Nottingham ( ,

locally In mathematics, a mathematical object is said to satisfy a property locally, if the property is satisfied on some limited, immediate portions of the object (e.g., on some ''sufficiently small'' or ''arbitrarily small'' neighborhoods of points). P ...

) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

, England. It is located south-east of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and north-east of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. Nottingham is the legendary home of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

and to the

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

-making, bicycle and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

industries. The city is also the county town of Nottinghamshire and the settlement was granted its

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...

in 1897, as part of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. In the 2021 Census, Nottingham had a reported population of 323,632. The wider conurbation, which includes many of the city's suburbs, has a population of 768,638. It is the largest urban area in the East Midlands and the second-largest in the Midlands. Its Functional Urban Area, the largest in the East Midlands, has a population of 919,484. The population of the Nottingham/

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

metropolitan area is estimated to be 1,610,000. The

metropolitan economy A metropolitan economy refers to the cohesive, naturally evolving concentration of industries, commerce, markets, firms, housing, human capital, infrastructure and other economic elements that are comprised in a particular metropolitan area. Rat ...

of Nottingham is the seventh-largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $50.9 billion (2014). Aside from Birmingham, it is the only city in the Midlands to be ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the

Globalization and World Cities Research Network The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a British think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leic ...

. Nottingham is a major sporting centre and, in October 2015, was named "Home of English Sport". The

National Ice Centre The National Ice Centre (NIC) is located in Nottingham, England. It is situated just east of the city centre, close to the historic Lace Market area. The NIC was the first twin Olympic-sized (60m x 30m) ice pad facility in the UK, "heralding ...

Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre Holme Pierrepont Country Park, home of The National Water Sports Centre is located in the hamlet of Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham, England and on the River Trent. It is used for many different sports and has received investment which has e ...

and

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...

international cricket ground are all based in or around the city, which is also the home of two professional football teams:

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, recognised as the world's oldest professional league club, and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, two-time winners of the

UEFA European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robin ...

under

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. The city has professional rugby, ice hockey and cricket teams; it also hosts the Aegon

Nottingham Open The Nottingham Open, known as the Lexus Nottingham Open (originally known as the Nottingham Championships or Nottingham Lawn Tennis Tournament (1887–1967)), is a tennis tournament for men and women held in Nottingham, United Kingdom, played ...

, an international tennis tournament on the ATP and WTA tours. This accolade came just over a year after Nottingham was named as the UK's first ''City of Football''. The city is served by

Nottingham railway station Nottingham station, briefly known as Nottingham City and for rather longer as Nottingham Midland, is a railway station and tram stop in the city of Nottingham. It is the principal railway station of Nottingham. It is also a nodal point on the ...

and the

Nottingham Express Transit Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is a tram system in Nottingham, England. The concept of a modern tramway to reduce road congestion and promote urban renewal was formally identified during the late 1980s while detailed planning was undertake ...

tram system; its bus company,

Nottingham City Transport Nottingham City Transport (NCT) is the major bus operator of the city of Nottingham, England. NCT operates extensively within Nottingham as well as beyond the city boundaries into Nottinghamshire county. Publicly owned, it is today the second ...

, is the largest publicly owned bus network in England. In December 2015, Nottingham was named a '

City of Literature UNESCO's City of Literature programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The ''Network'' was launched in 2004, and now has member cities in seven creative fields. The other creative fields are: Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Film ...

' by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, joining a list of 20 Cities of Literature. The title reflects Nottingham's literary heritage, with

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

and

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called " angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ...

having links to the city, as well as a contemporary literary community, a publishing industry and a poetry scene. The city is served by three universities: the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

and the Nottingham campus of the

University of Law The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a Private university, private Proprietary college, for-profit university in the United Kingdom, providing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, busi ...

; it hosts the highest concentration of higher education providers in the

Etymology

The name ''Nottingham'' comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''Snotingaham'', meaning "homestead of the Snotingas" (that is, "the family or followers of a man called Snot"). The loss of the initial S is due to Norman influence. In his ''

Life of King Alfred Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh people, Welsh monk from St David's, Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join ...

'', the Welsh cleric

Asser Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh people, Welsh monk from St David's, Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join ...

refers to Nottingham as ''Tigguocobauc'' (modern Welsh ''Tŷ Gogofawg''), meaning "cave house". It is unclear, however, whether this is a genuine Welsh name for Nottingham or an invention of Asser's.

History

The history of Nottingham dates back to 919 AD, when

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousi ...

captured the settlement, subsequently building a fortress on the south bank of the Trent. Following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

built a castle in Nottingham, which he entrusted to

William Peverel William Peverel (died 28 January 1114), Latinised to Gulielmus Piperellus), was a Norman knight granted lands in England following the Norman Conquest. Origins Little is known of the origin of the William Peverel the Elder. Of his immediat ...

.Cornelius Brown, ''A History of Nottinghamshire'' (1896), retrieved on 3 June 2023 The Anglo-Saxon settlement was originally confined to the area today known as the Lace Market and was surrounded by a substantial defensive ditch and rampart. The ditch had fallen out of use and been filled in by the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086).Scott C. Lomax (17 October 2013). Nottingham: The Buried Past of a Historic City Revealed. Pen and Sword. pp. 83–. . Following the Norman Conquest, the Saxon settlement developed into the "English

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

" of Nottingham. A "French Borough" also developed around the castle on the hill opposite. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham. Defences consisted initially of a ditch and bank in the early 12th century. The ditch was later widened, in the mid-13th century, and a stone wall built around much of the perimeter of the town. A short length of the wall survives, and is visible at the northern end of Maid Marian Way, and is protected as a Scheduled Monument. Nottingham Castle South Front

On the return of

Richard the Lionheart Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

from the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

in 1194, the castle was occupied by supporters of Prince John, including the

Sheriff of Nottingham The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood. He is generally depicted as an unjust tyrant who mistreats the local people of Nottinghamshire, subjecting them to unaffordable taxes. Robin Hood fights against him, ...

