The Holiday Inn was built circa 1970. Originally a free house, it was eventually bought by Bass in the 1990s. Much controversy surrounds the permission for this building, many regarding it as a brutal monstrosity that covered much of Leicester’s historic Roman, Medieval and later Victorian centre. The Holiday Inn was testament to the folly of the planning of 1960s & 1970s that obliterated must of Leicester’s historic past.
The Richard III stature now stands outside the visitor centre of that name and Leicester Cathedral.
How the area used to look prior to the Holiday Inn, circa 1963. The ex Mitre & Keys can be seen extreme right, the pillar to King Richard’s Bridge – as in previous pictures of the Holiday Inn development – bottom right. (below work under way)
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