**Leicester** (audio speaker iconpronunciation (help·info)) is a city in the East Midlands region of England and it is the county town of Leicestershire.

In the 2011 census the population of Leicester was about 330,000. The city is also the 11th largest by population in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom.

History and Society
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Leicester is about 2,000 years old and was called *Ratae Corieltauvorum* when it was founded by the Romans. After the Romans had gone and the Anglo-Saxons settled there the town of Leicester was founded and named after the River Soar (then called Leire) and "cester" meaning the Roman ruins. Much later, after the invasion by the Danes, Leicester was within the area under Danish rule and one of the fortified "Five Burghs". In early modern times it became a centre of the manufacture of boots, shoes and knitted clothes such as socks.

Since 1926 there has been a Church of England diocese of Leicester and in 1927 the Church of St Martin became Leicester Cathedral. As well as different forms of Christianity many other religions have followers in the city including Islam and Hinduism. The UK census in 2001 showed that 17.4% of people in Leicester said that they had no religion.

Leicester has a wide variety of people from other countries, including many from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Leicester also has communities of people from the Caribbean, Somalia, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Iran, Poland and many other countries. Many of these communities have their own community organisations. As well as English about 70 other languages are spoken in the city.

Leicester is well known for having residents from many different cultural backgrounds. People who believe that they are having problems because of racism can get help from The Race Equality Centre.

Government and politics
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Leicester has three MPs: Jon Ashworth (Leicester South), Liz Kendall (Leicester West) and Claudia Webbe (Leicester East). All three are members of the Labour Party.

On 5 May 2011, Sir Peter Soulsby became the first directly elected Mayor of Leicester. He is called the City Mayor. Leicester also has a Lord Mayor for ceremonies.

Leicester City Council has 54 councillors. At the moment there are 52 from the Labour party and one Independent and one Liberal Democrat. Leicester is divided into 22 wards for local government which include the city centre and many suburban areas.

Services and facilities
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Leicester has a very large covered outdoor market. The market has been in the same place for 700 years. The city also has two shopping centres: Haymarket and the much larger Highcross.

Leicester has several museums. The biggest and best known is the New Walk Museum.

The city has many parks, including Abbey Park and Victoria Park. There is also a botanical garden in Oadby, which is a town south of Leicester.

Leicester has a race course, which is also in Oadby.

There are two hospitals in the city (Leicester General Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary) and one just outside the city (Glenfield Hospital).

The city is the home of Leicester City F.C. the Leicester Football Club who are also known as the Foxes. Leicester is also home to a rugby club called the Leicester Tigers. It also has a cricket team for adults and juniors called Leicestershire CCC (county cricket club).

Leicester has two universities: the University of Leicester and De Montfort University. It also has several further education colleges, the largest one is Leicester College.

There are two bus stations: Haymarket and St. Margaret's (which is also a coach station). The train station is on London Road. Leicester is about 75 minutes from London by train.

Many trade union branches in the city and county are members of Leicester and District Trades Union Council.

The local newspaper is called *The Leicester Mercury*.

Other websites
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* Leicester City Council
* Official Tourism site for Leicester and Leicestershire
* Leicester City Guide Archived 2011-03-01 at the Wayback Machine
* Leicester and District Trades Union Council Archived 2011-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
* Leicester Mercury
* News from Leicester
* Leicester Market
* The Race Equality Centre
* Leicester museums and galleries
* Local hospitals Archived 2011-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
* University of Leicester Botanic Garden Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
* A brief History of Leicester Archived 2015-07-04 at the Wayback Machine