. It was besieged by Richard and, after a sharp conflict, was captured. In the legends of

, Nottingham Castle is the scene of the final showdown between the sheriff and the hero outlaw. During the Black Death of 1349, it is believed that approximately 60% of Nottingham's population died, but that migration from other parts of England helped begin the process of population recovery. By the 15th century, Nottingham had established itself as the centre of a thriving export trade in religious sculpture made from

Nottingham alabaster Nottingham alabaster is a term used to refer to the English sculpture industry, mostly of relatively small religious carvings, which flourished from the fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century. Alabaster carvers were at work in L ...

. During the late medieval period Nottingham alabasters were exported as far afield as Iceland, and may be one reason why a small number of Icelandic immigrants lived in Nottingham during the 15th century. The town became a

county corporate A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for the administration of justice in certain towns and cities in England, Wales, and Ireland. They arose when the monarch gave a borough corporation the right to appoi ...

in 1449 giving it effective self-government, in the words of the charter, "for eternity". The Castle and Shire Hall were expressly excluded and remained as detached parishes of

. One of those highly impressed by Nottingham in the late 18th century was the German traveller C. P. Moritz, who wrote in 1782, "Of all the towns I have seen outside London, Nottingham is the loveliest and neatest. Everything had a modern look, and a large space in the centre was hardly less handsome than a London square. A charming footpath leads over the fields to the highway, where a bridge spans the Trent. … Nottingham … with its high houses, red roofs and church steeples, looks excellent from a distance." During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, much of Nottingham's prosperity was founded on the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

; in particular, the city became an internationally important centre of

manufacture. In 1831 citizens rioted in protest against the

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Willi ...

's opposition to the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

, setting fire to his residence on the site of Nottingham Castle. Nottingham Map 1831 by Staveley and Wood

In common with the British textile industry, Nottingham's textile sector fell into decline in the decades following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Little textile manufacture now takes place in Nottingham; however, many of the former industrial buildings in the Lace Market district have been restored and put to new uses. Nottingham was one of the boroughs reformed by the

Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The le ...

, and at that time consisted of the parishes of St Mary, St Nicholas and St Peter. It was expanded in 1877 by the addition of the parishes of Basford, Brewhouse Yard,

Bulwell Bulwell is a market town and former civil parish in the Nottingham district, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. It is south-west of Hucknall and to the north-west of Nottingham. The United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded the p ...

, Radford,

Sneinton Sneinton (pronounced "Snenton") is a suburb of Nottingham and former civil parish in the Nottingham district, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. The area is bounded by Nottingham city centre to the west, Bakersfield to the n ...

, Standard Hill, and parts of the parishes of

West Bridgford West Bridgford () is a town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Rushcliffe, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south of Nottingham city centre, east of Wilford, north of Ruddington and west of Radcliffe-on-Trent ...

, Carlton,

Wilford Wilford is a village and former civil parish in the Nottingham district in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. The village is to the northeast of Clifton, Nottinghamshire, Clifton, southwest of West Bridgford, northwest of Ruddi ...

(North Wilford). In 1889 Nottingham became a county borough under the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

. City status was awarded as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, being conveyed in a letter from the prime minister, the

Marquess of Salisbury Marquess of Salisbury is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, held by a branch of the Cecil family. It was created in 1789 for the 7th Earl of Salisbury. Most of the holders of the title have been prominent in British political life over t ...

to the mayor, dated 18 June 1897. The city was enlarged in 1933 by the addition of

Bilborough Bilborough is a suburb of the city of Nottingham, in the Nottingham district, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the City of Nottingham ward at the 2011 census was 16,792. St Martin of Tours' Church, Bilbor ...

and

Wollaton Wollaton is a suburb and former civil parish in the western part of Nottingham, in the Nottingham district, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire, England. Wollaton has two wards in the City of Nottingham (''Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey'' ...

, parts of the parishes of Bestwood Park and

Colwick Colwick ( ) is a village and civil parish, in the Borough of Gedling of Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated to the east of Nottingham's city boundary, and forms the Colwick ward. At the time of the 2011 census, the village had a populat ...

, and a recently developed part of the

Beeston Urban District Beeston was an urban district in Nottinghamshire, England, from 1894 to 1935. The urban district was created by the Local Government Act 1894 on the borders of the Beeston Civil Parish and the Beeston Urban Sanitary District. It bordered the c ...

. A further boundary extension occurred in 1951, when Clifton and Wilford (south of the River Trent) were incorporated into the city. Electric trams were introduced to the city in 1901; they served the city for 35 years until 1936. Trams were reintroduced after 68 years when a new network opened in 2004. In the sporting world, Nottingham is home to the world's oldest professional football club,

, which was formed in 1862. The town's other football club,

, had a period of success between 1977 and 1993 under manager

, winning the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

, four League Cups, a

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

and two

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

s. During this time Forest signed

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (19 April 1954 – 24 July 2023) was an English footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million pla ...

, Britain's first £1 million footballer, who joined the club in February 1979 from

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. The city was the site of race riots in 1958, centred on the St Ann's neighbourhood. During the second half of the 20th century Nottingham saw urban growth with the development of new public and private housing estates and new urban centres, which have engulfed former rural villages such as Bilborough, Wollaton, Gedling and Bramcote. South of the river there has also been expansion with new areas such as Edwalton and West Bridgford, adding to Nottingham's

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

. Although this growth slowed towards the end of the century, the modern pressures for more affordable and council housing is back on the political agenda and there is now pressure on the

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

which surrounds the city.

Government

Local government

Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Nottingham, in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous ...

is a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

, and is based at Loxley House on Station Street. It consists of 55

councillors A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regi ...

, representing 20 wards, who are elected every four years; the last elections being held on 2 May 2019. The council is independent of

Nottinghamshire County Council Nottinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes the city of ...

but work with them for local developments and other matters. Nottingham, though, remains the county town of Nottinghamshire even though the county hall is in the neighbouring town of

where the county council is based. The city also has a

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

who is selected by city councillors from among themselves. The position is largely ceremonial but the Lord Mayor also acts as Chair of Full Council meetings. The City of Nottingham's boundaries are tightly drawn and exclude several suburbs and towns that are usually considered part of

Greater Nottingham The Nottingham Built-up Area (BUA), Nottingham Urban Area, or Greater Nottingham is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics as built-up land with a minimum area of 20 hectares (200,000 m2), while settlements within 200 met ...

