Places Features

Belgrave Road in arguably Leicester's most famous thoroughfare.

It's renowned for its huge range of Asian shops that sell everything from jewellery to silks to spices.

But the traders are worried because business is going down and people are choosing to shop elsewhere.

Listen: Belgrave Road

BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter went to Belgrave Road to talk to traders and then he spoke to the leader of Leicester City Council, Ross Willmott...

Traders: "It's been neglected"

The Belgrave Road traders are concerned that city council have lost interest in the area now that the new development in the city centre is almost complete. One said:

"It's been neglected for the past couple of years. There's not enough parking spaces for all that on Saturdays and Sundays, and the roads are not well-cleaned.

Mr Khadivar's shop, Saree Mandir

"There's a lot of litter around. It looks dirty when people come from other towns."

Other shopkeepers and restaurant owners said that people are aware that Belgrave Road exists but that it hasn't been promoted consistently.

They think that Leicester City Council are focusing all their attention on the new Highcross development, so Belgrave Road is no longer fresh in shoppers' minds.

Another trader said Belgrave Road could still be a profitable part of the city if it was given a little help:

"At the moment they are talking about Leicester as a new shopping area.

"I think the Belgrave Road can give a lot of contributions to the area because you can buy everything here from home furnishings to electricals.

City Council: "There's more we could do"

BBC Leicester put the Belgrave Road traders' worries to the leader of Leicester City Council, Ross Willmott.

"The council certainly has not neglected Belgrave Road. We consider it to be a really important part of the city.

"A year or so ago we spent over £600,000 on doing repairs to the roads and footpaths to make them better.

"And there's £2,500,000 allocated, some of which has been spent on Macdonald Road car park, because that was an issue that was raised with me many years ago, and the money has now come through to make sure that gets resurfaced."

Councillor Willmott also says that £128,000 is spent on the Diwali celebrations in Belgrave Road every year.

Diwali lights switch-on on Belgrave Road

However, he agreed that there's potential to improve the promotion the area all year round:

"There's more we could do with what's going on in the city centre to actually signpost the Belgrave Road area...

"I think there's more we can do to promote the area. Part of that has been to make sure that the footways and the footpaths are up to scratch, that's why that money has been invested there.

"Because if we're going to signpost people to an area it's got to look good, so I think there's great scope here for a stronger partnership."

East Park Road

But while traders on Belgrave Road are concerned about their financial futures, one area of Leicester is thriving.

Listen: East Park Road

BBC Leicester's Khush Sameja went to East Park Road to speak to some of the traders there...

Farnaz Abubaker owns the Isma Ladies Boutique in the area. She says that East Park Road is becoming popular with people who live outside of Leicester, like Nuneaton and Coalville:

But she thinks it could be some time until East Park Road is really a rival for the Golden Mile:

"Belgrave Road has been established for 30 years, we've still got a long way to go but we are up and coming.

"People are noticing the shops and everybody's looking for something new."