The Leicestershire bagpipe that Julian Goodacre makes is a reconstruction of a traditional English pipe. It has a similar volume and timbre to a melodeon, and plays in D or G (range C#-d) so it can do a large proportion of the English session tune repertoire. It's very widely used by early music groups and almost anybody interested in English instrumental traditions or mediaeval music will have heard it.

It was also once the standard type of bagpipe in Scotland - see Pete Stewart's recent book.

There isn't much excuse for somebody running a Leicester folk club not to know about it.