. Unlike the city, these areas are governed by a two tier system of local government. Nottinghamshire County Council is based at the county hall. It provides the upper tier of local government whilst the lower tier is split into several district or borough councils. The County Council are responsible for Health, Social Care, Education, Highways, Transport, Libraries and Trading Standards, whilst the lower tier councils are responsible for local planning, neighbourhood services, housing, licensing, environmental health and leisure facilities. The towns of Beeston, Stapleford and Eastwood are administered by

Broxtowe Borough Council Broxtowe refers to a number of geographic entities, current and historic, in Nottinghamshire, England: * Broxtowe, Nottingham, a housing estate in Apsley ward, within the City of Nottingham * Broxtowe (UK Parliament constituency), the constituency ...

. Further west still, the Nottingham urban district extends into

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

where

Ilkeston Ilkeston ( ) is a town located in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, England, with a population of 40,953 at the 2021 census. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/textiles, have now all but disappeared. Part of t ...

and

Long Eaton Long Eaton is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Erewash district of Derbyshire, England, just north of the River Trent, about south-west of Nottingham and south-east of Derby. The town population was 37,760 at the 2011 census. It has been part ...

are administered by Erewash Borough Council, and Ripley by

Amber Valley Amber Valley is a local government district with borough status in the east of Derbyshire, England, taking its name from the River Amber. Its council is based in Ripley. The district covers a semi-rural area lying to the north of the city of ...

. To the north,

Hucknall Hucknall () is a market town in the Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, north of Nottingham, southeast of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, from Mansfield and south of Sutton-in-Ashfield. Hucknall is on the west ba ...

is governed by Ashfield District Council, while in the east

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia U ...

and Carlton form part of the

Borough of Gedling Gedling is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Nottinghamshire, England. The council is based in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, Arnold. The borough also includes Carlton, ...

. South of the river, the town of

lies in

Rushcliffe Rushcliffe is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south Nottinghamshire, England. Its council is based in West Bridgford. The borough also includes the towns of Bingh ...

, as do the outlying villages of

Ruddington Ruddington () is a large village in the Borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. The village is south of Nottingham and northwest of Loughborough. It had a population of 6,441 at the United Kingdom census, 2001, 2001 Census, increas ...

and Tollerton and the town of Bingham. GreaterNottingham-map

UK Parliament

Nottingham has three UK parliamentary

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

seats within its boundaries.

Nottingham North Nottingham North was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Under the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency was abolished. Subject to major boundary changes – including gaining ...

has been represented since 2017 by Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Alex Norris, Nottingham East since 2019 by Labour MP

Nadia Whittome Nadia Edith Whittome (, born 29 August 1996) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham East since 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she was previously the youngest MP upon her election at the age of 23. She ...

and Nottingham South since 2010 by Labour MP

Lilian Greenwood Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads since July 2 ...

. Each of the outer districts (Broxtowe, Ashfield, Gedling and Rushcliffe) are also parliamentary constituencies in their own right although the parliamentary constituency boundaries do not align with the boundaries of the council districts of which they share their name.

Geography

Jan Siberechts - View of Nottingham from the East

Nottingham is situated on an area of low hills along the lower valley of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

, and is surrounded by the

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is the remnants of an ancient royal forest, Royal Forest in Nottinghamshire, within the East Midlands region in England. It has association with the legend of Robin Hood. The forest was proclaimed by William the Conqueror and ...

in the north, the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield in the west, and the Trent and Belvoir Vales in the east and south. Within the city, native wildlife includes

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

and

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

. Notable nature reserves around the city include

Attenborough Nature Reserve Attenborough Nature Reserve is a nature reserve at Attenborough, Nottinghamshire, England, located south west of Nottingham city centre. It is owned and managed by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, supported by Broxtowe Borough Council, follow ...

SSSI,

National Nature Reserve, Holme Pit SSSI,

Fairham Brook Fairham Brook is a tributary of the River Trent that flows through Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire in England. Course The source of the brook is on the edge of the Nottinghamshire Wolds, near Old Dalby, Leicestershire. It initially flows ...

Local Wildlife Site and

Wollaton Park Wollaton Park is a 500 acre park in Nottingham, England, which includes a deer park. It is centred on Wollaton Hall, a classic Elizabethan prodigy house which contains the Nottingham Natural History Museum, with the Nottingham Industrial Museu ...

. Due to its position as a central city with strong transport links, Nottingham has become home to invasive animal and plant species including

rose-ringed parakeet The rose-ringed parakeet (''Psittacula krameri''), also known as the ring-necked parakeet, ringneck parrot (in aviculture) or the Kramer parrot, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus ''Psittacula'', of the Family (biology), family Psittacidae. It ...

Japanese knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

and

Himalayan balsam ''Impatiens glandulifera'', Himalayan balsam, is a large annual plant native to the Himalayas. Via human introduction it is now present across much of the Northern Hemisphere and is considered an invasive species in many areas. Uprooting or cutt ...

. In 2017 it was reported that Nottingham was one of a number of UK cities that broke WHO air pollution guidelines for the maximum concentration of small particulate matter; the pollution in part being caused by harmful wood-burning stoves. Nottingham is bounded by a green belt area, provisionally drawn up from the 1950s. Completely encircling the city, it extends for several miles into the surrounding districts, as well as towards Derby.

Within the city

* Alexandra Park * The Arboretum * Aspley *

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

* Basford *

Beechdale Beechdale, originally named Gypsy Lane Estate, is a housing estate in Walsall, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, that was developed predominantly during the 1950s and 1960s. Education Beechdale Infant School ...

Bestwood Bestwood Estate is a large council estate located to the north of the city of Nottingham, England. Based on the 2011 census, its population is 4,719. There is also a ward of the City of Nottingham called Bestwood, which at the time of the 2011 ...

Bestwood Park Bestwood Park is a large post-World War II, war council house, council estate located to the north of the city of Nottingham, England, and roughly bounded by Beckhampton Road, Oxclose Lane and Queens Bower Road. Origins It is distinct from th ...

