Being Leicestershire based, we’re always pleased to see good things being reported about our city and, wider, the East Midlands region. We genuinely love it here! With hundreds of acres of beautiful countryside and a vibrant, diverse community within the city, it really does have so much to offer, but it sadly seldom receives the accolade we think it truly deserves.
How fabulous then to read that Leicester recently came top of the list of best UK cities to live in! The report was compiled by financial services provider OneFamily and it placed Leicester in the Top 10 places to live for the under 30’s based on such criteria as job prospects, work-life balance, local property market and crime rates. What’s more, this very favourable ranking comes hot on the heels of news that Leicester remains amongst the few areas in the UK where house prices are increasing month on month, despite the national picture of on-going austerity and Brexit worries.
Reading such positive press made us all happy here at TAP HQ. We felt a great sense of pride – and perhaps just a little element of smugness. As active members of the local business community we’ve seen how people work very, very hard to make sure our city is put well and truly on the map when it comes to innovation, enterprise and the development of products and services of the very highest quality. Not too difficult to see therefore why under 30’s would see the attraction of living here on the strength of potential employment opportunities alone.
On the more social side of things we’ve certainly noticed a huge amount going on in our city centre. Fabulous venues are popping up all over and we now have a viable Cultural Quarter offering places to relax, be inspired, be entertained or simply be served some of the very best food and drink we’ve ever had. Even when it comes to sports we can boast some of the strongest teams around; Leicester City, Leicester Tigers, Leicester Riders… we know there are many more great examples we should have named but sadly our own sporting knowledge ends there! Suffice to say that Leicester is very well represented on the international sports stage across a number of different disciplines and that’s something of which we can all be proud.
The wave of positivity we felt in seeing our home city finally being recognised outside of the East Midlands has given The Awards People a little spring in our step and we are certainly not alone in experiencing this buzz. As we’re networking with the local business community and chatting to our guests on The Sofa of Success there are more and more signs that confidence is growing, and belief is being rewarded. As a city (and a region) we’re now punching above our weight when it comes to business and culture. We’re shaping our own future rather than waiting for previously London-centric trends to eventually come our way.
In many respects, Leicester’s appearance at the top level of the UK ranking is akin to an award win. Whilst no trophies were presented and no names were announced to an excited audience, the result has been very much the same as a large corporation (with its many invested employees) winning ‘The Best Place to Work’ category in a National event. Just like employees we, as contributors, (of course this is the ‘royal we’ and not simply a reference to The Awards People!) are now more engaged than ever. The boost of such a win, in conjunction with the existing positivity and determination, really does bode well for the future. This Midlands engine is already out-performing others in its category, and it appears we may just be warming up for even bigger things!
