Economy
[edit]
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Engineering[edit]
Engineering has long been an important part of the economy of Leicestershire. John Taylor Bellfounders continues a history of bellfounding in Loughborough since the 14th century. In 1881 John Taylors cast the largest bell in Britain, "Great Paul", for St Paul's Cathedral in London. Norman & Underwood have been making sand cast sheet lead roofing and stained glass since 1825 working on many of England's major cathedrals and historic buildings, including Salisbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace, and Chatsworth House. There were three coal mines that operated in Coalville from the 1820s until 1986. Abbey Pumping Station houses four enormous steam powered beam engines built in Leicester in the 1890s in the Vulcan factory owned by Josiah Gimson, whose son Ernest Gimson was an influential furniture designer and architect of the English Arts and Crafts movement.
Engineering companies today include sports car makers Noble Automotive Ltd in Barwell and Ultima Sports Ltd in Hinckley, Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley, Jones & Shipman (machine tools), Caterpillar Redford (Plant machinery), Plant manufacturers Metalfacture Ltd (sheet metal work), Richards Engineering (foundry equipment), Transmon Engineering (materials handling equipment), Trelleborg Industrial AVS in Beaumont Leys (industrial suspension components), Parker Plant (quarrying equipment) in Belgrave which opened in 1911 inside a single railway arch. The business relocated to an 18-acre site in 1926. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s they were employing over 1,400 people to meet demand. In 1969, 1978 and in 1994 the business won the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise. In 2006 Universal Conveyors was acquired and in 2007 Phoenix Parker Holdings Ltd was formed. In 2014 Phoenix Transworld, Cartem & Universal Conveyors marketed under the Parker brand. Aggregate Industries UK (construction materials), Infotec in Ashby-de-la-Zouch (electronic information display boards), Alstec in Whetstone, Leicestershire (airport baggage handling systems), and Brush Traction (railway locomotives) in Loughborough. There are also consultancies (including Pick Everard) in Leicestershire supporting engineering and the built environment. Local commitment to nurturing the upcoming cadre of British engineers includes apprenticeship schemes with local companies, and academic-industrial connections with the engineering departments at Leicester University, De Montfort University and Loughborough University.
The Engineering Innovation Centre and Centre for Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies are both based at Loughborough University. Private sector research and development organisations include PERA—the technology based consultancy in Melton Mowbray, and MIRA—the automotive research and development centre based on the outskirts of Hinckley. Automotive and aerospace engineers use the test facilities at Mallory Park, and Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome and proving ground. On 18 October 2007, the last airworthy Avro Vulcan was flown from Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome after 10 years of restoration there by aerospace engineers of the Vulcan Operating Company.
Farming[edit]
A field of sheep near Stoke Golding
Leicestershire has a long history of livestock farming which continues today. Robert Bakewell (1725–1795) of Dishley, near Loughborough, was a revolutionary in the field of selective breeding. Bakewell's Leicester Longwool sheep was much prized by farmers across the British Empire and is today a heritage breed admired. Commercial and rare breeds associated with the descendants of Bakewell's sheep include the English Leicester, Border Leicester, Bluefaced Leicester, Scotch mule and Welsh halfbred.
The Leicestershire County Show is held on the first Bank Holiday in May each year and includes animal showings, trade exhibitions and show jumping. Melton Mowbray Market is an important regional livestock market.
Field sports remain an important part of the rural economy of Leicestershire, with stables, kennels and gunsmiths based in the county.
Food and drink[edit]
Stilton and Red Leicester cheeses and the pork pie are the three most famous contributions to English cuisine from Leicestershire.
Leicestershire food producers include Claybrooke mill, one of the very few commercially working watermills left in Britain producing a range of over 40 flours; meat from rare and minority breeds from Brockleby's Pies; and Christmas turkey and goose from Seldom Seen Farm. Two dairies produce Red Leicester cheese in the county: Long Clawson, who also produce blue stilton, and the Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Company.
All-natural non-alcoholic fruit cordials and pressed drinks are made by Belvoir Fruit Farms and sold in supermarkets across Britain. Swithland Spring Water is sourced from the Charnwood hills. Breweries in Leicestershire and Rutland are listed on the Leicester CAMRA website. The county's largest beer brewer is Everards, and there are several microbreweries.