* Broxtowe * Bulwell town * Bulwell Hall * Carrington *

Cinderhill Cinderhill is an area in the City of Nottingham. It is located roughly from the City Centre, and surrounding areas include Bulwell to the north, Aspley and Broxtowe to the south, Basford to the east and Nuthall to the west. Cinderhill lies ...

* Clifton *

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

Forest Fields Forest Fields is an inner-city area of the City of Nottingham, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. Geography Forest Fields is slightly north of the city centre, just past the Forest Recreation Ground. The area includes 31 streets from ...

Highbury Vale Highbury Vale is an area located in the city of Nottingham, and is located in the Bulwell Forest ward (which includes Rise Park and the western area of Top Valley). The area forms part of a conservation area and is located roughly from the Cit ...

Hockley Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 189 ...

Hyson Green Hyson Green is a neighbourhood in Nottingham, England. It is home to a variety of cultures with a thriving local economy. Hyson Green has the largest ethnic minority population in the city. Since 2006 Hyson Green has seen a larger rise in develo ...

Lace Market The Lace Market is a historic quarter-mile square area in the centre of Nottingham, England. It was once the centre of the world's lace industry and was an area of salesrooms and warehouses for storing, displaying and selling the lace. It is no ...

* Lenton * Lenton Abbey *

Mapperley Mapperley is a residential and commercial area of north-eastern Nottingham, England. The area is bounded by Sherwood to the north-west, Thorneywood to the south and Gedling to the east. History At various periods the terms 'Mapperley' and ' ...

Mapperley Park Mapperley is a residential and commercial area of north-eastern Nottingham, England. The area is bounded by Sherwood to the north-west, Thorneywood to the south and Gedling to the east. History At various periods the terms 'Mapperley' and ' ...

* The Meadows *

New Basford Basford is a northerly suburb of Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, England, incorporated into the city in 1877. It gave its name to Basford Rural District, which existed from 1894 to 1974. The ward population at the 2011 census was 16,207, est ...

* Nottingham city centre *

Old Basford Old Basford is an area of Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is ...

* The Park * Radford *

Rise Park Rise Park is an area of Romford, a district in the London London Borough of Havering. It it is also the name of an urban park in the neighbourhood. History Romford Borough Council were given 23 acres of land by Thomas England in 1937 and used ...

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland * Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...

Sherwood Rise Sherwood Rise is a residential area in the north of the city of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. It is bordered by Carrington, Basford, Forest Fields and Sherwood. Politics Sherwood Rise is part of the Berridge ward and the Nottingham Eas ...

* Silverdale * Snape Wood *

* St Anns *

Strelley Strelley is a village and former civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe and City of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 653, and 496 at the ...

* Thorneywood *

Top Valley Top Valley is a largely residential area in the north west of Nottingham, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers ...

* Whitemoor *

Around the city

Attenborough Attenborough may refer to: People * Attenborough (surname) Places * Attenborough, Nottinghamshire, a village and suburb in England ** Attenborough railway station ** Attenborough Nature Reserve Attenborough Nature Reserve is a nature reserv ...

* Beeston *

Bestwood Village Bestwood Village is a village and civil parish in the Gedling district of Nottinghamshire. Until 1 April 2018 it was part of the civil parish of Bestwood St. Albans. The population count was 2,223 at the 2021 census. A small part of the vill ...

* Bingham *

Bramcote Bramcote (, ) is a suburban village and former civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe, Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, Stapleford and Beeston, Nottinghamshire, Beeston. It is in the parliame ...

Bulcote Bulcote is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 330, reducing to 309 at the 2011 census, and 272 at the 2021 census. The village is on ...

Burton Joyce Burton Joyce () is a large Village#United Kingdom, village and civil parish in the Borough of Gedling, Gedling district of Nottinghamshire, England, east of Nottingham, between Stoke Bardolph to the south and Bulcote to the north-east. The A61 ...

* Calverton * Carlton *

Chilwell Chilwell is a suburban area in the borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the west side of the town of Beeston and is south-west of the centre of Nottingham. History Roman buildings, pottery and coins have been found i ...

Cotgrave Cotgrave () is a Town#United Kingdom, town and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Nottingham. It perches on the South Nottinghamshire Wolds about 131 feet (40 metres) ...

Daybrook Daybrook is a suburb of Arnold, Nottinghamshire. The area is located just outside the city of Nottingham but inside the conurbation of Greater Nottingham. It lies next to the areas of Arnold town centre, Sherwood, Woodthorpe, Redhill and ...

* Eastwood *

East Leake East Leake () is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough in Leicestershire. Census data from 2021 shows that the village now has a pop ...

Edwalton Edwalton is an area within Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. Originating from Edwalton village. The population of the Rushcliffe Ward was 3,908 at the 2011 Census. Results from the 2021 census now indicates that the population has risen t ...

* Gamston *

Gedling Gedling is a village and former civil parish which gives its name to the larger Borough of Gedling in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies north-east of Nottingham city centre. The parish was abolished in 1935 and absorbed into the urban distr ...

Giltbrook Giltbrook is a village in England situated approximately northwest of Nottingham and within close reach of junction 26 of the M1 motorway. It is part of Greasley (Giltbrook and Newthorpe) ward, which had a population of 6,076 in 2001, increasi ...

Holme Pierrepont Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region. The population of the civil parish ...

(Derbyshire) *

Keyworth Keyworth () is a large Village#United Kingdom, village and civil parish of Nottinghamshire, England. It is located about southeast of the centre of Nottingham. It sits on a small, broad hilltop about 200 feet above sea level which is set in t ...

Killisick Killisick is an area of the market town of Arnold, Nottinghamshire, Arnold in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England. It also used to be a local government ward area of Borough ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

* Lady Bay *

Langley Mill Langley Mill is a village in the civil parish of Aldercar and Langley Mill in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. History Originally named ''Long Lea'', the village of Langley Mill was a major employer throughout the mid 1900s w ...

(Derbyshire) * Lambley *

(Derbyshire) *

Lowdham Lowdham is a Village#United Kingdom, village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire between Nottingham and Southwell, Nottinghamshire, Southwell. According to the 2021 United Kingdom c ...

* Netherfield *

Nuthall Nuthall is a village and civil parish located in Nottinghamshire, England, neighbouring Kimberley, Watnall, Cinderhill and Basford. The population of the civil parish at the 2021 census was 6,583. an increase from 6,311 of the 2011 census ...

