The twenty-seven BT Telephone Exchanges (and fourteen former) in the Leicester (0116) telephone area

The STD code for Leicester was previously 0533 (and also 0537), on 16 April 1995 this changed to 0116 with a 2 prefixed to subscriber’s number. For example: 0533 702090 changed to 0116 2702090. 

Leicester local call area map - March 1984

Local call area map for Leicester 1984

The map on the left shows the local call area for the Leicester area which explains to subscribers the local charge area for which they would be charged at the local call rate, as opposed to the regional or national call rate.

In addition to the Leicester area itself, it also includes calls made to the surrounding exchange groups of Coalville, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Market Harborough and Hinckley.

This was taken from the Leicester Telephone Dialling Codes booklet dated March 1984.

Anstey former ATE

Anstey former ATE
The former Anstey Telephone Exchange is located in Leicester Road, Anstey, Leicester LE7 7AT and served Anstey and the surrounding area.
The exchange closed around 1984 when the building was converted into a private dwelling which we believe is operated as a guest house.
Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Aylestone ATE

Aylestone ATE
Aylestone Telephone Exchange is located in Grace Road, Aylestone, Leicester LE2 8AD and serves Aylestone and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2440 and 0116-283.
ID: EMAYLES. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Aylestone former ATE

Aylestone former ATE

The former Aylestone exchange is at 1 Park Hill Drive, Leicester LE2 8TB.

It came into service as part of the Leicester linked numbering scheme on Thursday 27 April 1939 to replace the Aylestone manual exchange.

It closed around 1970 and is now the Zion Particular Baptist Chapel.

Its dialling code was 0533.

ID: EMAYLES. Photo courtesy of Ship-of-Fools.com.

Beaumont ATE

Beaumont ATE
Beaumont Telephone Exchange is located in Darenth Drive, Leicester LE4 0PJ and serves Anstey, Beaumont Leys and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2323, 0116-234, 0116-235 and 0116-236.
ID: EMBEAUM. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Belgrave ATE

Belgrave ATE
Belgrave Telephone Exchange is located in Melton Road, Belgrave, Leicester LE4 5EE and serves Belgrave and the surrounding area.

This exchange was previously a TXE4 exchange (66xxxx and 68xxxx numbers), and latterly a System X overlay added (61xxxx).  It is believed the TXE4 was subsequently converted to part System X and AXE10.

The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-261, 0116-266 and 0116-268.

ID: EMBELGR. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Billesdon ATE

Billesdon ATE
Billesdon Telephone Exchange is located in Church Street, Billesdon, Leicester LE7 9AE and serves Billesdon, Skeffington and the surrounding villages.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-2596.
ID: EMBILLE. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Birstall ATE

Birstall ATE
Birstall Telephone Exchange is located in Fielding Road, Birstall, Leicester LE4 3AL and serves Birstall and the surrounding area.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-267.
ID: EMBIRSS. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Birstall former ATE

Birstall former ATE

The former Birstall exchange is at 1 Johnson Road, Birstall, Leicester LE4 3BL.

It came into service as part of the Leicester linked numbering scheme on Thursday 20 October 1938, replacing a manual exchange in Front Street..

It closed around 1963 and, after being a junior school overspill, it became the Birstall Guides headquarters in 1968.

Its dialling code was 0533.

ID: EMBIRSS. Photo courtesy of Girl Guiding Birstall

Braunstone ATE

Braunstone ATE
Braunstone Telephone Exchange is located in Braunstone Lane East, Braunstone, Leicester LE3 2FD and serves Braunstone, Westcotes and the surrounding area.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-263, 0116-2814, 0116-282 and 0116-289.
ID: EMBRAUN. Photo courtesy of Anthony Parkes.

East Wigston ATE

East Wigston ATE
East Wigston Telephone Exchange is located in Milverton Drive, Wigston LE18 1HR and serves East Wigston, South Knighton and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2570, 0116-2571, 0116-2572 and 0116-288.
ID: EMEASWI. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Evington ATE

Evington ATE
Evington Telephone Exchange is located in Evington Road, Leicester LE2 1HN and serves Evington and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-249, 0116-2583, 0116-2584, 0116-2588 and 0116-273.
ID: EMEVING. Photo courtesy of Phil Richards.

