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Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a population of 64,884.
It is the second largest settlement in the county after Leicester. Loughborough is close to the Nottinghamshire border and is also located near Leicester and Derby. Loughborough is also home to the world's largest bell foundry, John Taylor Bellfounders, which produced Great Paul at St Paul's Cathedral; it has also made bells for the Carillon War Memorial, a landmark in Queens Park.
Loughborough Grammar School was established in 1495, by money left in the will of Thomas Burton, a wealthy local wool merchant.
Heathcoat, in partnership with the Nottingham manufacturer Charles Lacy, moved his business from there to the village of Hathern, outside Loughborough. The product of this "Loughborough machine" came to be known as English net or bobbinet. However, the factory was attacked in 1816 by Luddites thought to be in the pay of Nottingham competitors and 55 frames were destroyed. This prompted Heathcoat to move his business to a disused wool mill in Tiverton, Devon.
In 1888 a charter of incorporation was obtained, allowing a mayor and corporation to be elected. The population increased from 11,000 to 25,000 in the following ten years.
Among the factories established were Robert Taylor's bell foundry John Taylor & Co and the Falcon works, which produced steam locomotives, then motor cars, before it was taken over by Brush Electrical Machines. In 1897, Herbert Morris set up a factory in the Empress Works in Moor Lane which become one of the foremost crane manufacturers by the mid-20th century.David Wainwright: Cranes and Craftsmen: The Story of Herbert Morris Ltd (London, 1929).
There was also strong municipal investment: a new sewage works in 1895, then a waterworks in Blackbrook and a power station in Bridge Street in 1899. The corporation took over the Loughborough Gas Company in 1900.
Shelthorpe and surrounding area are new suburbs in the south of Loughborough. Work on the original Shelthorpe started in 1929, but was halted by World War II and resumed in 1946. The centre of Shelthorpe has a wide variety of shops, including a Tesco Extra, which is probably the largest supermarket in Loughborough.
The Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates to the west of Shelthorpe and the south of the university date from the 1970s. They stretch from Holywell Drive to Hazel Road. Rainbows Hospice, a children's hospice,Hospice site Retrieved 11 September 2018. and the secondary Woodbrook Vale School are on the edge of the suburb. They were followed by the Haddon Way estates to the south of the estates, and then by Grange Park, just south of Shelthorpe and north-west of the hamlet of Woodthorpe, whose construction began in 2006 after completion of Terry Yardley Way to One Ash Roundabout, the last phase of Loughborough's A6004 ring road.
A planning application to build 30 new homes by William Davis Homes came under criticism in 2018 from residents saying that they had been promised public amenities like shops and a place of worship, but were living on "a construction site"; the site was originally intended to have shops, a church, community centre and health centre built on it. Despite the criticism, Charnwood Borough Council approved the plans.
After hosting two successful Veganism markets in 2022, Charnwood Borough Council initiated three vegan markets to be held in Market Place in March, May, and October 2023.
| Loughborough: Ethnicity: 2021 Census | |||||||||||||
| White | 49,400 | 76.2% | |||||||||||
| Asian or Asian British | 10,191 | 15.7% | |||||||||||
| Mixed | 2,140 | 3.3% | |||||||||||
| Black or Black British | 1,878 | 2.9% | |||||||||||
| Other Ethnic Group | 750 | 1.2% | |||||||||||
| Arab | 489 | 0.8% | |||||||||||
| Total | 64,884 | 100% | |||||||||||
| Loughborough: Religion: 2021 Census | |||||||||||||
| Irreligious | 27,205 | 45.3% | |||||||||||
| Christian | 23,737 | 39.5% | |||||||||||
| Muslim | 4,179 | 7% | |||||||||||
| Hindu | 3,684 | 6.1% | |||||||||||
| Sikh | 461 | 0.8% | |||||||||||
| Other religion | 381 | 0.6% | |||||||||||
| Buddhist | 321 | 0.5% | |||||||||||
| Jewish | 65 | 0.3% | |||||||||||
| Total | 64,884 | 100% | |||||||||||
The Rushes shopping centre has also been built on the site of the former bus station and is occupied by national chains. The Rushes is linked to the town centre area by Churchgate and Churchgate Mews; the latter has independent shops.
