Cheesecake Shop!

This is a #wander around Loughborough that I took when Wombette Minor was being interviewed at the University. And here I’ll make a quick ‘by the way’ for any American readers – Loughborough is pronounced “Luff-burrer”, not “Lowg Bo Ro”.

One of the first things we spotted was that there seems to be a large (or at least ‘noticeable’) Chinese community in Loughborough, as evidenced by, well, the large number of Chinese people we passed, as well as various establishments like the Yi Ming chinese supermarket here.

“Oo, look at the interestingly shaped and coloured buildings yonder, behind Sainsbury’s!”

Loughborough has a healthy number of fascinating independent small shops, such as this second-hand bookshop –

- in amongst the usual chain stores, like this big old Costa on the corner just opposite the town hall.

The Sock

This odd statue, over on the right there, appears to be a bloke sitting on a bollard, wearing nothing but a strategic leaf (a sycamore, I believe, for all you tree fans out there) and a sock, of which he seems to be extremely proud. Later Googling found that this is indeed “The Sock”, created by the sculptress Shona Kinloch, having been commissioned by Charnwood Borough Council "to provide an attractive feature and focus of public interest". His sock, apparently, is symbolic of Loughborough's hosiery industry, and the rest of the sculpture contains images from the town's history.

And now here’s a big old shot of the Market Place, looking lovely in the Spring sunshine…

… and a closer look at the Town Hall flags.

Further up a little way past the flags and the naked chappie with one sock, we came across The Reel Cinema (see what they did there?), which impressed Cat because (a) it looked like a cinema from fifty years ago, and (b) the names of the films currently showing had obviously been put up there by the highly technical method of a bloke climbing a ladder with some adhesive lettering. In light of (a), lets try looking at the cinema in sepia, shall we?

Yes, that works! JUST like the Fifties!

Just above this time warp, we found Cat’s favourite shop of all. I don’t think I need to tell you anything other than the name of this shop for you to be able to judge its attractiveness and wow factor – yes, its…

The Cheesecake Shop!

Meanwhile, down at the other end of town, this corner seemed to encompass the place – the white building being a combination of a Chinese Medicine Centre and, of all things, a stationers. Next door sits “The Cheese Cottage”, and emporium of a wide variety of said comestible. Past the cheesy vendors and we’re into Church Gate, which leads unsurprisingly to the parish church. But more of that anon, for what is this delightful establishment? Oh yes indeed! Handmade chocolates, and a chocolate café, where you can sit and enjoy all sorts of hot drinks accompanied by chocolates made to order. Mmmmm. But on to the church, which sat very prettily amongst budding trees. In a month or so, when the trees are in leaf, and the cherry and apples amongst them are full of blossom, I’ll bet it will be a lovely sight. As it was, we found a large number of these harbingers of Spring:I’m sure if I tried I could come up with a snappy title all about birth and death, but to be honest with you I just can’t be arsed tonight.

Here’s a summing up: