[2] The town is sometimes promoted as Britain's "Rural Capital of Food";[3] it is the home of the Melton Mowbray pork pie and is the location of one of six licensed makers of Stilton cheese.

[4] The name comes from the early English word Medeltone – meaning 'Middletown surrounded by small hamlets' (as do Milton and Middleton).

Along the Wreake Valley, the Danish suffix "-by" is common, e.g. in Asfordby, Dalby, Frisby, Hoby, Rearsby and Gaddesby.

Most villages and their churches had origins before the Norman Conquest of 1066, shown by stone crosses at Asfordby and Sproxton and Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Goadby Marwood, Sysonby and Stapleford.

The original crosses were removed or destroyed during the Reformation and other iconoclastic periods, or to make room for traffic or other development.

Legacies from the Middle Ages include consolidation of village and market-town patterns – in Melton Mowbray, Bottesford, Wymondham and Waltham-on-the-Wolds.

In 1549, after the Dissolution of chantries, monasteries and religious guilds, church plate was sold and land bought for the town.

Local notable families seem to have had divided loyalties, though the Civil War ended with rejoicings outside the Limes in Sherrard Street, home of Sir Henry Hudson.

It was then included in the estates of Anne of Cleves by Henry VIII, as a divorce settlement in the 16th century, although there is debate about whether she ever stayed there.

[10] On 6 April 1837, the 3rd Marquess of Waterford and a hunting party went on a spree through Melton streets causing much damage, according to the London Examiner.

[15] The earliest reference cited is Daniel Defoe, who in 1724 called the cheese he ate at Stilton "the English Parmesan".

[17] The borough council has its offices at Parkside on Burton Street, adjoining Melton Mowbray railway station.

[23] In 1929 the Melton Mowbray Urban District Council bought Egerton Lodge to serve as its offices and meeting place.

The Melton Mowbray Town Estate[31] was founded in 1549, during the Reformation, when two townsfolk sold silver and plate sequestered from the church and bought land to be held in trust for all inhabitants.

It provided early forms of education and the first street lighting, and still owns and keeps the town's parks, sports grounds and market.

In 1989, a new Scheme of Arrangement drawn up by the Charity Commission after public consultation transferred management to a body of 14 Feoffees, two of whom are known as Senior and Junior Town Warden.

[37][38] Egerton Lodge is a Grade II listed building built in 1829 for Lord Wilton, as a hunting box.

It served as the offices of Melton Mowbray Urban District Council from 1929 until its abolition in 1974,[24] and was later a care home until 2023.

Included are sounds from the ages, a history of the hunt, a preserved phone box, a buried Anglo-Saxon, and shrapnel from the Second World War.

[44] The Noels Arms free house was Melton Mowbray District CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2014 and was also briefly home to Gasdog Brewery.

[45] One of Melton's oldest surviving pubs, with features from the early 14th century, is the Anne of Cleves in Burton Street, close to St Mary's Church; once home to chantry monks, the building was passed after the Dissolution to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement.

[46] The town cinema, The Regal in King Street,[47] occupies a purpose-built theatre complete with period interior design, sumptuous colours, winding staircases and fancy plasterwork.

Famous for a fleet of steam locos and its scenic location, it attracts visitors and tourists for two public charity events each year.

In the past few years, it has produced ballet, opera and stage plays and provided a venue for bands and acts, pantomime and art shows.

The War Memorial Hospital off Ankle Hill, originally Wyndham Lodge, was donated to the town in 1920 by Colonel Richard Dalgliesh.

The town's secondary schools are Long Field Academy and John Ferneley College for pupils aged 11–16 and the Melton Vale Post 16 Centre (MV16) for sixth-formers.

[58] Melton Mowbray railway station, on the Birmingham to Stansted Airport line, also serves Leicester, Peterborough and Cambridge.

Since early 2009, East Midlands Trains has offered a single daily journey from Melton Mowbray to London St Pancras and return.

Known as the Pork Pie Army, they play their home games at Melton Sports Village on a recently installed FIFA Pro Quality 3G pitch.

Asfordby Hill is home to Holwell Sports, which plays in the Leicestershire Senior League premier division.