A major new development, the Eastern Gateway, which developed the area around the railway station with a new road and new housing, was completed in 2013 for £20 million.
Pedestrianisation of the town centre was completed in November 2014. The scheme is intended to improve the economy within the town centre and reduce pollution from traffic congestion.
A new Cineworld cinema complex with several restaurants on Baxter Gate, on the site of the former General Hospital, was completed in 2016, However, as of late 2024, it has now shut down.
East Midlands Railway operates all passenger services that serve the station, on two routes:
At one time, there were three railway routes to the town: the still-operating Midland Main Line, the Great Central Railway that closed as a result of the Beeching cuts, and a branch line from Nuneaton that was part of the London & North Western Railway. Rws | Loughborough Central served the Great Central Railway. It was opened on 15 March 1899 and closed in 1969.
| Ruddington Transport Centre | Nottingham mainline | Ruddington |
| Rushcliffe Halt | Nottingham mainline | East Leake (British Gypsum) |
| Loughborough Central | Leicester mainline | Loughborough |
| Quorn & Woodhouse | Leicester mainline | Quorn, Woodhouse |
| Rothley | Leicester mainline | Rothley |
| Nunckley Hill | Mountsorrel branchline | Mountsorrel |
| Mountsorrel Halt | Mountsorrel branchline | Mountsorrel |
| Belgrave & Birstall (Leicester North) | Leicester mainline | Birstall |
Other signed routes are the B589, running between the A6 and the A60, and the B5350, running between the A6 and the A6004.
The M1's junction 23 lies just to the west of Loughborough. The north of the town can be accessed from junction 24, travelling through Kegworth and Hathern on the A6 road and the south-west of the town from Junction 22, via Copt Oak and the small hamlet of Nanpantan.
Buses around Loughborough town centre depart from on-street stops on various streets around the town centre. Until around 2001, some routes were operated from a bus station near Fennel Street, however that has since been demolished as part of a town centre regeneration to make way for the shopping centre The Rushes.
The now-derelict Charnwood Forest Canal once linked Nanpantan (on the west side of Loughborough) with Thringstone, with goods being carried into the town by a horse-drawn wagonway.
Independent schools in the town include Loughborough Grammar School, an all-boys day and boarding school for students aged 11–18 and one of the country's oldest schools, founded in 1495; Loughborough High School, an all-girls day school for the same age range; and Loughborough Amherst School (formerly Our Lady's Convent School), a co-educational day and boarding school offering all-through education, from 4–18. All three schools form part of the Loughborough Schools Foundation. However, Loughborough Amherst School is set to close at the end of the 2025 summer term as a result of financial challenges and the introduction of VAT on private school fees.
Cricket is prominent, with the Old Contemptibles, Loughborough Town CC, Loughborough Outwoods CC, Loughborough Carillon CC, Loughborough Carillon Old Boys' CC, Loughborough University Staff CC, Loughborough Greenfields CC and Loughborough Lightning of the semi-professional Women's Cricket Super League representing various standards of cricket in the area. Loughborough Town has since 2000 been the most successful club in the Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket League. The university is home to the ECB National Cricket Academy, used by the England team as their primary training centre.
The town rugby union club, Loughborough RFC, play at Derby Road playing fields. The club was formed in 1891. The University's 1st XV rugby team, the Loughborough Students RUFC, were promoted to the National One division in 2012, which is the 3rd tier of English rugby.
Other sports teams include the Loughborough Aces (collegiate American football), Loughborough Lightning of the Netball Superleague and Loughborough Hawks, an amateur netball team. The town also has its own swimming club, Loughborough Town Swimming Club, which is based in the town and trains at local venues.
The tennis tournament Aegon Pro-Series Loughborough is held in Loughborough.
London Roar head coach and former swimmer Melanie Marshall resides in Loughborough and is the lead coach in the Loughborough National Swimming centre where she trains multi-champion Adam Peaty.
Also to be found in the town centre, near the fine medieval All Saints parish church, is the Old Rectory. Dating back to 1288 the remaining portion of the Great Hall has been restored and houses a small museum run by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society.