Various markets are held across the county. Leicester Market, given its Market status in the 13th century, is said to be the largest outdoor covered marketplace in Europe and among the products on sale are fruit and vegetables sold by market stallholders, and fresh fish and meat in the Indoor Market.
The annual East Midlands Food & Drink Festival held in Melton Mowbray had over 200 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors attending in 2007 making it the largest British regional food festival.
Food processing in the city and county includes popular British fish and chip shop pie Pukka Pies who are based in Syston. Walkers Midshire Foods, part of the Samworth Brothers group, makes sausages and pies in its Beaumont Leys factories. Walkers Midshire Foods - Walkers Deli & Sausage Co, part of Samworth Brothers is on the Cobden Street Industrial Estate in Belgrave. The Business specialises in the manufacturing of Premium Sliced Cooked Meats and Sausages as well as being the largest producer of Pate in the UK. Samworth Brothers has operations in Leicestershire and Cornwall (Ginsters), making a range of products from sandwiches to desserts for UK retailers under their brands as well the company's own portfolio of brands including Dickinson & Morris, producers of pork pies and Melton Hunt Cake. Walkers crisps are made in Beaumont Leys using Lincolnshire potatoes. United Biscuits have their distribution centre in Ashby-de-la-Zouch as well as a snacks factory and they also have a biscuit factory in Wigston.[citation needed] The Masterfoods UK factory at Melton Mowbray produces petfood. Hand made chocolates are produced by Chocolate Perfection in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.[citation needed]
Some 15 major Indian food manufacturers are based in Leicester including Sara Foods, Mayur Foods, Cofresh Snack Foods Ltd, Farsan, Apni Roti and Spice n Tice.[citation needed] The 'Mithai' Indian sweet market is catered for by award-winning Indian restaurants—for instance, the vegetable samosas approved by the Vegetarian Society sold at The Sharmilee on Belgrave Road AKA the Golden Mile in the Belgrave area of Leicester. The growing market for Indian food has afforded new opportunities to long-standing local companies, for example the Long Clawson dairy, a co-operative manufacturer of Stilton (cheese) now also makes Paneer cheese used in the Indian dish Mattar Paneer.[citation needed]
Leicestershire food exported abroad includes cheese from the Long Clawson dairy, which is sold in supermarkets in Canada and the United States via a network of distributors coordinated by Taunton-based company Somerdale.[citation needed] Belvoir Fruit Farms cordials and pressé drinks are sold on the United States east coast in Wegmans Food Markets, World Market, Harris Teeter, Dean & DeLuca, and in specialised British food stores such as Myers of Keswick (New York City) and the British Pantry (near Washington, D.C.).[citation needed]
Clothing[edit]
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Leicester and Leicestershire has had a traditional industry of knitwear, hosiery and footwear, and the sheep on the county's coat of arms is recognition of this. The local manufacturing industry, which began with hand knitting in the Middle Ages, and was fully industrialised by the end of the 19th century, survived until the end of the 20th century through retailers buying UK-sourced products, and government measures such as the protection of the Multi Fibre Arrangement which ended in 2004. Cheaper global competition, coupled with the 1999 slump in the UK fashion retail sector, led to the end of much of the cheaper clothing manufacturing industry. Today Leicestershire companies focus on high quality clothing and speciality textiles.
Other local companies manufacture knitwear such as Commando Knitwear of Wigston, and others specialise in technical textiles for industrial or medical purposes. Clothing and fabric for the British Asian community is made here—for example the shop Saree Mandir sells silk sarees and salwar suits for women whose design patterns closely follow contemporary Indian trends. The Knitting Industries' Federation continues to be based in Leicestershire. On the creative side the design centre for next is headquartered in Enderby, and the design centre for George Clothing (Asda/Walmart) is in Lutterworth. De Montfort University has, in the form of its Fashion and Contour Design course a leading design department for female underwear. It also has the only UK University courses in Footwear Design providing future designers for local shoemakers Shoefayre, Stead and Simpson, and Shoe Zone, who all have their headquarters in the county.
Belgrave-based British United Shoe Machinery, part of a group which for most of the 20th century was the world's largest manufacturer of footwear machinery and materials, exporting shoe machinery to more than 50 countries. In the 1960s and 1970s it was Leicester's biggest employer, employing more than 4,500 locally and 9,500 worldwide. The company had "a respected reputation for technical innovation and excellence", between 1898 and 1960 it developed and marketed nearly 800 new and improved shoe machines and patented more than 9,000 inventions, at one time employing 5% of the UK’s patent agents.
