‘Enhancing’ renovation works in the area have not helped all shops
More than 10 shops were vacant when we visited Belvoir Street(Image: Leicester Mercury)
Businesses in one part of Leicester city centre say the council needs to do a “better job” in tackling issues with rough sleepers in the area after reports of some urinating or defecating outside their stores.
Store managers in Belvoir Street spoke out after a reported number of issues with homeless people and rough sleepers in recent times. In 2023, Leicester City Council spent £300,000 renovating the street, introducing block paving so that it matched the likes of Pocklingtons Walk and Horsefair Street.
The council claimed the work would “enhance the look and the feel” of the street, but concerns have been raised by businesses about Belvoir Street’s upkeep in the two years since, with some saying rough sleepers are causing some of the issues.
Ahmed, one of the managers at The Gresham Aparthotel, told LeicestershireLive: “The council needs to do a better job of keeping this place clean as its a main area of the city.
“The main issue we have is people alleviating themselves in our fire exit door area and when we try to do something they shout at us and get hostile.”
Homeless people reportedly mistreat the venue’s fire exit(Image: Leicester Mercury)
Ahmed said concerns relating to homeless people had affected the look of Belvoir Street too, revealing that he sometimes gives out free food to combat the issue. He said: “We get lots of homeless people who do drugs and sleep in our fire exit which makes us look bad. Sometimes they also come into the store so we give them some free food and they leave.”
While the issues have been notable, he did say that footfall in Belvoir Street has increased this year, saying: “I started last March and I think its definitely got better since then. For us we stay busy because of occasions like events and things like that.”
The homelessness issue has been reported far and wide in Belvoir Street, with the manager of restaurant Las Iguanas telling LeicestershireLive: “Unfortunately, a lot of homeless and things like that in the area bring the whole area down a bit.”
Multiple store closures in the area have also impacted Belvoir Street according to the Las Iguanas manager. When we visited, there were 13 vacant stores, with the manager saying: “I think we need some local marketing to get people in these shops which have closed down.
“As you can see lots of places are closed or closing here which is not good at all. If we could get more people opening up shops here, then Belvoir Street could be a little bit more happening, like over at the Highcross side of town.”
13 stores were vacant when we visited(Image: Leicester Mercury)
Not all businesses are struggling in Belvoir Street though. Popular sports bar The Locker Room continues to be busy according to supervisor Emily Sedgwick, who said it is especially busy on days of sporting events, such as Premier League football games or boxing matches.
She said: “Yeah we’ve been quite busy, especially since we took on Fat Cats (another events venue on Belvoir Street). I took on this position a year ago and we definitely see more people coming in these days.”
While the business is busy, Ms Sedgwick believed the hospitality industry as a whole has “gone down a little bit” in recent times. She said: “I think that hospitality as a whole has just sort of gone down a little bit. I hope that changes though and we get a bit more life back in the industry. But looking ahead, January is probably going to be sad as always.”
Responding to concerns raised about homelessness in Belvoir Street, a Leicester City Council spokesperson said: “We have well-established channels through which businesses in the Belvoir Street area can raise issues like anti-social behaviour or rough sleeping directly with the city council. It is disappointing that we had not been made aware of these problems.
“We have invested a huge amount of money in our homelessness services and have a dedicated team of staff who provide a range of services to support entrenched homeless individuals. Although, our homeless outreach team has offered support to individuals on Belvoir Street on one recent occasion, the area is not considered a hotspot for rough sleeping.
“The homeless outreach team is out in the city seven-days-a-week day to look for people who are sleeping rough and to offer support. We work closely with other organisations such as Inclusion Healthcare and Help the Homeless to support people to move away from the street.
“Sadly, sometimes this help is refused.”
The spokesperson said the council works “closely” with local charities and organisations to ensure Leicester has “sufficient temporary accommodation to help people facing homelessness”. This includes the council’s emergency temporary accommodation, the Dawn Centre – which is open all year round.
“We’re also working with local charities to provide extra beds this winter, whilst also offering intensive one-to-one support through our dedicated Changing Futures programme to help and support people who are homeless and facing multiple and often complex disadvantage,” the spokesperson added.
Leicester City Council also said it had invested an “additional £45 million over the last year to provide additional emergency accommodation” in response to housing issues in the city.
The spokesperson said: “Over the last 10 years, we have seen a huge increase in the number of people contacting our homelessness support services, and a rise in the number of people sleeping rough.
“This is a situation that is reflected in cities across the country and the Government has recently announced investment over around £3.5 billion to help tackle the issue over the next three years, through its National Plan to End Homelessness.”