Fleckney ATE

Fleckney ATE
Fleckney Telephone Exchange is located in Main Street, Fleckney, Leicester LE8 8AN and serves Fleckney and the surrounding villages.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-240.
ID: EMFLECK. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Fleckney former ATE

Fleckney former ATE

The former Fleckney exchange was in Main Street, Fleckney, Leicester LE8 8AN.

The first ATE here came into service in July 1939 as a UAX12. On the same site in 1954 a second exchange was opened. It closed on 26 June 1974 when it was replaced by the current exchange, Fleckney lines becoming Leicester 402*** numbers. It has since been replaced by a house.

Its dialling code was 053 757.

ID: EMFLECK. Photo taken in 2011.

Glenfield ATE

Glenfield ATE
Glenfield Telephone Exchange is located in Tournament Road, Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8FQ and serves Glenfield, Groby and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-231, 0116-2320, 0116-2321, 0116-2322, 0116-2324 and 0116-287.
ID: EMGLNFI. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Goscote ATE

Goscote ATE
Goscote Telephone Exchange is located in Melton Road, Syston, Leicester LE7 2JT and serves East Goscote, Syston and the surrounding area. It opened in 1977 when subscribers were transferred acrros from the old Syston exchange.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-260, 0116-264, 0116-269.
ID: EMGSCTE. Photo courtesy of Simon Cowper-Smith.

Great Glen ATE

Great Glen ATE
Great Glen Telephone Exchange is located in Station Road, Great Glen, Leicester LE8 9FP and serves Great Glen and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2592 and 0116-2593.
ID: EMGRTGL. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Humberstone former ATE

St Barnabas former ATE

The former Humberstone exchange is in St Barnabas Road, Leicester LE5 4BD and served north-east Leicester.

It was built in 1938 as part of the Leicester linked numbering scheme (the name Humberstone was not used in directories). It was extended in the early 1980s but there was insufficient space for a TXE4 to be inserted, hence the St Barnabas exchange was built about 700m away.

The building has since been converted to house the Shree Hindu Temple & Community Centre.

Its dialling code was 0553.

Photo required.

Hungarton ATE

Hungarton ATE
Hungarton Telephone Exchange is located in Main Street, Hungarton, Leicester LE7 9JR and serves Hungarton, Hungerton, Keyham and the surrounding villages.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-2595.
ID: EMHUGAR. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Kibworth ATE

Kibworth ATE
Kibworth Telephone Exchange is located in Harborough Road, Kibworth, Leicester LE8 0RB and serves Kibworth Beauchamp, Kibworth Harcourt, Smeeton Westerby and the surrounding villages.

Kibworth’s first auto exchange is next to the current exchange in Harborough Road, Kibworth, LE8 0RB. It came into service on 16 July 1952 to replace a CBS2 manual exchange in the front room of 23 Station Street, managed from 1923 by Mr and Mrs FJ Goodwin.

Its dialling code was 053 753.

The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-279.
ID: EMKBWOR. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Kirby Muxloe ATE

Kirby Muxloe ATE
Kirby Muxloe Telephone Exchange is located in Princess Drive, Kirby Muxloe, Leicester LE9 2DJ and serves Kirby Muxloe, Leicester Forest East and the surrounding villages.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-238 and 0116-239.
ID: EMKRBYM. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Leicester Cardinal ATE

Leicester Cardinal ATE
Leicester Cardinal Telephone Exchange is located in Humberstone Road, Leicester LE5 0AQ and serves Leicester City Centre.
The first manual telephone exchange for Leicester was in Free Lane and opened in February 1928. The manual board closed between 6 January 1986 and 14 February 1986 and Directory Enquiries moved in October 1986.
The telephone codes for this exchange include 0116-246, 0116-274 and 0116-276.
ID: EMCENTL. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Leicester Montfort ATE

Leicester Montfort ATE
Leicester Montfort Telephone Exchange is located in Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HL and serves Leicester City Centre.
The telephone codes for this exchange include 0116.
ID: EMMONTF. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Leicester Wharf Street former ATE

Wharf Street former ATE
The former Leicester Central Telephone Exchange is located in Wharf Street, Leicester LE1 2AA and served Leicester City Centre.
When it closed subscribers were transferred to the new Leicester Cardinal exchange. Apparently there is still a small amount of equipment housed in this building which is connected to Leicester Cardinal.
The building has now been converted into flats.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Richards.

