Glenfield is a village in the civil parish of Glenfields in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 9,643. The parish was formed from the merger of the ancient Glenfield parish with Glenfield Frith in 1935. The village is directly to the west of Leicester and is just off junction 21A of the M1 motorway. It is the site of the headquarters of Leicestershire County Council, and of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service. It also gives its name to Glenfield Hospital, although the hospital is actually across the city border in Leicester. The heart of the community is around the Square, with St Peter's Church, the church hall, the ruins of the former church, the Methodist Church and Hall and the public library just inside Station Road, and Park House, the Memorial Hall, Scout Hut, playground, Glenfield Primary School and the nursery school all located just inside Stamford Street. The Hall County Primary School is located on Glenfield Frith Drive. Situated close to the Hall school is Faire Road commonly known for the row of shops situated there.
History
Glenfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, at which time it lay in Guthlaxtonhundred and contained 12 households. The village was greatly enlarged between the 1920s and the 1950s, when the Faire Estate was built. In the 1980s and 1990s another large estate was built on former farm land behind Ellis Park. Glenfield was the site of the first station from Leicester West Bridge on the Leicester and Swannington Railway, opened on 17 July 1832 as the world's third steam railway. Just before reaching the station the line passed through Glenfield Tunnel, which was built by Robert Stephenson and was, at 1 mile 36 yards, the world's longest railway tunnel at the time. The Glenfield end of the tunnel can still be seen.
Parish facilities
Glenfield has its own village newspaper, The Glenfield Gazette. The parish council own several areas of recreational land, including Ellis Park, Station Park and the Playing Fields. Near to the A50 and the boundary with Groby is the "Millennium Green", which is managed by a local trust. The Gynsills Nature Area can be found at the junction of Gynsill Lane and Stelle Way. A small area of mature trees and a pond, once part of the Gynsills Estate parkland, now an area promoting biodiversity and nature conservation. The area known as "The Square" was once more of a road and contained many more shops, mostly owned by the Stockley family. These were knocked down in the fifties and sixties to accommodate the roundabout and the maisonettes were built in place of the grocers, post office and butchers shop. On Station Road there is a large Co-Op petrol station, a pharmacy, and other shops. There are also shops around the Square, Stamford Street and Faire Road. The Square has a butchers shop. The Co-operative Food superstore on Station Road was closed down in January 2020 and will be replaced with a Morrisons superstore which is planned to open June 2020 and the Morrisons petrol station to open late February 2020. There are a variety of pubs, take-aways, restaurants and a hotel in Glenfield. These include the Nag's Head, the Forge, the Gynsills, and the Railway Inn. There are Chinese, pizza and fish and chip takeaways, and Indian restaurants in the village. The parade of shops on Faire Road includes Aquarius Fish Bar, Golden Orient Chinese, and Sameeha Indian Restaurant and takeaway.
Although Glenfield is mainly residential there are a few businesses located in the area, notably the Widdowson Group and others located on the Mill Lane Industrial Estate. Next door to Mill lane is Optimus point, home to major brands such as Boden, Mattel, Everards and delivery company dpd.
Transport
Glenfield is only away from Leicester, and from the Beaumont Leys Shopping Centre.
