The 10 Best Things to do Good for a Rainy Day in Leicester, England

Upstairs at the Western is Leicester's first pub theatre which programmes two seasons (Spring and Autumn) of brave, engaging and inspiring performances of theatre, comedy, spoken word, music and workshops. Home to Off the Fence Theatre Company.

Ape Index is an indoor bouldering, ninja warrior and obstacle race gym. We have a large bouldering wall and many ninja warrior and obstacle race obstacles and climbing training aids. We offer a training environment for children, beginners and supermen. There is something to pull every muscle in every direction and under every duress imaginable. You can learn to balance, swing, jump. You will get stronger, more supple, more agile and more aware. You can build strength, and not just specific single plane pushing or pulling strength, but overall strength from your toes to your head, pushing, pulling and gripping. You can develop power, not lifting power, but explosive pulling and jumping power. Then you can work your strength endurance on the pegboard or power endurance on the salmon ladder, or overall endurance by running through the obstacle courses.

We are Leicester's first dedicated bouldering wall. We have over 700sqm of climbing for all ages and abilities.

Leicester is privileged to have one of the best-preserved timber framed halls in the country dating back 600 years. The Guildhall is a historic building and the oldest building still in use in the city. It was Leicester’s first police station and between 1876 and the 1900’s and saw many unsavoury characters pass through its doors. The Great Hall itself was built in about 1390 as a meeting place for the Guild of Corpus Christi (a small but powerful group of businessmen and gentry) and it’s also believed that Shakespeare performed here during Tudor times. Today, the Guildhall is best known as an excellent performance venue, attracting acts from across the country. It’s also known as a museum where visitors can step back in time and come face to face with Crankie Gemmie and Emma Smith, two of Leicester's notorious pick-pockets who can be found lurking in the Victorian police cells. The museum is also home to the Medieval Leicester galleries and The White Rose Cafe.

Leicester Museum & Art Gallery is a world of discovery with collections and displays spanning the natural and cultural world. General entry is free to all visitors. On the historic New Walk, the museum is a family friendly day out with galleries including Ancient Egypt, Dinosaurs, Wild Space, the Victorian art gallery, Arts & Crafts gallery, Picasso Ceramics: The Attenborough Collection and Leicester's internationally renowned collection of German Expressionism. The museum welcomes a vast array of temporary exhibitions, featuring works from the collections, touring exhibitions from national museums and a programme of contemporary art and craft displays. The museum hosts a range of events from curators' talks to lunchtime concerts, a cafe and museum shop.

Curve Theatre is Leicester’s magnificent home for theatre and the performing arts and is situated at the heart of the city’s Cultural Quarter. Curve is a proud supporter of new and emerging talent and actively participates in the development of the next generation of artists, writers and directors. As well as presenting some of the world’s finest touring work, Curve produces a varied programme of diverse, exciting and inspiring theatre including large scale musicals to rival the West End.

Newarke Houses Museum is composed of two historic houses, Wygston's Chantry House and Skeffington House and tells the story of contemporary Leicester and the history of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. The museum displays include a cinema experience, a collection of toys from Tudor to present day and a play area for children to try various games. Find out more about Leicester's famous son Daniel Lambert and visit a 1950s street scene inspired by Wharf Street that includes the Jolly Angler public house, a grocer and a pawnbroker, with sounds and conversations from the times. Discover more about the story of Leicester at War. Through personal stories find out about the home front and the history of the Regiment, including a recreation of a First World War trench with sound and lighting. Through oral histories, archive film, computer interactives and collections discover the histories of Newarke Houses, the surrounding historic area and contemporary Leicester.