Leicester Central (and Granby) former Manual Exchange

Leicester former TE #2

The former Leicester Central Manual Exchange is situated at 33 Rutland Street, Leicester LE1 1RE.

The switch room was on the top floor of what was then called Telephone Buildings, opened by the National Telephone Company in the 1890s.

It closed in 1928 but reopened on 7 January 1952 as the Granby manual relief exchange for Leicester ATE. It  finally closed on 10 December 1960 when Granby lines were moved onto the new ATE in Wharf Lane as Leicester numbers.

Photo courtesy of On The Market.

Leicester former ATE

Leicester former TE #1

The first Leicester automatic exchange stood in Free Lane, Leicester (now LE1 1JA).

It came into service from midnight on 18/19 February 1928. The transfer of lines from Central manual exchange was completed on 8/9 December 1928.

The automatic exchange closed on December 10 1960 when it was replaced by a new ATE in Wharf Lane. The auto manual boards remained here until they were closed between 6 January and 14 February 1986 and directory enquiries moved out in October 1986. The building was demolished in January 1988.

Photo courtesy of BT Archives.

Narborough ATE

Narborough ATE
Narborough Telephone Exchange is located in School Lane, Narborough, Leicester LE19 2GS and serves Littlethorpe, Narborough and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2724, 0116-2725, 0116-2726, 0116-2727, 0116-2750, 0116-2751, 0116-2752, 0116-2753, 0116-284 and 0116-286.
ID: EMNARBO. Photo taken by Mike Fletcher.

Narborough former ATE

Narborough former ATE

The former Narborough exchange is located in Station Road, Narborough, Leicester LE19 2HR.

It came into service as a UAX7 on 26 May 1937. It is now used as a library.

Its dialling code was 053 729.

ID: EMNARBO. Photo courtesy of Narborough and Littlethorpe Community Library.

Oadby ATE

Oadby ATE
Oadby Telephone Exchange is located in Regent Street, Oadby, Leicester LE2 4DL and serves Oadby and the surrounding area.
This exchange used to be a crossbar exchange prior to digitalisation.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-271, 0116-2720, 0116-2721, 0116-2722, 0116-2723 and 0116-2728.
ID: EMODDBY. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Peatling Magna (Bruntingthorpe) ATE

Peatling Magna ATE
Peatling Magna  (also known as Bruntingthorpe) Telephone Exchange is located in Main Street, Bruntingthorpe, Lutterworth LE17 5QG and serves Arnesby, Bruntingthorpe, Peatling Magna, Peatling Parva, Shearsby and Willoughby Waterleys.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-2478.
ID: EMPEATL. Photo courtesy of David Hillas.

Peatling Magna former ATE

Peatling Magna former ATE
The former Peating Magna Telephone Exchange is located in Main Street, Bruntingthorpe, Lutterworth LE17 5QG and served Arnesby, Bruntingthorpe, Peatling Magna, Peatling Parva, Shearsby and Willoughby Waterleys.
The telephone code for this exchange was 0533-2478.
ID: EMPEATL. Photo courtesy of David Hillas.

Rothley ATE

Rothley ATE
Rothley Telephone Exchange is located in Woodgate, Rothley, Leicester LE7 7LL and serves Cossington, Rothley and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-230 and 0116-237.
ID: EMRTHLY. Photo courtesy of Simon Cowper-Smith.

St Barnabas ATE

St Barnabas ATE
St Barnabas Telephone Exchange is located in Brighton Road, Leicester LE5 0HD and serves North-East Leicester.