Radcliffe-on-Trent Radcliffe-on-Trent is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the Census 2011 was 8,205, falling slightly at the Census 2021 to 8,144 Location Radcliffe has a po ...

* Redhill *

Sandiacre Sandiacre is a town and civil parish in the borough of Erewash in Derbyshire,England adjoining the border with Nottinghamshire. The population of the parish was 8,889 at the 2011 Census. The name Sandiacre is usually thought to refer to a ''s ...

(Derbyshire) * Sawley (Derbyshire) * Stapleford *

Strelley Village Strelley is a village and former civil parish in the Borough of Broxtowe and City of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is to the west of Nottingham. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 653, and 496 at the ...

Toton Toton is a large suburban village in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It forms part of the built-up area of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, Beeston, which in turn forms part of the wider Nottingham Urban Area. The population of th ...

Trowell Trowell () is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies a few miles west of Nottingham, in the borough of Broxtowe on the border with Derbyshire. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,568, falling to 2,3 ...

* Warren Hill *

* Woodthorpe

Climate

Like most of the United Kingdom, Nottingham has a

temperate oceanic climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: Cfb) and experiences warm mild summers and mild to cool winters with abundant precipitation throughout the year. There are two weather-reporting stations close to Nottingham: the former "Nottingham Weather Centre", at

Watnall Watnall is an area in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It is part of Greasley civil parish, and is located one mile north of Kimberley. It is in the Nuthall West and Greasley (Watnall) ward of Broxtowe Council. The village ...

, about northwest of the city centre; and the

's agricultural campus at

Sutton Bonington Sutton Bonington () is a village and civil parish lying along the valley of the River Soar in the Borough of Rushcliffe, south-west Nottinghamshire, England. The University of Nottingham has the Sutton Bonington Campus, a site just to the nor ...

, about southwest of the city centre. The highest temperature recorded in Nottingham (Watnall) stands at , whilst Sutton Bonington recorded a temperature of , both recorded on 19 July 2022, and the record-high minimum temperature is recorded on 20 July 2022. On average, a temperature of or above is recorded on 11 days per year, whilst a temperature of is recorded at least 1 day per year at Watnall for the period of 1991–2020, and the warmest day of the year reaches an average of . For the period 1991–2020 Nottingham (Watnall) recorded on average 36.9 days of air frost per year, and Sutton Bonington 42.2. The lowest recorded temperature in Nottingham (Watnall) is recorded in 23 January 1963 and 13 January 1987, whilst a temperature of was recorded in Sutton Bonington on 24 February 1947. The record-low maximum temperature is recorded in

January 1963 The following events occurred in January 1963: January 1, 1963 (Tuesday) *In the United States, the #1 ranked (and unofficial college football champion) USC Trojans football, USC Trojans and the #2 Wisconsin Badgers football, Wisconsin Bad ...

. For the period of 1991–2020, the coldest temperature of the year reaches an average of in Nottingham (Watnall).

City centre

The city centre of Nottingham is usually defined as the Old Market Square. The square is dominated by the

Council House A council house, corporation house or council flat is a form of British Public housing in the United Kingdom, public housing built by Local government in the United Kingdom, local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing ...

, which was built in the 1920s to replace the Nottingham Exchange. The Council House has

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

columns and two stone lion statues in the front to stand watch over the square. The Exchange Arcade, on the ground floor, is a shopping centre. Tall office buildings line Maid Marian Way. The Georgian area around Oxford and Regent Streets is dominated by small professional firms. The

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genre ...

faces the

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

St Barnabas' Roman Catholic Cathedral by

Pugin Pugin most commonly refers to Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852), an English architect and designer. Members of his family include: * Augustus Charles Pugin Augustus Charles Pugin (born Auguste-Charles Pugin; 1762 – 19 Decem ...

Nottingham Castle Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Normans, Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortr ...

and its grounds are located further south in the western third of the city. The central third descends from the university district in the north, past

's Gothic revival Arkwright Building. The university also owns many other buildings in this area. The Theatre Royal on Theatre Square, with its pillared façade, was built in 1865. King and Queen Streets are home to striking

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

buildings designed by such architects as

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

and

Watson Fothergill Watson Fothergill (12 July 1841 – 6 March 1928) was a British architect who designed over 100 unique buildings in Nottingham in the East Midlands of England. His influences were mainly from the Gothic Revival and Old English vernacular archite ...

. The canal-side to the south of the city is adjacent to

and home to multiple repurposed (as bars and restaurants) 19th-century industrial buildings. Canal-Side, Nottingham The eastern third of the city contains Hockley Village, with specialist and independent shops. The

Victoria Centre The Victoria Centre is a shopping centre and social housing complex in Nottingham, England, constructed by Taylor Woodrow between 1967 and 1972. It contains fashion and high street chain stores as well as cafes, restaurants, and the Nottingham ...

is also in the area; it was built in the 1970s on the demolished Victoria railway station site. All that remains of the old station is the station hotel and clock tower. The 250-foot-high Victoria Centre flats stand above the shopping centre and are the tallest buildings in the city.

Lace Market

350px, centre, High Pavement The

area just south of

has streets with four- to seven-storey red brick warehouses,

iron railing An iron railing is a fence made of iron. This may either be wrought iron, which is ductile and durable and may be hammered into elaborate shapes when hot, or the cheaper cast iron, which is of low ductility and quite brittle. Cast iron can also ...

s and red phone boxes. Many of the buildings have been converted into apartments, bars and restaurants. The largest building in the Lace Market is the Adams Building, built by

Thomas Chambers Hine Thomas Chambers Hine (31 May 1813 – 6 February 1899) was an architect based in Nottingham. Background He was born in Covent Garden into a prosperous middle-class family, the eldest son of Jonathan Hine (1780–1862), a hosiery manufacturer and ...

for

Thomas Adams Thomas Adams may refer to: Politicians *Thomas Adams (MP), Member of Parliament for Bedford *Sir Thomas Adams, 1st Baronet (1586–1667/68), Lord Mayor of London * Thomas Adams (politician) (1730–1788), Virginia delegate to the Continental Congr ...

