Loughborough

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Loughborough
Shire county		Leicestershire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Areas of the town	List Storer Thorpe Acre Woodthorpe
Leicestershire
Ambulance	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Loughborough
List of places UK England Leicestershire 52°46′21″N 01°12′28″W / 52.77250°N 1.20778°W / 52.77250; -1.20778

Loughborough (

It is the second largest settlement in the county after

, a landmark in Queens Park.

History

The earliest reference to Loughborough occurs in the

Loughborough Grammar School was established in 1495, by money left in the will of Thomas Burton, a wealthy local wool merchant.^[7][8]

The first sign of industrialisation in the district came in the early 19th century, when John Heathcoat, an inventor from Derbyshire, patented in 1809 an improvement to the warp loom, known as the twisted lace machine, which allowed mitts with a lace-like appearance to be made.

Heathcoat, in partnership with the Nottingham manufacturer Charles Lacy, moved his business from there to the village of

In 1888 a charter of incorporation was obtained, allowing a mayor and corporation to be elected. The population increased from 11,000 to 25,000 in the following ten years.

Among the factories established were Robert Taylor's bell foundry John Taylor & Co and the Falcon works, which produced steam locomotives, then motor cars, before it was taken over by Brush Electrical Machines. In 1897, Herbert Morris set up a factory in the Empress Works in Moor Lane which become one of the foremost crane manufacturers by the mid-20th century.^[10]

There was also strong municipal investment: a new sewage works in 1895, then a waterworks in Blackbrook and a power station in Bridge Street in 1899. The corporation took over the Loughborough Gas Company in 1900.

In 1841, Loughborough was the destination for the first package tour, organised by Thomas Cook for a temperance group from Leicester.^[11]

As Loughborough grew in the 20th century, it gained new suburbs.

(1726–1795) is buried there.

Shelthorpe and surrounding area are new suburbs in the south of Loughborough. Work on the original Shelthorpe started in 1929, but was halted by World War II and resumed in 1946. The centre of Shelthorpe has a wide variety of shops, including a Tesco Extra, which is probably the largest supermarket in Loughborough.

The Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates to the west of Shelthorpe and the south of the university date from the 1970s. They stretch from Holywell Drive to Hazel Road. Rainbows Hospice, a children's hospice,^[13] and the secondary Woodbrook Vale School are on the edge of the suburb. They were followed by the Haddon Way estates to the south of the estates, and then by Grange Park, just south of Shelthorpe and north-west of the hamlet of Woodthorpe, whose construction began in 2006 after completion of Terry Yardley Way to One Ash Roundabout, the last phase of Loughborough's A6004 ring road.

A planning application to build 30 new homes by William Davis Homes came under criticism in 2018 from residents saying that they had been promised public amenities like shops and a place of worship, but were living on "a construction site"; the site was originally intended to have shops, a church, community centre and health centre built on it.^[14] Despite the criticism, Charnwood Borough Council approved the plans.

After hosting two successful

Demographics

At the 2021 census, Loughborough's urban area had a population of 64,884. Of the findings, the ethnicity and religious composition of the ward was:

Loughborough: Ethnicity: 2021 Census
Ethnic group	Population	%
White	49,400	76.2%
Asian or Asian British	10,191	15.7%
Mixed	2,140	3.3%
Black or Black British	1,878	2.9%
Other Ethnic Group	750	1.2%
Arab	489	0.8%
Total	64,884	100%

The religious composition of the ward at the 2021 Census was recorded as:

Loughborough: Religion: 2021 Census
Religious	Population	%
Irreligious	27,205	45.3%
Christian	23,737	39.5%
Muslim	4,179	7%
Hindu	3,684	6.1%
Sikh	461	0.8%
Other religion	381	0.6%
Buddhist	321	0.5%
Jewish	65	0.3%
Total	64,884	100%

Geography

Climate

Like most of the British Isles, Loughborough experiences a

on 25 July 2019.

Economy

The centre of Loughborough's shopping area is the pedestrianised Market Place and Market Street, which maintain several original

The Rushes shopping centre has also been built on the site of the former bus station and is occupied by national chains. The Rushes is linked to the town centre area by Churchgate and Churchgate Mews; the latter has independent shops.

A major new development, the Eastern Gateway, which developed the area around the railway station with a new road and new housing, was completed in 2013 for £20 million.[21]

Pedestrianisation of the town centre was completed in November 2014. The scheme is intended to improve the economy within the town centre and reduce pollution from traffic congestion.^[22]

A new Cineworld cinema complex with several restaurants on Baxter Gate, on the site of the former General Hospital, was completed in 2016.^[23]

Loughborough is the mainline station that serves the town. In 2012, Network Rail redeveloped the station increasing the length of the platforms and improving access; concurrently, the local council made improvements to the surrounding area.

