Thomas Cook Statue Planned For Market Harborough Park

Thomas Cook is to be honoured with a new statue and heritage trail in his home town of Market Harborough.

The Friendship Park on Northampton Road will be renamed Thomas Cook Friendship Park, with the statue becoming the centrepiece of the attraction.

Thomas Cook came up with the idea for the world’s first organised rail excursion in 1841 during a 15-mile walk from Market Harborough to Leicester. The following month, he organised the first group rail trip, laying the foundations for what would become modern package tourism.

Harborough District Council leader Simon Whelband in the Thomas Cook Friendship Park, alongside a computer-generated image showing how the proposed statue could look. Inset: the plaque marking Thomas Cook’s former home in Quaker’s Yard off Adam and Eve Street.

The statue will be part of a new heritage trail, with specially designed suitcase markers guiding visitors to locations linked to Cook’s life and legacy, including Quaker’s Yard off Adam and Eve Street, where a plaque marks the site of his former home.

Information panels and enhanced landscaping will also be included as part of the project, designed to further enhance the site while celebrating one of the town’s most famous residents.

The Harborough District Council scheme follows the opening of the park last year and the recent installation of a sculpture.

Council leader Simon Whelband, who came up with the idea, told HFM the project would celebrate an important part of Market Harborough’s history while creating a new visitor attraction.

The project will be paid for using existing funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, with additional support from Business Rate Economic Development funding.