(1807–1873), and currently used by

Nottingham College Nottingham College is one of the largest further education and higher education colleges in the United Kingdom. Based in the city of Nottingham in England, it provides education and training from pre-entry through to university-degree level at i ...

. The Georgian-built Shire Hall, which was once Nottingham's main

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

and

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

building, is now home to the

National Justice Museum The National Justice Museum (formerly known as the Galleries of Justice Museum and, historically, the Shire Hall and County Gaol) is an independent museum on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England. The museum is housed ...

(formerly the "Galleries of Justice").

Public houses

Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (the Trip), partially built into the cave system beneath Nottingham Castle, is a contender for the title of England's Oldest Pub, as it is supposed to have been established in 1189. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem 03

The Bell Inn in the Old Market Square, and

Ye Olde Salutation Inn Ye Olde Salutation Inn (nicknamed The Sal) is a Grade II listed public house, with parts dating from around 1240, which lays claim (along with Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem and The Bell Inn) to being the oldest pub in Nottingham. The inn also has ...

(the Salutation) in Maid Marian Way have both disputed this claim. The Trip's current timber building probably dates back to the 17th or 18th century, but the caves are certainly older and may have been used to store beer and water for the castle during medieval times. There are also caves beneath the Salutation that date back to the medieval period, although they are no longer used as beer cellars. The Bell Inn is probably the oldest of the three pub buildings still standing, according to

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of chronological dating, dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed in a tree. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, ...

, and has medieval cellars that are still used to store beer.

Education

Almost 62,000 students attend the city's three universities,

, the

and the

; in the 2016/17 academic year, Trent University was attended by 29,370 students and Nottingham University by 32,515. The University of Nottingham Medical School is part of the

Queen's Medical Centre The Queen's Medical Centre (popularly known as QMC, Queen's Med or Queen's) is a teaching hospital situated in Nottingham, England. Until February 2012, when it was surpassed by the Royal London Hospital, it was the largest hospital in the Unit ...

. There are three colleges of

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

located in Nottingham:

Bilborough College Bilborough Sixth Form College is a sixth-form college in Nottingham, England. The college has students from across the conurbation. A third of its students come from Nottingham, another third from the surrounding county of Nottinghamshire, and ...

is solely a

sixth form college A sixth form college (pre-university college in Malaysia) is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as GCE Advanced Level, A Levels, Business and Technology Edu ...

; Nottingham College was formed in 2017, by the amalgamation of

Central College Nottingham Nottingham College is one of the largest further education and higher education colleges in the United Kingdom. Based in the city of Nottingham in England, it provides education and training from pre-entry through to university-degree level at i ...

and New College Nottingham (which had both previously formed from the merger of smaller FE colleges); and the

Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies is a specialist education provider with courses in the Creative Industries. It delivers college courses validated by Access Creative, with undergraduate and postgraduate courses being validated and run t ...

, owned by Nottingham Trent University, is a further education college that specialises in media. The city has dozens of sixth form colleges and academies, providing education and training for adults aged over sixteen. Nottingham also has a number of independent schools. The city's oldest educational establishment is

Nottingham High School Nottingham High School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private fee-charging day school for boys and girls in Nottingham, England, with an infant and junior school (ages 4–11) and senior school (ages 11–18). There were 1177 stu ...

, which was founded in 1513.

Museums

The city contains several notable museums including: *

– Museum of Law, Crime and Punishment through the ages, based at the Shire Hall in the

. *

City of Caves City of Caves is a visitor attraction in Nottingham based on a network of caves, carved out of sandstone that have been variously used over the years as a tannery, public house cellars, and as an air raid shelter. The nearby Drury Hill is the m ...

– A visitor attraction consisting of a network of man-made caves, carved out of sandstone, beneath the

Broadmarsh Broad Marsh (formerly stylised as Broadmarsh) is an historic area of Nottingham, England. The area was subjected to large scale slum clearance, creating large spaces used for regeneration. A shopping centre, car park, bus station and road comp ...

* Green's Mill, Sneinton and Science Centre – A unique working windmill in the heart of the city that was home to the 19th-century mathematical physicist and miller George Green. *William Booth Birthplace Museum, also in

, birthplace of

William Booth William Booth (10 April 1829 – 20 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first General (1878–1912). This Christian movement, founded in 1865, has a qu ...

, co-founder of the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

, open by appointment. *

Nottingham Castle Museum Nottingham Castle is a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion in Nottingham, England, built on the site of a Norman castle built starting in 1068, and added to extensively through the medieval period, when it was an important royal fortress and ...

– Home to the city's fine and decorative art collections, along with the Story of Nottingham galleries, and the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

Regimental Museum. *

Nottingham Industrial Museum The Nottingham Industrial Museum is a volunteer-run museum situated in part of the 17th-century stables block of Wollaton Hall, located in a suburb of the city of Nottingham. The museum won the ''Nottinghamshire Heritage Site of the Year Award ...

– Housed in

, collections relating to textiles, transport, communications, mining and steam. *

Nottingham Natural History Museum Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan English country house, country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museu ...

– Based at

Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuilding ...

, contains zoology, geology, and botany collections. In 2015, the National Videogame Arcade was opened in the Hockley area of the city; being "the UK's first cultural centre for videogames". It was announced in June 2018 that the arcade was soon to close and relocate to

city centre, where it reopened in November 2018 as the National Videogame Museum.

Economy

Nottingham is the East Midlands' largest economy. The headquarters of several large companies are based in the city: these include

Alliance Boots Alliance Boots was a multinational pharmacy-led health and beauty group with corporate headquarters in Bern, Switzerland and operational headquarters in Nottingham and Weybridge, United Kingdom. The company had a presence in over 27 countries ...

(formerly

Boots the Chemists Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists Limited) is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain that operates in the United Kingdom. It also operates internationally, including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand ...

); Chinook Sciences; GM (cricket bats);

Pedigree Petfoods Pedigree Petfoods is a subsidiary of the American group Mars Inc. specializing in pet food, with factories in England at Melton Mowbray and Birstall, Leeds; and offices at McLean, Virginia. History In 1934, Mars Limited, a division of the lar ...

