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The Curve to New Walk and the Highcross

Difficulty Easy

Walking time 57 minutes

Length 3.1km / 1.9mi

Route developer: John Alton

Route checker: Philip Cheesewright

Start location The Curve Theatre
Route Summary This short circular walk takes in the bustling, tree lined New Walk route into the city centre. It passes through the outside area of the Highcross Shopping Centre and returns along the busy Humberstone Gate shopping street.
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Getting there No details available.
Description

This inner city walk has a number of busy roads, please take care when crossing these and use pedestrian crossings where possible

Some of the pavements and paths are uneven in places - take care.

[1]  With your back to the main entrance of the Curve cross over Orton Square to enter the grounds of St Georges Orthodox Church.  Continue round with the church to your left

(A)  St Georges Church was built of local sandstone in 1827.  This Anglican church  was built following the  Church Building Act of 1818 which aimed to erect churches in places of need and was the first to be built in the city since the medieval period.  In the early 1970s the church closed for Anglican worship and subsequently transferred to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1983.   There are 70,000 ethnic Serbs living in the UK with a sizeable population in Leicester

[2]  Turn right at the Leicester Mercury offices.  Continue along St Georges Way and cross over Charles Street, Granby Street and East Street.  

[3]  Continue along Waterloo Way for 100m then bear right up the long slope leading to New Walk, crossing South Albion Street and passing the Crown and County Court building on the right and continue to its end.  Turn right onto New Walk and continue to its end, having crossed King Street next to the Council Offices.

(B)  New Walk, laid out in 1785 and known then as the Queen's Walk, follows the line of an old Roman route and now links the city centre with Victoria Park, the site of the old Leicester Racecourse. You will pass New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, many fine old buildings from the Georgian period and the Holy Cross Priory Catholic Church..

[4]  At the junction with Welford Place, by the New Walk Centre, currently home to Leicester City Council, cross straight over into Pocklington's Walk - an area containing the Magistrates Court and numerous legal firms.

[5]  Cross straight over Chancery Street, Millstone Lane, Friar Lane and then St Martins onto Loseby Lane

[6]  At the end turn left onto High Street and walk past Rackhams, one of the largest  Highcross Centre department stores.  Turn right onto Shires Lane.  This takes you through the outside shopping and restaurant area of the Highcross.  Turn right again, just before the Showcase Cinema, into Bath House Lane.

[7] Turn right onto Causeway Lane by Next, opposite to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs building.  Turn right and follow East Bond Street to Debenhams then cross New Bond Street to the left and go on down St Peter's Lane.

[8] Turn right onto Church Gate and continue along the street of shops to The Clock Tower.

(C)  The Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower was built in 1868 as a memorial to local benefactors:- Simon De Montfort, William Wyggeston, Sir Thomas White and Alderman Gabriel Newton.  Their statues stand one at each corner. 

[9] Just after  the Clock Tower go left into one of the city's main shopping streets, Humberstone Gate, continue to the end of the pedestrian area and then turn right onto Charles Street. Continue along Charles Street to the second left turn (Halford Street) to return to the Curve.

POI information No details available.
Notes No details available.
Acknowledgements No details available.
  • New Walk and the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery
    New Walk and the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery
    By - John Alton
  • Pocklington Walk
    Pocklington Walk
    By - John Alton
  • St Peter
    St Peter's Square in the Highcross Centre
    By - John Alton
  • Leicester
    Leicester's Clock Tower
    By - John Alton
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