Leicester Cathedral is among our 42 English cathedrals which have made a real difference to people's lives, contributing £235m to their local economies in just one year pre-covid according to a report published by the Association of English Cathedrals.
Communities benefitted from foodbanks, jobs, support groups and many more. The report can be read by clicking here and includes a case studies document that can be downloaded from the report which you can read by clicking here.
You can read an excerpt with Leicester Cathedral's case study below.
The Leicester Cathedral Case Study:
Background Leicester Cathedral is a grade II listed building that dates back to the thirteenth century. It is built on the site of a Roman temple and is surrounded by medieval and Georgian buildings, which together form the locally named ‘Cathedral quarter.’ The Cathedral is dedicated to St Martin of Tours and due to this dedication, the Cathedral has a long history of supporting the homeless in the city.
The Cathedral offices and shop are housed in St Martins House opposite the Cathedral. This building is owned by the Diocese of Leicester and additionally provides a conference centre and office space for other organisations. In partnership with the local council, the grounds around these two buildings were remodelled into cathedral gardens that opened in 2014, improving the appearance of this part of the city and providing an outdoor event space.
The Cathedral’s popularity as a tourist attraction increased significantly following the discovery of King Richard III and the introduction of his tomb inside the Cathedral in 2015. This find raised the profile of the Cathedral locally, nationally, and internationally. A channel 4 documentary covering the finding, identification and subsequent burial of the King was shown around the world. As a result, interviewees reported that visitor numbers increased from around 30,000 to over 200,000 in 2015. Following this initial rush of interest, numbers started to drop off from 2017 but remain around 100,000 per year. In 2019, approximately 40% of visitors were international. Interviewees noted that the Cathedral has used this increase in publicity to grow its reputation and networks, as a route to becoming more involved with the local community.
This sustained increase in visitors also led the Cathedral to design its ‘Leicester Cathedral Revealed’ project. This is a £11.3m project planned to take place over 2021/23 to restore and develop the Cathedral, covering everything from updating the Cathedrals heating and accessibility, to building an onsite Heritage Learning Centre that will provide an exhibition area and a learning space. The Cathedral is currently one of the smallest in the UK and interviewees reported that the increased visitor numbers have meant that visitor space and multipurpose rooms have become very crowded.
Economic impact
The Cathedral is viewed by interviewees as an important gateway into Leicester, bringing in around 100,000 cultural tourists annually, with interviewees reporting that many tourists come specifically to see the tomb of Richard III. Due to the Kings tomb being housed in the Cathedral, the Cathedral is the heart of the Richard III tourist offer in the city and county, which also includes the nearby council-built Richard III visitor centre, the city’s museums and art galleries, and the Battlefield Centre at Bosworth. Together, these attractions present the Kings history and the story of his discovery and identification, providing a structured tourist offer for the city that appeals to those interested in either history, science, religion, or heritage. As such, the Cathedral works closely with other organisations and the council to market the city and bring in tourists.
Interviewees noted that the Cathedral has also built up a reputation as an arts venue, which encourages both tourists and locals to visit the Cathedral. For example, in 2019, the Cathedral hosted Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon exhibit as part of the city’s One Giant Leap event, which offered space themed activities during the school holidays. The Cathedral makes a point of linking any art exhibits and events into their own ethos, and for this reason the moon exhibit was accompanied by events exploring humanity’s place in creation. The Cathedral match funded the One Giant Leap event, which interviewees reported bought around 11,000 people into the city.
Interviewees noted that the Cathedral’s direct employees live throughout Leicestershire, with the vast majority living less than 10 miles from the Cathedral. The Cathedral tries to use local firms for its contracted-out services, estimating that approximately 75% of such work is provided by local firms. General trades are from within the city (e.g. heating engineers) and stonemasons are also based in Leicestershire. Recent repair, totalling £450,000, was paid for via a government fund and carried out by local contractors. Due to the scale of the work a national architecture firm designed the building plans, resulting in about 85% of the fund being spent locally.
A café and a cathedral shop are hosted in St Martins House, across from the Cathedral and run by the Diocese of Leicester. Interviewees noted that much of the customer base for these two businesses comes from those visiting the Cathedral. All food served in the café is locally produced.
Social impact
Leicester is a National Asylum Seeker Service (NASS) designated dispersal city, and the Cathedral is involved with a number of city-wide initiatives to welcome and support asylum seekers. It has an ongoing partnership with the city council, whereby all Syrians arriving in the city go to the Cathedral on arrival. The Cathedral welcomes these refugees and helps orientate them into Leicester. The Cathedral also runs a weekly drop-in centre in connection with the charity City of Sanctuary, offering a mixture of social and support activities, such as craft activities, games, and IT and English classes. The After 18 Project working with refugee and asylum seeking young adults is a third cathedral partner working in the sector. In 2019, the Cathedral hosted the Leicester Welcome Project, which gave immediate practical support to asylum seekers living in and near Leicester, providing gifts of food, clothes and toiletries. The project also offered support through signposting to other advice organisations, advocating for asylum seekers, and offering informal advice.
