Leicester Manchester Train

Leicester is a city in the East Midlands of England and county town of Leicestershire which lies on the River Soar. The city also lies at the edge of the National Forest which is an environmental project run by the national Forest Company. It is an attempt to blend ancient woodland with new plantings in order to create a new national forest. Leicester has a number of scheduled monuments which include the 15th century Belgrave Bridge, the 12th century Leicester Abbey and medieval Leicester Castle.

The city has two main shopping centres which are the Haymarket Shopping Centre and Highcross Leicester. In additional there is the smaller St Martin's Square shopping centre and Leicester Lanes where there are a number of designer and specialist shops. Leicester has a large multi cultural population and the Golden Mile is a stretch of Belgrave Road known for its authentic Indian restaurants, sari shops and jewellers.

Leicester also hosts many cultural events including the annual Pride Parade, a Caribbean Carnival which is the largest in the UK outside London, the largest Diwali celebration outside of India and one of the largest comedy festivals in the UK, the Leicester Comedy Festival. The city also has a film festival, the Leicester International Short Film Festival, which is an annual event which is held every November.

Located in the north west of England, the city of Manchester lies within the Greater Manchester built-up area, and is the United Kingdom's second most populous urban area. The city has a buoyant cultural scene which is expressed in its theatre, opera and dance performances which perform at some of the city's largest performance venues including the Manchester Opera House, the palace Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester's former cotton exchange. The Manchester Opera House also hosts many touring shows and West End productions. Manchester also has a number of more intimate performance spaces including the Library Theatre, which is located in the basement of the Central Library in the city centre, the Contact Theatre and Studio Salford. The 'Madchester' scene of the 1980s, from which groups including The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, James and The Charlatans emerged, was based on clubs such as the famous Haçienda. Discover more about Greater Manchester and Manchester's past with guided walks or an audio tour, including ghost walks, underground or canal tours. Regular weekly tours include Discover Manchester which takes place every Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday and Manchester Town Hall Tour which takes place every Tuesday.