Holiday fortnight left city ghost town
AS the majority of schoolchildren across the country prepare for the start of the six-week summer holidays, most in Leicestershire are already a week into the annual break.
This is all thanks to a ballot of workers across the county 53 years ago when the Leicestershire July Fortnight was born.
Back in 1965, an announcement was made that factory holidays in the county were to be switched from August to the first two weeks of July.
The change came about after a ballot of workers conducted by Leicester and County Chamber of Commerce following discussions with trade unions and employers.
Factories across the county all closed for the same two weeks and families in their thousands left the city, mostly on holiday special trains, for hard-earned holidays to the likes of Skegness and Mablethorpe.
It was not just the factories that shut down.
Many offices and businesses fol- lowed suit, leading to reduced public transport services and the city almost like a ghost town.
The Leicester Mercury reported that more than 100,000 people left Leicester on holiday in July 1965, with £1 million in their pockets, including holiday pay.
About 10,000 of them travelled on 19 East Coast “specials” from London Road station. Most people travelled by rail, either because they did not own a car or to avoid what the Mercury described as the “nightmare drive to the coast”.
To keep the holidaymakers in touch with news back home, the Leicester Mercury produced a special Skegness edition during the fortnight.