Werid Leicester: An outlaw legacy

I like Sons of Anarchy. That is not a particularly controversial statement, in the seven years that the show was on television it garnered a sizeable following and it's easy to see why: the show's narrative is pure crime fiction of the most enjoyable kind. The assorted characters that inhabit the titular outlaw motorcycle club are the friendly, likeable, family orientated face of the criminal underworld, in a world full of bad guys, they are the least bad.

As you might imagine, the show trades heavily on the mythic status of real outlaw clubs such as the Hells Angels. The more I watched the show, having always had a certain fascination with the world's criminal subcultures, I found myself drawn towards researching the real crimes, exploits and history of outlaw motorcycle clubs, specifically within the UK and the part of it I call home: the city of Leicester.

At first I didn't think I would find anything. Like most midlands cities, Leicester has suffered in our post industrial world and now sits somewhere in the middle, both geographically and culturally: better than Wolverhampton but nowhere near as good as Birmingham. However, I had barely gone beyond a preliminary search of the internet when I discovered that Leicester had history with two of the world's largest outlaw clubs: The Outlaws and, amazingly, the Hells Angels!

The history of The Outlaws in Leicestershire ( according to their own website at least) showcases some spectacularly varied DNA. Originally founded as "pariah MC" in the late 1970's they were initially simply a small group disaffected riders. Over the following decade however, they absorbed several other, smaller clubs across England and Wales and became the local representation of The Outlaws in the early 90's and remain so to this day.

By contrast, the History of The Hells Angels in Leicester is rather quaint. Like many of the other branches of the angels here in the UK, the Leicester Angels ( Called Hells Angels Ratae, named for the ancient Roman town upon which Leicester would eventually be built.) was founded in 1969. Brought together by a love for Hunter S Thompson's "Hell's Angels, ( a brilliant piece of journalism, transcendent of its genre, far superior  to many of the "tell all" books written by biker themselves and highly recommended.) they began meeting at various cafés around the city before acquiring a clubhouse on Conduit street. According an interview printed in The Leicester Mercury in 2010, they enjoyed considerable local notoriety.

 However, unlike their American cousins or even the founders of the UK angels in London, their story met a quiet end when they apparently refused to ratify their charter   with the mother club and then disbanded shortly afterwards, leaving former members to lead settled ordinary lives in Leicester.

So, there you have it, proof that appearances can indeed be deceiving and that Leicester is even stranger than you might think...