This picture shows the top level of the multi-story car park at Lee Circle. Built in the 1960s it and its fellow car parks which circle the city centre were an attempt to cope with the growing number of cars coming into Leicester. It is said to be the first automatic multi-storey car park in Europe and it housed, at the time, what was reputed to be the largest supermarket in the UK, the first Tesco outside London. It also hosted a bowling alley and for a short period Lee Circle was the place to be seen.
At the end of 2009 it is looking rather shabby and there have been calls to demolish it. However, there are also voices which wish to keep this monument to 1960s modernism and planning. Which should it be?
