It incorporates the museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and has a range of exhibits illustrating post-medieval and contemporary Leicester.

[1] The museum is close to the 15th century Magazine Gateway and within the precincts of the medieval 'Newarke', the 'New Work' of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster.

During the period 2014 to 2018 it held a rolling series of exhibitions marking the centenary of the First World War entitled 'Leicester Remembers'.

The museum holds a large collection of medals, with records regarding the involvement of people within the Leicester Regiment, which can be accessed via a computer.

The end wall of the garden has gun loops, cut in it by Cromwell's troops, the Round-heads, in 1645 during the English Civil War when the Cavalier Prince Rupert was besieging the town.