[2] The paper was founded by James Thompson, already proprietor of the Leicester Chronicle which he had merged with the Leicestershire Mercury ten years earlier.

[5][6] Along with the rest of Britain's regional daily press, the Leicester Mercury has struggled in circulation terms over the two decades preceding 2010.

[7][8] This represents a year-on-year decline of some 5.7%[8] and a drop of 47% when compared with a sale of 139,357 copies in the equivalent audit period for 1989.

In 2006 the paper attempted to reduce costs by ceasing publication of its localised weekday editions for Loughborough, Hinckley, North West Leicestershire, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough.

[13] Since June 2016 the paper has been edited by George Oliver, who took over the editorship following the resignation of Kevin Booth for personal reasons earlier in the year.

[14] The newspaper's headquarters underwent a complete external transformation, at a reported cost of £12.5m, and has now reopened to the general public.