DE MONTFORT University is a public campus built in and among the city’s streets and existing buildings – and has always been open to the general public.
The main public roads through the campus - the pedestrianised Mill Lane, The Gateway, The Newarke, Castle View and Richmond Street – are all used by people walking into the city centre as well as students and staff.
All the campus green and open spaces are open to general public, including the Trinity House Herb Garden, the Wildflower Meadow behind the university’s Queen’s Building and the lawns in front of the Vijay Patel buildings.
This ‘open to all’ policy also extends to many of the university’s buildings, which can be visited by the general public free of charge.
DMU Museum is built on the ruins of the historic Church of the Annunciation which was founded in 1353 along with the nearby Trinity Hospital by Henry, the first Duke of Lancaster, a trusted confidant of King Edward III.
The church was built to house a relic – a thorn reputed to be from the ‘crown of thorns’ placed on Jesus’ head before he was crucified. It had been presented to Henry by King John II of France.
Richard III’s body was put on display at the church following his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The only remaining ruins – two arches – are part of the museum basement in the Hawthorn building.
Exhibitions housed at the museum in 2025 included The Newarke – Discover the Story of Leicester’s Heritage Quarter. This was a medieval precinct with a connection to King Richard III and a role in the Civil War. DMU’s association with The Newarke dates back to 1897, when the predecessor Leicester Municipal Technical and Art School was established.
Other exhibitions in 2025 included the History of Cinema Going; Contemporary Protest; 70 years of the Evolution of Contour Fashion; Contemporary Protest; and the Legacy of Leather, a story from prehistory to the present day. All exhibitions were free to enter.
Public access: The museum is open Wednesdays to Fridays, 12pm to 4pm and by email appointment at all other times. Entrance to the DMU Museum is free.
Leicester Gallery, which prided itself on bringing world class art to the city, is housed in the university’s Vijay Patel building.
During 2025, it hosted works including 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark, which seeks to redress the erasure of black women from portraiture in the UK. The project centres around an exhibition featuring the portraits of 100 black women with connections to Britain and Ireland, curated by Pawlet Brookes with artwork by visual artists Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Yvadney Davis, Gayle Ebose, Grace Lee and Lauryn Pinard.
Also in 2025, saw the popular Keep Off The Grass exhibition of 200 works by football photographer Peter Robinson, who was recently described by the New York Times as “arguably the world’s greatest football photographer.” Born in Leicester, he has covered 15 World Cups, numerous Olympics and worked as FIFA’s lead photographer.
There was also the Made in the Middle showcasing the work of 37 regional artists – six of from Leicester – highlighting the innovative contemporary crafts in the Midlands. The 31 artists, ranging from 22 to 82 years old, were selected by a panel of curators and craft sector specialists. A further six artists have been invited by Guest Curator, Jazz Swali, with Curatorial Support from Marta Marsicka.
The Gallery also continues to regularly host free sessions of Open Play - an early years programme dedicated to open ended child-led play in museums, galleries and cultural spaces for children aged 4 and under based. For DMU Pride 2025, Rainbow Families also took over the Gallery for an LGBTQ+ family workshop facilitated by Open Play.
Public access: The Gallery is open to the public free of charge Monday-Friday from 10am until 5pm and Saturday noon-5pm.
The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, housed in the university’s Hawthorn Square, has a permanent exhibition to the 25-year battle by Baroness Lawrence to get justice following the murder of her son.
News footage, press coverage, family artefacts and photographs from Stephen’s life to his death show chronicle until the 2012 conviction of two men for his murder show a pivotal time in British society.
Public access: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10am-4pm. Entrance is free of charge.
Heritage Sundays allow the general public to visit a series of historic buildings clustered around De Montfort University and The Newarke free of charge to the general public on the last Sunday of every month.
The public can visit the Great Hall of Leicester Castle, restored by DMU in a £4.2 million project, which hosted the English parliament in 14252. The castle was originally a motte-and-bailey battlement and built in about 1068. It was once a royal residence for the likes of Richard III and Henry V.
Visitors can also examine during the weekend the university’s Trinity House building - a stone chapel that originally served as the medieval Trinity Hospital and was founded in 1330 to care for the poor and infirm. The DMU Museum is also open during Heritage Sunday events.
The Trinity House Herb Garden, which has been attached to the hospital since its founding, can also be visited and is open to the public all year round. It originally produced herbs to be used by nurses as vital medicine at the hospital and is now used for catering at DMU.
DMU’s Kimberlin library is also open to the general public and membership is free of charge with certain age and residence restrictions. Members of the public must be…
- Over the age of 19
- Currently living in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland
- And no longer in full-time education
Access to the Kimberlin Library is for 12 months at a time and allows the public to loan up to 10 books from the main collection; reference access to printed journals; use of open study spaces and use of the Library Café. For more information, visit
DMU’s QEII Leisure Centre offers state-of-the-art facilities for DMU students, staff, and the general public, including a 25-metre swimming pool, climbing wall, an eight-court sports hall, a fully-equipped fitness suite, and a versatile dance studio. The centre also runs a wide variety of workout classes, catering to all fitness levels.