This document has been prepared to assess the opportunities for:

The refurbishment of the second floor accommodation of the Marquis of Queensbury hotel. In order to provide appropriate accommodation for the development of a range of educational, recreational, sporting and cultural opportunities for the people of South Wigston.

Collaboration and partnership with the tenants and owners of the property to further the Aims of the Marquis Community Association.

Funding and “resourcing” these developments through a variety of ways in partnership with statutory /community /and commercial organisations.

Section 1 The past

For over a century the Marquis of Queensbury Hotel Formerly the Clarence Hotel has been at the heart of the South Wigston community. Much more than a licensed premises throughout it’s long history The Marquis has been the home of a number of significant organisations that have provided leisure recreational cultural and sporting opportunities for the local community.

These to name a few have included:

Meeting rooms

Dining facilities

Dance and Music Hall facilities

Home to the Gaiety Theatre

Municipal assembly rooms

A boxing arena and training facility

Kick boxing arena and gym.

The Duke Of Clarence Hotel. c. 1903 Situated on blaby road, this was very much the centre of south wigston’s social life for the first 50 years of the new township, Also accommodating the Clarence Assembly Rooms, most major civic functions were held here as were dances and film shows. In a later guise as the Gaiety one of the rooms was named after Girtie Gitana, a famous singer of the early years of the century. She married Don Ross of Wigston and retained links with the town until her death in 1957. Her grave is in Wigston cemetery.

Historic Buildings are a precious and finite asset, and powerful reminders to us of the work and way of life of earlier generations. The richness of this country’s architectural heritage plays an influential part in our sense of national and regional identity. Your favourite views of England – street, village, town or city....

At the moment this hall is only being used two hours a day what a waste.

The Marquis has been the home of a number of significant organizations that have provided leisure, recreational cultural and sporting opportunities for the local community.

Past Performers that Graced the hall.

Tony Christie, The Kinks, Aker Bilk, The Dallas Boys, Showaddywaddy, The Corvettes with Johnny Daran, The Nomads, Lorraine Gray and Chaperones, The Drumbeats, Manfred Mann, The Mystics, Jimmy Nicol who performed with The Beatles, Bern Elliot & The Klan, The Autocrats, The Kirkby’s, The Clansmen, King Size Taylor with The Griff Parry Five, Neil Landon and The Burnettes, Brian Bass and The Brewers, Cadillac and The Playboys, The Johnnie Taylor Star Combo.

To name but a few from the sixties.