East Midlands Railway operates all passenger services that serve the station, on two routes:^[24]

• The
  Sheffield; intermediate locations include Derby, Leicester, Market Harborough and Kettering. The link to London is half-hourly and provides a link to Europe, via Eurostar. Leicester and Derby stations allow transfers to CrossCountry
  trains running between the north-east of Scotland and the south-west of England.
• Services between Leicester and
  Grimsby or Cleethorpes
  .

At one time, there were three railway routes to the town: the still-operating Midland Main Line, the

London & North Western Railway

. Rws | Loughborough Central served the Great Central Railway. It was opened on 15 March 1899 and closed in 1969.

Heritage

Loughborough Central re-opened in March 1974 as part of the Great Central heritage railway.^[25] The railway is split into two sections north and south of Loughborough. Central station is the northern terminus of the southern section of the railway and services run daily. As of 2017, there were plans to fill the gap, known as the Loughborough Gap, and link the two halves of the railway again.^[26] Thus, a new bridge was installed over the Midland Main Line, the A60 and the Grand Union Canal. Work is now progressing on restoring another bridge over the car park of an industrial estate.

Station	Part of line	Serving area
Ruddington Transport Centre	Nottingham mainline	Ruddington
Rushcliffe Halt	Nottingham mainline	East Leake (British Gypsum)
Loughborough Central	Leicester mainline	Loughborough
Quorn & Woodhouse	Leicester mainline	Quorn, Woodhouse
Rothley	Leicester mainline	Rothley
Nunckley Hill	Mountsorrel branchline	Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel Halt	Mountsorrel branchline	Mountsorrel
Belgrave & Birstall (Leicester North)	Leicester mainline	Birstall

Brush Traction, a manufacturer of railway locomotives, is also located in the town, adjacent to the Midland railway station.

Loughborough sits at the crossroads of three main roads, two of which begin in the town:

• The A6 main road begins at Luton before running north through Bedford, Leicester, Derby, Manchester and ending at Carlisle.
• The A60 begins in Loughborough and goes north to Nottingham, Mansfield and Worksop.
• The A512 begins in Loughborough and runs west towards the M1, Shepshed and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, while the A6004, which was originally proposed as a bypass for Loughborough, runs from just south of the town around the western and northern suburbs of Loughborough, ending near the railway station at the A60.

Other signed routes are the B589, running between the A6 and the A60, and the B5350, running between the A6 and the A6004.

The

.

Buses

Bus services in and around Loughborough are operated by Arriva Midlands East, Kinchbus,^{[nb 1]} Diamond East Midlands, Centrebus, Nottingham City Transport and Vectare.^[27]

Buses around Loughborough town centre depart from on-street stops on various streets around the town centre. Until around 2001, some routes were operated from a bus station near Fennel Street, but this was demolished as part of a town centre regeneration; The Rushes shopping centre was built on the site.

The

.

The now-derelict Charnwood Forest Canal once linked Nanpantan (on the west side of Loughborough) with Thringstone, with goods being carried into the town by a horse-drawn wagonway.

In 2004, Loughborough University was ranked 9th among British universities by The Times' Good University Guide. In 2006 Loughborough was ranked 6th. In 2007 The Guardian rated the university 8th, and 10th of 117 institutions by The Guardian League Tables 2009 (published online 1 June 2008 for the 2009–2010 academic year). The university stands fifth in some rankings, behind Oxbridge and the London universities. It has the largest sports scholarship in the UK. More than 250 international athletes study and train there. In 2008 it was named Sunday Times University of the Year.^[28]

Loughborough College is the second biggest education establishment in Loughborough, after the University. It offers further education and vocational courses. It was established in 1909, and has over 12,000 full and part-time students.

RNIB College, Loughborough, caters for those over 16 with a wide range of disabilities, seeking access to education, employment and independent living.

Loughborough has a variety of uniformed youth organisations, with several

Culture

Local media

Loughborough's local weekly newspaper is the Loughborough Echo. The town is also served by Leicestershire's daily newspaper, the Leicester Mercury. The town's local TV coverage is provided by BBC East Midlands and ITV Central, television signals are received from the Waltham TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Leicester, Capital Midlands, Smooth East Midlands, Hits Radio East Midlands, Fosse107 and community-based station Carillon Radio.^[30]

The town was once home to a professional football club,

(Level 3 of the women's football pyramid) are the most prominent football teams in the town currently.