;

VF Corporation VF Corporation (formerly Vanity Fair Mills until 1969) is an American global apparel and footwear company founded in 1899 by John Barbey and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The company's 11 brands are organized into three categories: Outdoor ...

(American clothing);

Changan Automobile Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. (CCAG) is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Jiangbei, Chongqing.

(Chinese-made automobiles); the credit reference agency

Experian Experian plc is a multinational corporation, multinational data broker and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on more than 1 billion people and businesses including ...

; energy company E.ON Energy UK; betting company

Gala Bingo Gala Bingo is an online bingo and casino offering under the ownership of Entain. Gala Bingo was created in 1991 as a division of Bass plc. It later became an independent company, and then became the Gala Coral Group after acquiring Coral E ...

; amusement and gambling machine manufacturer Bell-Fruit-Games; engineering company

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

; sportswear manufacturers

Speedo Speedo International Limited is an Australian-British distributor of Swimsuit, swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England. Founded in Sydney, Australia in 1914 by Alexander MacRae, a Scottish emigrant, the company is n ...

; high-street opticians

Vision Express Vision Express is a British eyewear company established in 1988, now owned by EssilorLuxottica. It sells spectacles, sunglasses and contact lenses. History The company opened its first practice in 1988, at the MetroCentre, Gateshead, quick ...

and

Specsavers Specsavers Optical Group Limited is a Guernsey-based multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the Nordic countries. The chain offers optometry and optician services for ey ...

; games and publishing company

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer (game), Warhammer'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake ...

; PC software developer

Serif Europe Serif (Europe) Ltd (known as Roleage Ltd before 1988), a subsidiary of Canva, is a British software developer and publisher, best known for its Affinity suite of professional graphic design, photo editing, and desktop publishing software. The c ...

(publisher of

PagePlus PagePlus was a desktop publishing (page layout) program developed by Serif for Microsoft Windows. The first version was released in 1991 as the first commercial sub-£100 DTP package for Microsoft Windows. The final release was PagePlus X9, w ...

and other titles); web hosting provider Heart Internet; the American credit card company

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

; the national law firm Browne Jacobson; and

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by r ...

, an independent music company founded by local resident

Digby Pearson Digby Pearson (born 1962), also known as "Dig", is an English musician, producer and businessman. He is the founder of independent record label Earache Records. Biography Born and raised in Nottingham, he was introduced to extreme music whilst ...

, based on Handel Street in

. Nottingham also has offices of

Nottingham Building Society Nottingham Building Society is a building society in the UK, with its headquarters in Nottingham, England. It is a member of the Building Societies Association. At December 2024, the Society had total assets of more than £5 billion. The ...

(established 1849);

HM Revenue & Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...

; the

Driving Standards Agency The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) was an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport (DfT). DSA promoted road safety in Great Britain by improving driving and motorcycling standards. It set standards for education and training, as we ...

;

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

; the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers in England. It ...

and

BBC East Midlands BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, South Kest ...

. The schools and aerial photographers, H Tempest Ltd, were Nottingham-based for many years, until relocating to

St Ives, Cornwall St Ives (, meaning "Ia of Cornwall, St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times, it was comm ...

January 1959. Nottingham was named one of the UK's six science cities in 2005 by the then

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. Among the science-based industries within the city is BioCity. Founded as a joint venture between Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham, it is the UK's biggest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, housing around 80 science-based companies. In 2010, Nottingham City Council announced that the target sectors of their economic development strategy would include low-carbon technologies;

digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

;

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

; financial and business services; and retail and leisure. The city formerly had a major bicycle manufacturing industry sector.

Raleigh Bicycle Company The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a British bicycle manufacturer based in Nottingham, England and founded by Woodhead and Angois in 1885. Using Raleigh as their brand name, it is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. After being acquir ...

was established in 1886 and

Sturmey-Archer Sturmey-Archer was a manufacturing company originally from Nottingham, England. It primarily produced bicycle hub gears, brakes and a great many other sundry bicycle components, most prominently during its heyday as a subsidiary of the Raleigh ...

, the developer of three-speed hub gears, was also founded in the city. Raleigh's factory on Triumph Road, famous as the filming location of ''

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. It was adapted by Sillitoe into the 1960 film of the same name starring Albert Finney, directed by ...

'', was demolished in 2003 to make way for the University of Nottingham

Jubilee Campus The University of Nottingham operates from four campuses in Nottinghamshire and from two overseas campuses, one in Ningbo, China and the other in Semenyih, Malaysia. The Ningbo campus was officially opened on 23 February 2005 by the then British ...

's expansion. In 2015, Nottingham was ranked in the top 10 UK cities for job growth (from 2004 to 2013), in the public and private sectors. and in the same year, it was revealed that more new companies were started in Nottingham in 2014–15 than in any other UK city, with a 68% year-on-year increase. In 2017, Nottingham came seventh in Harper Dennis Hobbes's Top 50 British Centres, behind the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Retail

The

Bridlesmith Gate Bridlesmith Gate is a pedestrianised shopping street in the city centre of Nottingham, England. It is located between Middle Pavement and Victoria Street. St. Peter's Gate and Bottle Lane stem off it along with Byard Lane. Bridlesmith Gate h ...

area has numerous designer shops, one being the original

Paul Smith Paul Smith is the name of: Music * Paul Smith (composer) (1906–1985), American film music composer * Paul Smith (pianist) (1922–2013), Los Angeles jazz pianist * Paul Smith (English singer) (born 1979), vocalist and songwriter of British in ...

boutique. There are various specialist shops and small businesses in side streets and alleys: notable streets include Poultry Walk, West End Arcade and Hurts Yard and Derby Road (the latter once known for antiques). Smaller shopping areas in the city are the older

Flying Horse Walk The Flying Horse Walk is a shopping arcade located at the heart of Nottingham City Centre in Nottingham, England. The arcade houses a variety of fashion boutiques and other retailers. It is situated just off the city's Old Market Square on Th ...

, The Exchange Arcade,

and newer Trinity Square and The Pod. Nottingham's

is the city's main retail shopping centre: it was the first to be built in the city and was developed on the site of the former

Nottingham Victoria railway station Nottingham Victoria railway station was a Great Central Railway and Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway railway station in Nottingham, England. It was designed by the architect Albert Edward Lambert, who also designed ...

