ARCADES PROJECT

Leicester’s Silver Arcade is a magnificent 4-storey building, with superb balconies running along each floor, looking down on the main walkway, which runs from Silver Street to Cank Street.

There are a few anomalies around its exact vintage, however. The claim in glass above the main entrance now declares ‘1899,’ and Margaret MacKeith agrees with that, though my own press searches suggested 1901 as the year the arcade opened, making it Edwardian rather than Victorian. A 1989 revamp gave the arcade a ‘Victorian’ look, and there have been further renovations in more recent years, making it very hard to know what, if anything here, is an original feature.

That said, it’s a beautiful old arcade, worthy of far greater occupancy than it has in 2024, and there would be a marvellous book on this arcade alone, judging by the stories I found in my quest for a ‘Pick of the Past.’

There are just a handful of businesses operating on the ground floor today: an excellent cafe and deli, specialising in local produce, including an extraordinary selection of ‘Leicestershire wines;’ there is a tanning and beauty studio; a knitwear shop (on the first floor); and the big games shop is about to move from the ground floor up to the 2^nd storey. Fronting onto Cank Street is the main window of the deli and a vintage clothes boutique. An architect’s practice occupies the top floor, and there is a recruitment agency also on the upper levels.

There’s no sign of the original shop fronts, or of the numbering used for shops or offices in the arcade’s early years, so no way of dropping in to see where the corset fitter was, or the man giving singing lessons over 100 years ago.

So, the arcade is far from dead, and there are works going on to set up that games shop on the 2^nd floor, but there is so much potential not being realised in this really beautiful arcade. Perhaps the owners should pop over to Derby and see how well the Strand Arcade there is doing…

My pick of the arcade’s past

When the Silver Arcade opened in late winter of 1901, you could rent a shop unit for less than £50 a year, or an office upstairs for under £10.

George Johnson was secretary to what was then called Leicester Fosse Football Club (and later became today’s Leicester City).  He ran an office in the arcade at No 48 for the club, and would organise fixtures from his desk in the arcade. It’s not clear exactly when he gave up this role, but in 1915 he took on what was called the Egyptian Cafe in the arcade. And after the end of hostilities in the Great War, he fell foul of the law for allowing gambling at cards in the basement of the cafe, where usually billiards was played. The Egyptian Cafe kept going, though, and was put up for sale at an asking price of £800 in November 1925.

In another crime very much of its time, in 1909 the tailor in the arcade (No 42) was prosecuted for having young women start work at 7am, when the working day was supposed to be limited to 12 hours: 8am to 8pm. The tailor was fined £1 and had to pay court costs. Rather appropriately, a dozen years later the trade union TGWU moved into No 42.

Long-time estate agent in the arcade, Harry Exton (No 52), liked to mess about with balloons, trying an experiment with a fellow shopkeeper from Leicester’s other arcade (Royal), whereby two balloons filled with coal gas were launched from the roof of the Silver Arcade, filled simply with a stamped addressed envelope, the idea being to see whose balloon travelled the furthest, as finders of the envelopes were asked to return them with the place they were picked up. Mr Exton won the ‘race,’ his balloon being found 36 miles away in Lincolnshire; it had travelled at about 60 miles an hour to arrive there, as the finder put the time on the card, too.

Sadly, there was tragedy involving the estate agent just a few years later, in February 1929. Mr Exton was found dead in his arcade office, with a gas pipe in his mouth, having committed suicide just a few days after leaving hospital, where he had shown signs of depression at his poor health. The daughter of his friend found him, the friend saying to the press that he had no other friends or relatives in the world, having lost touch with his ex-wife. His only companion day-to-day was a canary, who was known in the arcade for its cheery whistling, and enjoyed the freedom of the top floor space above the agent’s office.

Sources for the above stories all from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) Leicester Daily Mercury, 12 March 1919, Reach plc; 2) Leicester Chronicle, 5 June 1909 – Reach plc; 3) Leicester Evening Mail, 16 & 17 November 1920, Reach plc; 4) Leicester Daily Mercury, 9 February 1929, Reach plc.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any films or books?

My favourite shop in the arcade

Has to be the wonderful deli and cafe. I never even knew there were Leicestershire wines. Manager is a great fan also of the arcade’s history, and knows a bit about how Leicester City football club started upstairs here.

Is there a website for this arcade?

Yes, it’s not very active, but at least it is there. Here is a link.

Any books or films feature the arcade?

Graham Joyce’s fantasy thriller, Dark Sister, published in 1993. Has an arcade in Leicester, not named Silver Arcade but based on it.