Also Belgrave-based Wolsey, a heritage British clothing brand founded in 1755, making it one of the oldest existing textile companies in the world.
Wolsey Chimney, part of the Hosiery Works, pictured in 2025
Fred Perry also had a Factory in Belgrave.
Gola also originates from the county.
Healthcare[edit]
Main article: Healthcare in Leicestershire
University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust employs around 11,000 at its three hospitals in the city and county, the Glenfield, the General and the Royal Infirmary. Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust employs over 5,500 staff providing mental health, learning disability and community health services in the city and county. These services are commissioned by the three Clinical Commissioning Groups, led by local GPs.
The British Psychological Society, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) based in Wigston, and the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) have their head offices in Leicestershire.
Biomedical industries[edit]
Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical instrument manufacturing companies include 3M, Bridgehead International in Melton, Fisher Scientific in Loughborough, and Ashfield Healthcare in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Freight and distribution[edit]
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Transportation links are good. East Midlands Airport is one mile (1.6 km) south of Castle Donington, next to the M1 in north-west Leicestershire, and is the second largest freight airport in the United Kingdom after London Heathrow. DHL Aviation have a large purpose-built facility at EMA, and courier companies UPS and TNT also use the airport as a base. Lufthansa Cargo is also a regular user of East Midlands, and the airport is a primary hub for Royal Mail. The M1 is Leicestershire's other important transport hub. The start of the M6, and part of the A14 briefly intersect with the southern tip of Leicestershire. Many large retail companies have huge warehouses at the Magna Park complex near Lutterworth. The Widdowson Group make use of J21a of the M1 to provide warehousing, transportation, freight forwarding, garage services and LGV/HGV training. Pall-Ex of Ellistown provide automated palletised freight distribution services from their location off Junction 22 of the M1. The Midland Main Line provides important connections to Yorkshire and London, and the Birmingham–Stansted Line is essentially Leicestershire's east–west connection from Hinckley to Melton.
Other[edit]
Ibstock-based developer Wilson Bowden was bought in 2007 by Barratt Developments plc in a £2.2 billion deal. Charles Street Buildings (Leicester) and Jelson Homes are two other successful Leicester-based property companies.
Hamilton-based Sofidel Group manufactures more than 600 million toilet rolls and kitchen towel rolls per year in its Leicestershire factories.
There is a Bostik Factory in Belgrave.
Toy car company Corgi have their European operation at the Meridian Business Park, although the toys are now manufactured in China and the company is owned by Margate-based Hornby.
Leicestershire is twinned with Kilkenny, Ireland.
Leicester's Cultural Quarter is an ambitious plan to drive the regeneration of a large run-down area of the city. It has delivered: a new venue for the performing arts, Curve; creative workspaces for artists and designers, LCB Depot; and a Digital Media Centre. Many creative and media businesses have thrived in the region.
As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the foxglove as the county flower.
Financial and business services[edit]
Financial and business service companies with operations in Leicestershire include Alliance & Leicester, Cambridge & Counties Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, State Bank of India, HSBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Pension provision company Mattioli Woods employs 170 people at its Grove Park, Enderby, HQ and has a reputation for employing graduates directly from Leicestershire Universities.
Companies that have their head office in the area include Next and British Gas Business.
The European Association of Trade Mark Owners and the Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) are based in Leicestershire.
Key stakeholders promoting economic development formed Leicester & Leicestershire Economic Partnership in 2011. Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce is another good source for business advice.
Business awards[edit]
The Leicestershire Business Awards has categories including Investing in Leicestershire, Contribution to the Community, and Entrepreneur of the Year.
Recent Leicestershire winners of the Queen's Award for Enterprise are listed on the Lord Lieutenant's website.
Statistics[edit]
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of the non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire and Rutland (it does not include the City of Leicester) at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Year
Regional Gross Value Added – components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Agriculture – includes hunting and forestry
Industry – includes energy and construction
Services – includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
1995
6,666
145
2,763
3,758
2000
7,813
112
2,861
4,840
2003
9,509
142
3,045
6,321
