Centuries of shoes to go on show in new Leicester exhibition

These shoes were made to celebrate Leicester City's 2016 Premier League title win

Unusual shoes from across the centuries are to go on display in a new exhibition in Leicester.

Footwear dating back to the 16th Century and including towering platforms from the 1970s have been collected as part of nod to the city's shoe-making industrial past.

The free-to-enter exhibition, called "Out of the Stores: SHOES", opens at Newarke House Museum on 30 September.

The collection has been described as "delightful" by Leicester City Council.

Curious items to go on show also include a pair of elevated shoes to keep the wearer above the dirty pavements of the 19th Century and stiletto-heeled court shoes from the 1960s.

'Wonderful and unusual'

Shoemaking was a major industry in Leicester by the 1870s and the exhibition celebrates local firms and famous brands including Liberty by Lennard Bros Ltd, Gypsy Queen by Wilkes Bros & Co, and Freeman, Hardy and Willis.

The council said special shoes had been created to mark major milestones and events such as Leicester City's 5000-1 Premier League title win in 2016.

The exhibition will also explain the numerous shoe superstitions, including never putting new shoes on a table and discussing which shoe should really be put on first.

Leicester's deputy mayor Adam Clarke said: "Leicester has a rich heritage in terms of hosiery and shoemaking industries, and this delightful exhibition looks at some of the wonderful and unusual shoes and items which form part of that history."