Rushey Mead
Rushey Mead is an area, suburb, electoral ward, and administrative division of the city of Leicester, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. It comprises the northern Leicester suburb of Rushey Mead in its entirety, as well as a part of the neighbouring area and suburb of Belgrave, and historical parts of neighbouring Northfields and Thurmaston. The ward's population at the 2011 census was 15,962.
Geography
Rushey Mead is bounded by the wards and areas of Belgrave to the south and west, and Humberstone & Hamilton and Northfields to the east and south-east on the other side of the Midland Main Line. North and north-west of Rushey Mead are the Leicestershire villages of Thurmaston and Birstall at the Leicestershire county border and in the Borough of Charnwood at the start of the Leicester Urban Area in that direction.History
Rushey Mead was originally a part of the Thurmaston civil parish in the 19th century. The modern day suburb was split from Thurmaston and gazetted as a "Thurmaston Urban District" in 1894, before being annexed to the City of Leicester in 1935, when it was renamed Rushey Mead.Jesse Jackson, the American politician who was twice a Democratic Party candidate for the nomination in elections to be President of the United States, visited Rushey Mead on 5 December 2015 to open a park named in his honour.
Business and commerce
One of the most important lamp factories in Britain, originally built to supply aircraft parts during World War Two, was located in Rushey Mead. In 1946, British Thomson-Houston opened the Mazda Lamps Factory on Melton Road, producing electric lamps of many kinds. BTH had licensed the 'Mazda ' brand name from General Electric of the USA. In 1928, BTH was amalgamated with its rival, the Metropolitan-Vickers company, to form Associated Electrical Industries. The two companies' brand identities were maintained until the 1960s, when, soon after 1967, the holding company AEI was taken over by one of the UK's biggest companies, the General Electric Company.In 1964, the lamp factory was renamed Thorn Lighting following the merger of Thorn Lighting with AEI. General Electric, one of the world's biggest companies, acquired Thorn Lighting in 1991. The site contained groundbreaking research labs that made countless contributions of global significance, development workshops, and even built machines used on the factory floor. The factory closed in 2007 after 61 years of producing lamps.
It became a well-known local landmark, known locally as
"GE Thorn" or simply "Thorn Lighting," after Sir Jules Thorn, who ran the business in the 1970s. For many years, at Christmas time, there had been a public Christmas lights display on the factory site, attracting people from Leicester, the Midlands, and beyond.
The site of the former Thorn Lighting Factory is now occupied by a Sainsbury’s Supermarket. There is a large metallic tree, called The World Tree, built opposite the former site on the corner of Melton Road and Troon Way, with a map of the world on its base. This was built in honour of the former factory.
Demographics
As of the 2011 Census, the population of Rushey Mead was 15,962 and was made up of approximately 51% females and 49% males.The average age in Rushey Mead is 39, while the median age is 38.
53.9% of people living in Rushey Mead were born in England. Other top answers for country of birth were 18.7% India, 6.6% Kenya, 1.7% Sri Lanka, 1.2% Africa not otherwise specified, 1.0% Pakistan, 0.5% Ireland, 0.4% Zimbabwe, 0.4% Scotland, 0.3% Somalia.
61.0% of people living in Rushey Mead speak English. The other top languages spoken are 23.6% Gujarati, 5.5% Punjabi, 1.8% Tamil, 1.3% Polish, 0.9% Urdu, 0.9% Slovak, 0.9% South Asian Language, 0.5% Portuguese, 0.4% Hindi.
The religious make up of Rushey Mead is 43.1% Hindu, 21.7% Christian, 10.5% Muslim, 9.8% Sikh, 9.2% No religion, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.1% Jewish. 668 people did not state a religion. 18 people identified as Jedi knights, and 2 people said they believe in Heavy Metal.
54.2% of people are married, 5.4% cohabit with a member of the opposite sex, 0.4% live with a partner of the same sex, 24.5% are single and have never married or been in a registered same sex partnership, 6.0% are separated or divorced. There are 552 widowed people living in Rushey Mead.
The top occupations listed by people in Rushey Mead are process, plant and machine operatives 15.0%, administrative and secretarial 13.6%, elementary 13.3%, sales and customer service 12.2%, administrative 11.3%, process, plant and machine operatives 10.9%, professional 10.6%, skilled trades 10.0%, elementary administration and service 9.5%, sales 9.4%.
Education
Primary schools: Wyvern Primary, Herrick Primary, Sandfield Primary, and Rushey Mead Primary.Secondary schools: Rushey Mead Academy, which is the best state-funded secondary school in Leicester and Leicestershire, and Soar Valley College.
Places of interest
- Watermead Country Park - a network of artificial lakes with a large statue of a mammoth atop a hill.
The World Tree
Scenery
The River Soar runs along the west of Rushey Mead and up to Watermead Country Park.Shopping
There is a large Sainsbury’s supermarket on Melton Road, including a garage and café.Transport
Major roads
Rushey Mead is located on the A607 and the A563 roadBus
service 4 serves Rushey Mead on Glenagles Avenue and Trevino Drive, and Arriva Midlands services 5, 5A, and 6 all serve Rushey Mead along the A607 Melton Road.All bus services operate along the Golden Mile from and into Leicester City Centre.
The nearest bus stations in Leicester City Centre are Haymarket and St Margaret's.
Train
The nearest train stations are Leicester railway station and Syston railway station.The Midland Main Line runs along to the east of Rushey Mead.
Airport
The nearest airport is East Midlands Airport, located in Leicestershire and away from Rushey Mead.Politics
Rushey Mead is located within the Leicester East parliamentary constituency, a seat currently held by the Conservative Party since 2024. The Labour Party consistently held the seat between 1987 and 2024 but lost the seat to the outgoing Conservative Government despite a landslide victory across the country for the Labour Party in that particular election.The Rushey Mead electoral ward has been represented on Leicester City Council by three Conservative Party Councillors since 2023.
The electoral ward of Rushey Mead includes a part of neighbouring Belgrave, meaning that, despite the actual geographical location, that specific area may also be classed as being in Rushey Mead by virtue of the electoral ward mapping.
Former Councillors for Rushey Mead include Ross Willmott, a former leader of the city council and the Labour Party candidate for Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner, Piara Singh Clair MBE, former deputy city mayor and cabinet member for Culture, Leisure, Sport and Regulatory Services and Rita Patel, former assistant city mayor and cabinet member for Equalities and Special Projects and founder of the Peepul Centre, located in the neighbouring area of Belgrave and close to Leicester City Centre.
Rushey Mead was represented within the East Midlands parliamentary constituency in the European Parliament.
Council election results
Rushey Mead 2023
Rushey Mead 2019
Rushey Mead 2015
Sport
is based in Rushey Mead. They are currently members of the.Notable people
- Parminder Nagra - actress - went to Soar Valley College.
- Rakhee Thakrar - actress - went to Soar Valley College.
- Mark Morrison — singer - went to Rushey Mead Academy.
- Chris Pyatt - professional boxer, former world middleweight champion, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and ABA welterweight champion - went to Rushey Mead Academy.
- Tony Sibson – professional boxer, former European and Commonwealth middleweight champion and three-time world title challenger - went to Rushey Mead Academy.
- Shivani Raja - politician and MP for Leicester East - from Rushey Mead and went to Soar Valley College.
- Jigar Naik — cricketer - went to Rushey Mead Academy.