Loughborough has for more than a century been the home of John Taylor & Co, bell founders. The firm's Bellfoundry Museum on two floors tells the story of bell-making over the centuries. The recording of the tolling bell at the beginning of "Hells Bells", the first track on AC/DC's 1980 album Back in Black was made on a quarter-weight near replica of the Denison bell in the Carillon war memorial.
There is a museum at the former Great Central Railway station, illustrating the history of the railway from its earliest days up to its present state as a double-track preserved heritage railway.
Although Loughborough has no dedicated art gallery, fine sculpture can be found in the town's environs, including those installed from a local artist in commemoration of the First World War Centenary outside Charnwood Museum, and The Sockman, a bronze statue marking Loughborough's association with the hosiery industry. This can be found in the Market Place near Loughborough Town Hall, which itself contains a number of art works. It is also the venue for concerts, exhibitions, musicals, comedy shows and a Christmas pantomime. Groups make use of the town hall for their shows.
Events are also organised by Charnwood Arts, a voluntarily managed and professionally staffed body offering a year-round programme of professional performances across the borough. They include the Picnic In the Park, inaugurated in 1980, which is held in Queens Park in May. Streets Alive, jointly organised by Charnwood Arts and Charnwood Borough Council, takes place at a similar time of year.
The Loughborough Canal Festival, which ran from 1997 to 2014, was an annual event in May centred on Chain Bridge.
Great Central Railway is a heritage railway based at Loughborough Central Station, which is south of the town centre. It is operated largely by volunteers. Trains run every weekend of the year and on bank holidays, as well as daily during the summer.
Every November, a street fair takes over the centre of the town, closing some roads. The fair runs from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday night and offers rides, amusement arcades, food stands and games. Fairs have been held in Loughborough for centuries, the first official Charter being granted to the Lord of the Manor, Hugh le Despencer, in 1221 by King Henry III. The Fair was then held on St. Peter's Day.
The town has an Odeon cinema designed by Archibald Hurley Robinson in an Art Deco style. There are six screens. The cinema was built in 1914 as the Empire and was remodelled in 1936 by Hurley Robinson as the New Empire Cinema. Over the years it has been named the Palm Court and Ballroom, Empire, Essoldo, Classic, Curzon and Reel. The site of the former Loughborough General Hospital, demolished in 2012, was taken by a Cineworld cinema with eight screens, which opened in 2016 and closed in 2024.
John Paget (1808–1892), an English agriculturist and writer on Hungary, was born here.
The bellfounder John William Taylor (1827-1906) of John Taylor & Co lived and died here. The chemist Arthur Donald Walsh (8 August 1916 – 23 April 1977) was born in Loughborough and attended Loughborough Grammar School. The engineer, physicist and author Charles Denis Mee was born here in 1927.
Other Loughborough natives include Albert Francis Cross, the journalist, author, poet and playwright who was born on Moor Lane on 9 May 1863, the two time Laurence Olivier Award nominated stage actress Nicola Hughes and Coronation Street's Roy Cropper actor David Neilson, and the notorious rock star of the mid-1960s, Viv Prince of the Pretty Things. and Paratrooper Dean Ward, who won a bronze medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics was born in the town. Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx was a pupil at Loughborough Grammar School and son of the one-time vicar of nearby Woodhouse Eaves and Ibstock. The Dundee-born comedian, TV presenter and entertainer Danny Wallace attended Holywell County Primary School. Second World War fighter ace Johnnie Johnson attended Loughborough Grammar School. The high jumper Ben Challenger, son of Showaddywaddy drummer Romeo Challenger, is from Loughborough. The popular Muslim and presenter Rizwan Hussain was brought up there. The cultural thinker Mark Fisher, writer of (2009), grew up in the town.
Notable sporting graduates of Loughborough University include Sir Clive Woodward, Sebastian Coe, Paula Radcliffe, David Moorcroft, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Monty Panesar, Steve Backley, Jack Kirwan and Lawrie Sanchez.
Professional footballers, Liam Moore and Hamza Choudhury were both born in the town and have gone on to play in the Premier League with nearby Leicester City. Fred Ainsworth was also born here. England Rugby union captain Phil de Glanville was born in the town.
Other known people: Sue Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Loughborough current Head of FA Women's football, Nicky Morgan.
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