In 1948 a young man from Norwich was sent from there to work  at the Leicester Offices of Norwich Union. Derek Tomkin was interested in music and had been a member of the Norwich Gramophone Society. Finding no similar society in his new home city he placed an advertisement in the then two local Leicester evening papers, the Leicester Mercury and the Leicester Evening Mail, asking if anyone was interested in forming one.

People responded and the Leicester Gramophone Society started. Initially people gathered to play recordings, sometimes even of full operas. Most talks were given by members but talks were also given by external speakers both on music and equipment, people such as Peter Walker from Quad visited, and Leicester was fortunate in having within its clerical community, such luminaries as Canon Geoffrey J Cuming joint author of The World Encyclopedia of Recorded Music Music or WERM, who gave talks to the Society.

Some talks attracted up to 200 people and special accommodation had to be obtained for such talks. In addition to the talks and presentations study groups were also set up. Over the years the Society moved around halls in Leicester even spending a year above a café near the Clock Tower.

Over the years recorded music and hi fi equipment became more easily obtainable and much much cheaper so there was not the same need and in the mid eighties the Society moved to almost wholly external speakers.