Victoria Park

Victoria Park stands in Leicester’s south-east, just beyond the city centre. It covers 69 acres and backs onto the University of Leicester. The park borders Leicester railway station on its northern edge. Before becoming a park, the land formed part of the South Fields and hosted a racecourse from 1806 to 1883. Leicester Fosse, the club that later became Leicester City Football Club, played matches here between 1884 and 1890. A grandstand built for the racecourse remained until the mid-20th century. A German parachute bomb damaged it in 1940, and it was later demolished. The park offers sports pitches for tennis, basketball, bowls, croquet, football, cricket and rugby. A skate park and adventure playground cater for younger visitors. Most of the park is open grassland, with the largest area often used for outdoor events. Recent festivals have included BBC Radio 1’s One Big Sunday and the Leicester Caribbean Carnival. Kasabian played a concert here that sold 50,000 tickets. A pavilion provides changing facilities and houses a cafe. Two memorials mark the park’s history. The Arch of Remembrance, designed by Edwin Lutyens, was built in 1923 to honour First World War dead. It stands at the top of Peace Walk, a formal avenue lined with Lutyens-designed gates. Near the cafe, a smaller memorial remembers the American 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Leicester before D-Day. Lutyens also designed the gates and lodges on the London Road side in 1930. Every Saturday at 9 am, a parkrun takes place along the park’s paths.