This exchange was built for the TXE4 exchange in the early 1980s.

The telephone code for this exchange includes 0116-246.

ID: EMSTBBS. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

St Barnabas former ATE

St Barnabas former ATE
The former St Barnabas Telephone Exchange is located in St Barnabas Road, Leicester LE5 4BD and served North-East Leicester.

This exchange was built for the TXE4 exchange in the early 1980s but there was insufficient space for the TXE4 to be inserted, hence the new building which was built about 700M away from the original.

The building has since been converted to house the Shree Hindu Temple & Community Centre.

The former dialling code for this exchange was 0553.
ID: EMSTBBS. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Stoneygate ATE

Stoneygate ATE
Stoneygate Telephone Exchange is located in Stoneygate Road, Leicester LE2 2AD and serves Knighton, Stoneygate and the surrounding area.

It appears that the building was extended to house the TXE4A exchange at the rear. The location for this exchange is believed to have been built in the rear garden of a house on Stoneygate Road.

The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2448 and 0116-270.
ID: EMSTNYG. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Syston former ATE

Syston former ATE
The former Syston Telephone Exchange is located in Melton Road, Syston, Leicester. When this exchange closed subscribers were transferred across to the Goscote exchange.
The telephone code for this exchange was 0533.
Photo courtesy of Simon Cowper-Smith.

Thurnby ATE

Thurnby ATE
Thurnby Telephone Exchange is located in Uppingham Road, Leicester LE5 6QA and serves Bushby, Scraptoft, Thurnby and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-241 and 0116-243.
ID: EMTHRNB. Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Tilton ATE

Tilton ATE
Tilton Telephone Exchange is located in Melton Road, Tilton on the Hill, Leicester LE7 9LG and serves Halton, Tilton and the surrounding area.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-2597.
ID: EMTILTO. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Tugby ATE

Tugby ATE
Tugby Telephone Exchange is located in Hallaton Road, Tugby, Leicester LE7 9WB and serves Keythorpe, Tugby and the surrounding area.
The telephone code for this exchange is 0116-2598.
ID: EMTGGBY. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

West Wigston ATE

West Wigston ATE
West Wigston Telephone Exchange is located in Little Glen Road, Glen Parva, Leicester LE2 9TT. It opened on 22 March 1977 and serving subscribers in Blaby, Contersthorpe, Glen Parva, West Wigston and the surrounding area.
The telephone codes for this exchange are 0116-2477, 0116-2759, 0116-277 and 0116-278.
ID: EMWESSW. Photo courtesy of Ashley Brown.

Westcotes former ATE

Westcotes former ATE

The former Westcotes exchange is at 374 Narborough Road, Leicester LE3 2FR.

It came into service on 5 September 1931 in an area previously served in part by the Aylestone exchange. It was part of the Leicester linked numbering scheme. It closed in the 1970s.

In 2016 an extra storey was added and the building is divided into flats.

Its dialling code was 0533.

Western Park former ATE

Western Park former ATE
The former Western Park Telephone Exchange is located at 449 Hinckley Road, Leicester LE3 0WD and served Dane Hills, Western Park and the surrounding area.
The building has since been converted into apartments.
Its former dialling code was 053 362.
Photo courtesy of Neil White.

Wigston former ATE

Wigston former ATE

The former Wigston exchange is situated in Albion Street, South Wigston, Leicester LE18 4SA and was known as South Wigston exchange.

It opened in February 1928 as part of the first Leicester linked numbering scheme (lines being Wigston 89*** numbers). It was separated on 23 July 1953 and given the local code 80 from Leicester.

It closed in the mid-1970s when subscribers were transferred to the West Wigston exchange.

It is now the Elliott Hall community centre.

Its dialling code was 053 76.

Photo courtesy of ElliottHall.net

Acknowledgment:
The photographs on this page have been generously provided by Simon Cowper-Smith, David Hillas, Neil White and Ashley Brown.
I am grateful to them and the other contributors for allowing me to reproduce the information on this site.
If you would like to send us a picture of your local telephone exchange, via the Feedback page, we would be pleased to include it