The Cathedral is involved with the local branch of Street Pastors, an international outreach initiative where members of the Cathedral go out onto the streets of Leicester with the aim of caring for the community. This includes having conversations with young adults out for the night, sitting with or assisting people in distress, and generally being available to attend to people’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
The Cathedral also offers school education visits and operates a music outreach programme, whereby it provides singing lessons (for a fee) to primary schools across the county. Interviewees reported that these are typically schools without music teachers, so no music tuition would be available to the children without the Cathedrals work. The Cathedral has previously used grant funding form the Arts Council England to provide individual children with free music and singing lessons.
Around 200 people volunteered at the Cathedral during 2019. Interviewees, as well as respondents to a survey carried out by the Cathedral, noted that volunteering made people feel part of a community. Elderly volunteers in particular are thought to benefit from the social connections that volunteering at the Cathedral offers, including talking to visitors, meeting up with other volunteers outside of the Cathedral, and attending an annual volunteer’s dinner.
For younger volunteers, the work offers the opportunity to enhances their skills and gain work experience. Interviewees also reported that volunteering gave them a sense of fulfilment through assisting visitors and that one of the key reasons they wanted to volunteer at the Cathedral was its welcoming ethos, with all religions welcomed.
Interviews reported that Leicester Cathedral has strong links with the local community, including local government, universities, theatres, the football club, tourisms boards, and private businesses. Many of these links were established during the arrangements for the burial of Richard III in the Cathedral, which necessitated meetings and conversation with a range of public services and civic boards. The Cathedral has maintained these relationships and now has a reputation for acting in a convening role, with interviewees reporting that it provides a neutral space to hold discussion. For example, Leicester police have asked the Cathedral to work with specific community groups to try and reduce growing religious and cultural tensions. The Cathedral has hosted meetings with Muslim and Hindu religious leaders, and due to the Cathedral’s relationships with the local football club, the Cathedral was able to get free match tickets, so that a group of Muslims and Hindus could go to a match together. This was tweeted as counter narrative to the division growing between these religions in Leicester.
Alongside this, the Cathedral is using its connections to raise awareness of the financial difficulties faced by those who do not have access to the internet. This can act as a hurdle to getting a bank account, which leads to difficulties in getting paid work and paying bills. The Cathedral is working with local finance providers to raise awareness of this issue and to find solutions.
The Cathedral is a member of Leicester Business Improvement District (BID), which is hosted in the diocese buildings in St Martins house. The Cathedral works closely with the BID to reduced homelessness in Leicester and in 2018 the Cathedral led on developing a homelessness charter for the city. This charter brings together various organisations with a role to play in reducing homelessness (including the council, the police, local businesses and charities) and sets out key aims for the city, including increasing the availability of affordable accommodation. Through discussion with these groups, it was identified that not everyone begging on the city streets was homeless and that while the public wanted to help the homeless, they were concerned about giving to people on the streets. Contactless giving points have now been set up around the city, with the money going straight to a local night shelter.
St Martins House also host Sound Café, a charity that supports those who are homeless or vulnerable. The charity aims to help attendees ‘find their voice’ through providing a range of activities, including singing, poetry, music, and art. The charity also acts as an informal listening and signposting service for attendees who wish to access more formal help, such as housing services. The Sound Cafe was originally set up by a member of cathedral staff and the choir rehearses and preforms in the Cathedral for free.
The Cathedral also hosts various civic engagement events, including the Lord Mayor’s civic service, an Armed Forces Day, and the annual VE day service. Carol concerts are also held for specific parts of the local community, including the police force, the university and a local grammar school. In addition, the Cathedral provides space for the city to host comedy gigs, music concerts, and dinners for businesses and charities.
Impact of COVID-19
In 2020, Leicester was effected by local as well as national lockdowns, resulting in the city being under restrictions for much of the year. Interviewees reported that while the Cathedral was continually assessing what it could practically offer visitors during 2020, restrictions meant that the Cathedral has only been able to open for private prayer. No audience events have been hosted since March 2020. Both the Cathedral shop and café closed in March and didn’t reopen in 2020. Due to the reduce activities, fewer volunteers have been needed. The Cathedral also furloughed staff and made a small number of redundancies. The Cathedrals major redevelopment project – Leicester Cathedral revealed - which is planned to start in the second half of 2021, will mean that the Cathedral will be closed for an additional 18 months. As such, the Cathedral’s activities will be curtailed in the coming years but Cathedral on Tour will take the choir and other activities to parishes across the diocese, while ‘Leicester Cathedral Presents’ will create cathedral events in other venues in the city.
Due to its closure during much of 2020, the Cathedral has worked hard to remain in contact with its congregation in other ways. It phoned congregation members to identity those struggling with lockdown and has continued phone contact with those identified as being lonely or needing support. The Cathedral also created a newsletter, and interviewees reported that members of the public had reported that this was helping them remain connected to the Cathedral and the local community. At Christmas, the Cathedral had an outdoor band playing carols, to offer some festive cheer as people did their Christmas shopping. The Cathedral has also offered online services and events, but interviewees noted that while online events help retain community links, it is difficult to turn online activity into economic uplift for the Cathedral.