Cricket is prominent, with the Old Contemptibles,

ECB National Cricket Academy

, used by the England team as their primary training centre.

The town

Loughborough RFC

, play at Derby Road playing fields. The club was formed in 1891. The University's 1st XV rugby team, the Loughborough Students RUFC, were promoted to the National One division in 2012, which is the 3rd tier of English rugby.

Other sports teams include the Loughborough Aces (collegiate American football), Loughborough Lightning of the Netball Superleague and Loughborough Hawks, an amateur netball team. The town also has its own swimming club, Loughborough Town Swimming Club, which is based in the town and trains at local venues.

The tennis tournament

is held in Loughborough.

London Roar head coach and former swimmer Melanie Marshall resides in Loughborough and is the lead coach in the Loughborough National Swimming centre where she trains multi-champion Adam Peaty.

Loughborough has five museums, the largest being the centrally located

Also to be found in the town centre, near the fine medieval All Saints parish church, is the Old Rectory.^[33] Dating back to 1288 the remaining portion of the Great Hall has been restored and houses a small museum run by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society.

Loughborough has for more than a century been the home of John Taylor & Co, bell founders. The firm's Bellfoundry Museum on two floors tells the story of bell-making over the centuries. The recording of the tolling bell at the beginning of "Hells Bells", the first track on AC/DC's 1980 album Back in Black was made on a quarter-weight near replica of the Denison bell in the Carillon war memorial.^{[citation needed]}

There is a museum at the former Great Central Railway station, illustrating the history of the railway from its earliest days up to its present state as a double-track preserved heritage railway.

Although Loughborough has no dedicated art gallery, fine sculpture can be found in the town's environs, including those installed from a local artist in commemoration of the First World War Centenary outside Charnwood Museum, and The Sockman,^[34] a bronze statue marking Loughborough's association with the hosiery industry. This can be found in the Market Place near Loughborough Town Hall, which itself contains a number of art works. It is also the venue for concerts, exhibitions, musicals, comedy shows and a Christmas pantomime. Groups make use of the town hall for their shows.

Events are also organised by Charnwood Arts, a voluntarily managed and professionally staffed body offering a year-round programme of professional performances across the borough. They include the Picnic In the Park, inaugurated in 1980, which is held in Queens Park in May. Streets Alive, jointly organised by Charnwood Arts and

, takes place at a similar time of year.

The Loughborough Canal Festival, which ran from 1997 to 2014, was an annual event in May centred on Chain Bridge.

is a heritage railway based at Loughborough Central Station, which is south of the town centre. It is operated largely by volunteers. Trains run every weekend of the year and on bank holidays, as well as daily during the summer.

Every November, a street fair takes over the centre of the town, closing some roads. The fair runs from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday night and offers rides, amusement arcades, food stands and games. Fairs have been held in Loughborough for centuries, the first official Charter being granted to the Lord of the Manor, Hugh le Despencer, in 1221 by King Henry III. The Fair was then held on St. Peter's Day.^{[citation needed]}

The town has an Odeon cinema designed by Archibald Hurley Robinson in an Art Deco style. There are six screens. The cinema was built in 1914 as the Empire and was remodelled in 1936 by Hurley Robinson as the New Empire Cinema. Over the years it has been named the Palm Court and Ballroom, Empire, Essoldo, Classic, Curzon and Reel. The site of the former Loughborough General Hospital, demolished in 2012, was taken by a Cineworld cinema with eight screens, which opened in 2016 and closed in 2024.

Loughborough was the birthplace of the poet and Royalist John Cleveland (1613–1658).^[35]

John Paget (1808–1892), an English agriculturist and writer on Hungary, was born here.

The

Other Loughborough natives include

was born in the town. Felix Buxton of (2009), grew up in the town.

Notable sporting graduates of Loughborough University include

.

Professional footballers, Liam Moore and Hamza Choudhury were both born in the town and have gone on to play in the Premier League with nearby Leicester City. Fred Ainsworth was also born here. England Rugby union captain Phil de Glanville was born in the town.

Other known people: Sue Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Loughborough current Head of FA Women's football, Nicky Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes.

Loughborough is

with:

• Épinal, Vosges, France^[39]
• Namur
  , Belgium
• Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany^[40]
• Zamość, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland^[41]

Loughborough has a friendship link with Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India^[42]

Notes

1. ^ Part of the Wellglade Group, based locally in Sullivan Way

Further reading

• Deakin, W A (1974). 19th Century Loughborough. Loughborough: Echo Press.
  OCLC 650255345
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Loughborough.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Loughborough.

• Loughborough Town Hall
• Loughborough Carillon