Leicester: City of Contrasts

The UK’s tenth most populous city has officially expressed its interest in becoming a host for the 2018 World Cup. City officials have teamed up with past World Cup stars Peter Shilton and Gary Lineker in promoting the Leicester bid.

Local boy Lineker, a Golden Boot winner at Mexico 86 highlighted the importance of the World Cup as a global event and the publicity that the city could garner if it was chosen.

Gary Lineker supporting the Leiceter bid
Support for the bid also came from the Leicester Tigers Rugby Union team and Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave.

The campaign is part of a long term strategy for the city under the title One Leicester. Part of this campaign involves promoting the city and officials realise that the world’s biggest sporting event provides the perfect platform.

Council leader, Ross Willmott echoed these sentiments saying “hosting the World Cup is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our country – and if England wins the right to stage the 2018 World Cup, we want to do everything we can to make sure Leicester’s involved.”

Leicester is up against 14 rivals competing for a chance to be a host city and a successful bid would involve engaging public support, as well as proving to the FA that the city has the stadium, transport links, accommodation and experience in hosting major events.

As far as the critreria on stadia goes the Walkers Staduim home to Leicester City Football Club is an impressive pulling point. A recent development, it was used for the first time in the 2002/03 season. At present it boasts a capacity of 32,500 with officials outlining plans to expand to a 45,000-seater venue to meet FA requirements.

This should not be a problem as the stadium offers unobstructed views from every seat and a full renovation potential of upto 55,000. In its short time in existence the ground has hosted Premiership football, European Rugby and international football matches involving England and Brazil.

Walkers Stadium,seen from the Grand Union Canal

The FA also require the potential hosts to outline training facilities that the city would provide for the global superstars taking part in the tournament. In this respect the Leicester bid team has gained the support of organisations such as Loughborough University which is home to the National Cricket academy, district councils and Leicester Tigers.

David Clayton, managing director for the Leicester Tiger, said: “We are exploring if it would be possible for visiting football squads to use any of our facilities in their preparations.”

The Tigers Welford Road Staduim is currently undergoing regeneration to boost capacity to 30,000 with the club central to England’s bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Clayton added, “If Leicester is successful in hosting a football World Cup, it would be a major achievement for a city to host World Cup events in rugby and football in the space of a few years.”

This could be a major plus point for the Leicester bid as the Rugy World Cup may be seen as a dress rehersal for the Football tournamant three years later thus giving the city vital experience in hosting a major international event.

Former Snooker legend Willie Thorne was quick in highlighting the benefits of Leicester’s geographical location. This is undoubtedly one of the city’s strong points, which may see it edge out the more obscure locations of Hull and Sunderland.

The central location provides easy access to both Birmingham by road and rail and also a link to the heart of London. The East Midlands Train service gives direct access to the Eurostar service operated from St Pancras International.

Coach services are also a regular travel point to and from the capital as well as the north of England with National Express and budget travel available through the Stagecoach run Megabus. Rail links provide an impressive outlet with services to and from Stanstead, Birmingham and Luton Airports and a Skylink bus which connects East Midlands Airport with Leicester in under an hour. The service operates every hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

With all of the above mentioned Airports served by low-cost international carriers like Ryanair and Easyjet they are sure to be busy throughout the tournament.

Leicester Train Station

This makes Leicester a convienient access point with regular airline services to many principal European destinations including Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris. There are also internal flights to Belfast, Edingburgh and Glasgow and limited services to trans-continental destinations such as Barbados, Mexico and the United States.

This could be a winning card for the city as location will be a vital factor not just for supporters but teams who look to set up base camp throughout the tournament. The accommodation front is also covered by Leicester with the city able to boast a 4 star Marriott Hotel and the internationally recognised Hilton Hotel, a mere 25 minutes drive from the East Midlands Airport. The Ramada Jarvis located in the city centre is another attractive option.

Cheaper alternatives include a Holiday Inn conveniently located next to the Walkers Stadium and the Westbridge Wharf Apartments as well as many bed and breakfast establishments. On the tourism side Leicester’s bid is boosted through its status as Britain’s first environment city. A recent pledge has seen the city aim to plant 10,000 new trees by 2011 to make Leicester ‘a cleaner, greener place to live and work.’

On the environmental front it boasts at least 22 major parks with stunning scenery, historical features and facilities for sports and leisure sure to prove popular with the hordes of travelling fans.
This is a major plus point for the city as fans festivals are high on the FA agenda following their success in Germany four years previous. These would be set up across the city for visiting supporters to mingle and watch the tornament via huge television screens.

Leicester has already highlighted, Victoria Park and Abbey Park as part of its campaign to host matches during the 2018 competition. Councillor Ross Willmott justified the move by stating “I think Victoria Park and Abbey Park will be suitable venues and we’ve proved they can cope with thousands of people at events in the past.

Abbey Park Ruins

With the result being announced in December a successful bid would coincide with the 125^th anniversary of Leicester City Football Club, a fact not lost on the Chief Executive Lee Hoos who commented, “It would be the icing on the cake for the club as we celebrate our 125th anniversary.”

It would also be the icing on the cake for the city as a whole which has gone through a massive regeneration programme in the last decade. The new Highcross Shopping complex regeneration completed in 2008 has given the city a focal point for a shopping experience. The complex boasts over 120 shops, with major retailers like House of Fraser, Debenhams and John Lewis. There are also 15 restaurants and cafés, a cinema and two large car parks within the complex making it the largest shopping centre in the East Midlands.

Highcross Shopping Complex

Curve Theatre

This is in addition to boasting the largest covered market place in Europe as well as a range of multi ethnic hybrids most notably the Golden Mile (Belgrave Road) which gives one of the best cultural experiences in terms of clothing, food, jewellery and entertainment outside of the Indian Subcontinent.

Belgrave Road Diwali Celebrations, National Space Centre, Masjid Umar Evington Road

Indeed over 50000 people regularly attend the annual Diwali celebrations which take place giving Leicester experience of organizing for the big events. Leicester is also home to the National Space Centre which is one of the UK’s leading visitor attractions.

70 languages or dialects are spoken within the city as well as the existence of numerous religious centres representing all of the world’s major faiths. Labelled as ‘the city of contrasts’, Leicester would provide an organisational competence, coupled with a uniquely diverse experience to satisfy the travelling hordes

Leicester meets all the requirements of being a host city for 2018 and would provide the perfect illustration of the multiethnic melting pot that is England for a truly global experience.

Leicester as seen from the Attenborough Tower, University of Leicester

Written by Faisal Hanif