Tucked into the south of Leicester, Clarendon Park sits within Castle Ward and the constituency of Leicester South. Welford Road borders it to the west, London Road to the east, Victoria Park to the north, and Avenue Road and Avenue Road Extension to the south. Two main shopping streets, Queens Road and Clarendon Park Road, intersect near the centre of the area, with Queens Road running north to south and Clarendon Park Road running east to west. Both are lined with independent cafés, vintage shops, and second-hand stores that give Clarendon Park a character distinct from Leicester’s city centre.
History and Development
Much of the land now covered by Clarendon Park was owned by the Cradock family of Knighton until the 1870s, when Edward Hartopp Cradock sold around 120 acres to three local businessmen – Samuel Francis Stone, Charles Smith, and Alfred Donisthorpe – trading as the Clarendon Park Company. Building work began immediately. Streets west of Queens Road were laid out rapidly by local builders including Harry Orton and architect-builder James Bird. Development east of Queens Road was slower and more sporadic, with larger plots on Clarendon Park Road, North Avenue, East Avenue, and Central Avenue bought as investments. Notable architects working in the area during the 1880s included James Tait, Isaac Barradale, and Stockdale Harrison. By the 1890s, Springfield Road attracted work from firms such as Goddard and Co, Draper and Walters, Arthur Wakerley, and Redfern and Sawday. In 1897, Ernest Gimson built a house for his half-brother Arthur on North Avenue. The Clarendon Park Company, as nonconformists, are thought to have made it a condition of land sales that properties could not be used to sell alcohol – a restriction that kept the area largely pub-free for many years, though several bars have since opened along Queens Road. The origin of the name itself is unknown, though one suggestion is that it was chosen to give the area what contemporaries called an appropriate dignity for a good-class residential district.
Clarendon Park Today
The proximity of the University of Leicester has a considerable influence on the area, with a large student population giving Clarendon Park a lively, informal atmosphere. It has been described as a redbrick uni nirvana. The area is well known for its concentration of small independent businesses, particularly cafés and vintage or second-hand shops. Leicester Squash Club and Leicestershire Lawn Tennis Club are both a short walk away in nearby Stoneygate and Knighton. The playwright Joe Orton lived at 261 Avenue Road Extension between 1933 and 1936, one of the more notable figures associated with the area.