Loughborough

Area Guide

Loughborough is a thriving University and Market Town located in the Charnwood Borough within Leicestershire. It is the second largest settlement in Leicestershire and is well known due to the highly regarded University of Loughborough which is ranked within the top 250 universities worldwide. In addition to its top University and Loughborough College are a range of highly sort after primary and secondary public schools known collectively as the Loughborough Schools Foundation, formerly known as the Loughborough Endowed Schools which draws families to the area. The Market Town hosts an outdoor market in the Market Place every Thursday and Saturday with a monthly farmers' market and regular antique and collectors markets. There is a superb offering of shopping facilities which include large National High Street chain stores such as Next, T K Maxx, Boots, Primark, New Look, Marks and Spencer’s and Waterstones to name a few and a large array of quaint independent shops. There are two modern shopping centres, The Rushes and The Carillon Court both with large car parking facilities and modern edge of town retail parks to the north and south of the town centre.

The same goes for the eating scene, with a large variation of independent eateries and larger chains to choose from, there is something for everyone’s taste.

The town is well connected to major road networks, with the M1 Junction 23, A46 and A6 all within close proximity. East Midlands Railway is the primary operator providing services on the Midland Main Line south from Loughborough train station to Leicester, Bedford, Luton and London St Pancras stations and north to Lincoln, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds and York stations. The link to London is twice-hourly and provides a link to Europe via Eurostar. Leicester and Derby stations allow transfers to CrossCountry trains running between the north-east of Scotland and the south-west of England.

Trains to London St.Pancras take on average 1hr 40 minutes. East Midlands International Airport is also only approximately 8 miles north of the town making it very well connected.

Finally, an interesting fact. In 1841, Loughborough was the destination for the first package tour, organised by Thomas Cook from Leicester to Loughborough.