christmas Concerts and Carol Concerts taking place over the next three weeks that I hope as many people as possible will be able to enjoy.

* For more information or to book a tour of the Town Hall, please contact Wyndham Price, Corporate Premises Manager on +44 (0)116 252 8055.

November marches on and still more visitors arrive in Leicester

2009-11-17T14:56:00.003Z

The concert at the Athena last weekend starred Pacific pop icon Sarah Geronimo and attracted members of the Phillipino communities from Scotland, Ireland, London and all over the north of England.

This week we welcomed visitors from China to the Town Hall and they were very interested to learn of the role scientists at the University of Leicester had played in the discovery of genetic fingerprinting .

Later this week we are looking forward to a further visit from the Jamaican High Commissioner.

It is so encouraging to witness the growing number of visitors to our city and the work of our award winning Tourist Information Centre.

Unique art collection launched in Leicester

2009-11-03T12:34:00.003Z

Visitors from all over the UK are expected to come to Leicester over the next few months to view the internationally renowned collection of early twentieth century German art at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. This unique collection has just been augmented by a gift of a further 60 pictures from the collection of Leicester born Michael Brookes who attended the exhibition opening last weekend.

Also likely to attract musical visitors to Leicester from all over Britain is the Acoustic Avalon to be held at Leicester Racecourse on Saturday and Sunday November 14th and 15th. Sponsored by Sheehans of Leicester, who have just been awarded the Queens Award for industry, this event features acoustic guitarists from all over Europe and beyond. Featured artists include Chris Newman and Steve Lockwood, Gareth Pearson, Iain Archer, Julie Ellison and many more
For information and tickets visit www.sheehans.com

City appeals to visitors and students from overseas

2009-10-05T11:31:00.003+01:00

Students are back in town for the new academic year and amongst them are many overseas students.

We met many of these at a reception in New Walk Museum recently and they included individuals from France, China, Japan, the United States, Nigeria, Ghana and many other countries. All seemed keen to explore Leicester and get to know the cultural and social scene.

More recently, many people from outside Leicester joined us for the Switch On of the Diwali Lights in Belgrave Road.

This week we are also entertaining a group of Dutch teachers from Rotterdam in the city, as well as another group of Bulgarian teachers from our twin city of Haskovo.

It is encouraging to find so many people from overseas visiting our city and taking a real interest in our history, our cultural diversity, our restaurants and our leisure centres.

We also encourage visitors to join our tours of the Town Hall on the first Wednesday of each month starting at the entrance to the Town Hall at 2pm. For more information or to book, please contact Wyndham Price, Corporate Premises Manager on +44 (0)116 252 8055.

Worldwide visitors enjoy city museums and festivals

2009-09-22T16:04:00.004+01:00

Over the past 10 days I have met visitors to Leicester from Poland, Sweden, Austria and Australia - and of course we had a number of children from Chernobyl visit the city as well. Great attractions obviously include our city museums and the recent 'Seaside Special' event at the Abbey Pumping Station was hugely popular.

Thanks go to all the volunteers, many of whom got up before 7am on a Sunday morning to make the day such a success. Welcome too to our many visitors to the Navratri Festival.

A warm welcome for our visitors from Newfoundland

2009-08-26T18:42:00.005+01:00

Had a great meeting today at the Town Hall with Don Coombs, the Mayor of Harbour Grace in Newfoundland. Don has been staying here in Leicester with his wife, family and 55 football players from Newfoundland and Labrador all enjoying training, playing and watching football in and around Leicestershire. Don was telling the Lady Mayoress and I how much they were all enjoying their stay in the city. The group liked the shopping and were full of praise for the quality of the food in various restaurants.

Now of course and in its twentieth year, we have the Castle Park Festival underway with a whole variety of events and activities on offer. I was delighted to perform the launch ceremony at Newarke Houses Museum last Friday evening and recommend a visit to the Castle Park Festival website.

Looking forward to festival season

2009-08-13T20:52:00.003+01:00

I still continue to receive letters daily from people from all over the United Kingdom telling me how much they enjoyed the Special Olympics. It was certainly wonderful to talk to so many people visiting Leicester for the first time last month. Now we prepare for a fresh influx of visitors this weekend as people arrive for Summer Sundae, an event that has gained national and even international recognition in recent years. Once again we welcome all visitors to Leicester including the many who have come here to stay with families and friends. And of course looking ahead to the following weekend, we have the Castle Park Festival which I am looking forward to launching on Friday August 21st at the Newarke Houses Museum.

Welcoming visitors from UK and abroad

2009-08-03T12:24:00.004+01:00

The past couple of weeks has seen record numbers of visitors to Leicester with the Special Olympics quickly followed by the Caribbean Carnival and the Rathayatra Festival. During these events, I met people from every corner of the UK here in the city, as well as visitors from Canada, India, New Zealand, Hungary and the United States. They all told me how much they were enjoying their time here and what a warm welcome they had received from local people.

Don't forget that if you are visiting Leicester or having visitors to stay, I shall be happy to meet you during a tour of the Town Hall which takes place on the first Wednesday of each month starting from 2pm. And it is absolutely free!

A chance for your visitors to meet the Lord Mayor

2009-06-15T13:44:00.002+01:00

If you live in Leicester or Leicestershire and have plans for friends or family to stay with you over the next few weeks, a unique opportunity awaits.

To celebrate their stay in the city, the Lord Mayor has invited visitors staying with friends or relatives in the city to take tea with him at the Town Hall in Leicester at 3pm on 1 July 2009.

To register your interest for your visitors to attend this event, please email Leicester Shire Promotions with the following details:
Name of Leicester resident
Address
Telephone
Email
Number of visitors attending
Length of stay in Leicester (number of nights)

Please note, this information will be captured for security reasons only related to this particular event. Your data will not be used by Leicester Shire Promotions for any additional direct or third party promotions.

Celebrating city's musical talent

2009-06-15T13:11:00.000+01:00

Had the privilege in June of seeing two of Leicester's finest musical groups in performance. And what magnificent performances they were.
Leicester Amateur Operatic Society's presentation of The Full Monty at Curve played to packed houses all through the second week in June to rapturous applause. The cast sang and danced throughout like true professionals.
I also got the chance this month to hear Leicester's own award-winning Lancaster Boys Choir singing in their own inimitable style.
This city is so rich in amateur musical talent. We need to celebrate it more.

A growing reputation for visitors

2009-06-14T13:48:00.000+01:00

With traditional attractions such as our museums and the Space Centre now complemented by Curve and the Peepul Centre, we are beginning to notice more and more visitors to Leicester - and they certainly seem to like what they see.

Amongst them I have met several visitors over here from our twin city of Krefeld in Germany with which we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of our twinning agreement this year. These have included electrical apprentices on an exchange visit, a visiting fencing team and students currently undertaking work experience here in Leicester.

Lots of people also come here from various parts to visit family and friends in the city. They like our market and often rave about the wide range of restaurants and eating places in Leicester.

And if anyone is ever short of ideas of what to do, the Tourist Information Centre in Every Street now has a bright new look so why not pop in there yourself sometime and see what's on offer?