Woodgate is an area in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

in Fosse Ward. It lies west of the

River Soar The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...

and is an important entrance to the city leading on to Frog Island. A busy junction, its northern end lies at the intersection of Fosse Road North, Groby Road, Blackbird Road and Buckminster Road. To the south is the Rally Park, which was formerly the goods yard of the London Midland Railway, which was originally the Leicester to Swannington Railway built by Robert Stephenson in 1832. To the west is Fosse Road North. At its eastern end Woodgate terminates at the North Bridge over the old

History

The name dates from the medieval period. It likely comes from the history of using this road to bring timber into the town from the nearby woodlands. The majority of the housing dates from the beginning of the 20th century, and like

Newfoundpool Newfoundpool is an area of Leicester lying south of the former Leicester and Swannington Railway. The land was purchased by market gardener Isaac Harrison in around 1830.McKinley, R. A. (1958) A History of the County of Leicester: volume 4: The C ...

was developed mainly by local builder Orson Wright. Before that time the area north of Woodgate, known as St Leonard's, was the principal residential area, and had been so for many centuries. Woodgate was a Housing Action Area in the late 1980s, when many properties were refurbished by Leicester City Council, and it forms part of the current regeneration plans for the city. In the past Woodgate had a significant number of active factories, including hosiery, dyeworks, an iron foundry, light engineering and biscuit manufacture. The area has suffered from

industrial decline Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...

with the closure of The Premier Screw and Repetition factory with over 100 redundancies. The site has often been vandalised. The former pubs, "The Friar Tuck" and "The Old Robin Hood" have long been derelict and been the scenes of crime including a murder. The former Nabisco factory site, home to a few small businesses and local Labour party offices was demolished in April 2008. This is the site of a new Aldi supermarket opened in November 2008. Other local businesses lie down Storey Street. The gothic Victorian St Leonard's Parish Church was demolished in the early 1990s and was replaced with a Kwikfit service station. St Leonard's Vicarage went at much the same time and was replaced by a car showroom. Woodgate itself remains a busy local shopping street with a bank, butcher, florist, hairdressers, optician, accountant, bakery (amongst others), Indian and Portuguese restaurants, a Chinese takeaway and traditional fish and chip shop. Woodgate has a primary school based on Balfour Street, and is also served by another on Slater Street.

Sites

The area is in Fosse Ward for local government purposes and part of the

Leicester West Leicester West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liz Kendall of the Labour Party. Along with the other two Leicester seats, it was held by Labour at the 2017 general election. Since its cr ...

parliamentary constituency at Westminster, the local MP from May 2010 is

Liz Kendall Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Kendall was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where she read history. From 2011 to ...

. Previous MPs were

Patricia Hewitt Patricia Hope Hewitt (born 2 December 1948) is an Australian-born British government adviser and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Secretar ...

Greville Janner Greville Ewan Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, (11 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was a British politician, barrister and writer. He became a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Leicester in the 1970 general election as a last-minute ...

and his father

Barnett Janner Barnett Janner, Baron Janner (20 June 1892 – 4 May 1982) was a British politician who was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) and later as a Labour MP. Early life Janner was born to a Litvak family in Luokė in the Kovno Governo ...

. The Woodgate Resources Centre is used for local social gatherings: it was formerly a library. Also near to Woodgate is the Woodgate Adventure Playground on the Rally Park which is used by local children for recreation. The former Midland railway line is now a cycle/foot path leading in the direction of Glenfield and

Groby Groby (pronounced "GREW-bee") is a large English village in the county of Leicestershire, to the north west of the city of Leicester. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 6,796. Description The village has expanded vastly since ...

to the north, and towards Leicester city centre to the south.

References

External links

Woodgate Residents Association
Areas of Leicester Leicester {{Leicestershire-geo-stub