HISTORIC CITY SITES OPEN THEIR DOORS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Historic city sites open their doors

A house haunted by a mischievous 10-year-old, a hotel which took 200 years to open and the oldest brick building in the city are opening their doors free.

Between September 6 and 9, heritage sites across the city which are usually closed to the public or charge for admission will be open for all to see.

At De Montfort Hall on September 6 and 8, the public will have the chance to go backstage.

Leicester's oldest surviving brick building, Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel, in East Bond Street, was built over 300 years ago. It will open on September 8 and 9.

On September 7 and 9, members of the public might catch a glimpse of a Georgian child ghost supposedly haunting the medieval Wygston's House.

At the restored Georgian City Rooms hotel [photo above], visitors can see the ballroom decorated with classic paintings.

The grade I-listed building was built in 1792. It was intended to be Leicester's first hotel but lack of money meant it had to be sold before completion.

After various uses, it finally became a hotel in 2006, after being restored by Naresh and Sharon Parmar and their son Kiran.

Kiran, 26, said: "People who come here fall in love with the hotel and its great Georgian character.

"It's not as well-known as other heritage sites in Leicester but it is slowly becoming more popular as more people realise it's here."

Leicester Council of Faiths has organised a peace visit tour where people will have the chance to visit different religious buildings.

Ajay Aggarwal, co-ordinator of the council, said: "The open days will be a great way of bringing people from different backgrounds together.

"I had never been in a synagogue until this year and it was such a wonderful experience I think everyone should try visiting somewhere new."

For opening times, see: leicester.gov.uk/ heritageopendays

Leicester Council of Faiths would normally hold the Peace Visit tour on the Sunday of the Heritage Open Days weekend. This year that Sunday (9 September) would coincide with Our Leicester Day in Leicester Market. Last year, our scheduled Peace Visit clashed with Our Leicester Day. As we were committed to Our Leicester Day and didn't know how many people would be attending that event (including the kind of people that we'd normally draw on to support the Peace Visit) we cancelled our tour of some of the city's places of worship. This year, we're holding the Peace Visit on the Saturday, which avoids the clash and allows us to do both.