Enterprise zone

In March 2011, the government announced the creation of Nottingham Enterprise Zone, an

enterprise zone An urban enterprise zone is an area in which policies to encourage economic growth and development are implemented. Urban enterprise zone policies generally offer tax concessions, infrastructure incentives, and reduced regulations to attract invest ...

sited on part of the Boots Estate. In March 2012, Nottingham Science Park, Beeston Business Park and Nottingham Medipark were added to the zone. In December 2014, the government announced that the zone would be expanded again, to include Infinity Park Derby, a planned business park for aerospace, rail and automotive technology adjacent to the

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

site in

Sinfin Sinfin is a suburb of Derby, England, southwest of the city centre on its southern outskirts. The ward, which includes Osmaston as well as Sinfin itself, had a population of 15,128 in 2011. Historically, Sinfin and Osmaston were separate vill ...

, Derby.

Creative Quarter

The Creative Quarter is a project started by Nottingham City Council as part of the Nottingham City Deal. Centred on the east of the city (including the Lace Market, Hockley, Broadmarsh East, the Island site and BioCity), the project aims at creating growth and jobs. In July 2012, the government contributed £25million towards a £45million

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

fund, mainly targeted at the Creative Quarter.

Culture

Library

Nottingham Central Library opened in November 2023 at a cost of more than £10 million and provides books, computer access and other public services.

Art Galleries

Galleries include Nottingham Contemporary art centre in the Lace Market, opened in 2009, and New Art Exchange contemporary art gallery, the largest in the UK dedicated to showing diverse artists, opened in 2008.

Public art

Nottingham has a range of public artworks across the city, largely from the twentieth century. These include traditional statues such as ''Robin Hood'' by James Woodford, and Lee Johnson's statue of

. Contemporary artwork includes Anish Kapoor's ''Sky Mirror'' at Nottingham Playhouse, and ''Aspire'' by Ken Shuttleworth at the University of Nottingham. In 2018 the site of Lenton Priory was declared a sculpture park and three new artworks commissioned on the site. These include 'Lenton Priory Stone' by James Winnet based the carvings on the 12th century Norman baptismal font from the Priory, and the 'Lenton Priory Pillars' by Adrian Riley.

Venues

Nottingham has two large-capacity theatres, the Nottingham Playhouse and the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, Theatre Royal, which together with the neighbouring Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, Royal Concert Hall forms the Royal Centre. The city also contains smaller theatre venues such as the Nottingham Arts Theatre, the Lace Market Theatre, New Theatre (Nottingham), New Theatre and Nonsuch Studios. There is a Vue International and a Showcase Cinemas, Showcase in the city. Independent cinemas include the Arthouse Broadway Cinema in Hockley, and the four-screen Art Deco Savoy Cinema, Nottingham, Savoy Cinema. Nottingham has several large music and entertainment venues including the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, Royal Concert Hall, Rock City (club), Rock City, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (2,500-capacity) and the Nottingham Arena (Social centre). Nottingham's City Ground played host to rock band R.E.M with Idlewild and The Zutons supporting in 2005, the first time a concert had been staged at the football stadium. Nottingham also has a selection of smaller venues, including the

(800-capacity),

, Malt Cross, Rescue Rooms, the Bodega, the Old Angel, the Central, the Chameleon and the Corner.

Music

1960s blues-rock band Ten Years After formed in Nottingham, as did the 1970s pop act Paper Lace, the Tindersticks, electronic music groups Stereo MC's, Bent (band), Bent, and Crazy P, as well as folk singer Anne Briggs. Since the beginning of the 2010s, the city has produced a number of artists to gain media attention, including; Sleaford Mods, Jake Bugg, London Grammar, Indiana (singer), Indiana, Bru-C, Natalie Duncan, Dog Is Dead, Saint Raymond (musician), Saint Raymond, Childhood (band), Childhood, Kagoule, Rue Royale, Band, Rue Royale, Spotlight Kid (band), Spotlight Kid, Divorce (band), Divorce, and Amber Run. Nottingham is home to

, a large independent record label setup in Nottingham in 1986 and home to artists such as Napalm Death, Carcass (band), Carcass, Entombed (band), Entombed and Rival Sons. The city has an active classical music scene, with long-established ensembles such as the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, city's Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, Nottingham Harmonic Society, Bach Choir, Early Music Group Musica Donum Dei and the Symphonic Wind Orchestra giving regular performances in the city. The Sumac Centre is a social centre in Forest Fields. Nottingham is known for its Hip hop music, hip-hop scene. Audio Recording Studios opened in 2013, on the site of a former square known as "Milk Square" which was known to have hosted musicians, bands and orchestras in the 1800s. Since opening, the studios have hosted musicians and actors from various places including involvement in Hollywood films, and British rock band Spiritualized's album And Nothing Hurt. The studios are a base for rapper and producer Sway (British musician), Sway Dasafo's New Reign Productions and Jake Bugg's manager, Jason Hart. The rock band Church of the Cosmic Skull are from Nottingham.

Annual events

in Nottingham hosts an annual family-friendly music event called Splendour in Nottingham, Splendour. In 2009 it was headlined by Madness (band), Madness and the Pogues. The following year it was headlined by the Pet Shop Boys and featured, among others, Calvin Harris, Noisettes, Athlete (band), Athlete and OK Go. In 2011, it featured headline acts Scissor Sisters, Blondie (band), Blondie, Eliza Doolittle (singer), Eliza Doolittle and Feeder (band), Feeder. In 2012, performers included Dizzee Rascal, Razorlight, Katy B and Hard-Fi. In 2014, Wollaton Park hosted the first-ever No Tomorrow Festival, featuring artists including Sam Smith (singer), Sam Smith, London Grammar and Clean Bandit. Wollaton hall from front

Nottingham holds several multicultural events throughout the year. The city has hosted an annual Asian Mela every summer since about 1989, there is a parade on St Patrick's Day, fireworks for the Chinese New Year, Holi in the Park to celebrate the Holi, Hindu spring festival, a British African-Caribbean people, West Indian-style carnival which takes place in summer, and several Sikhism, Sikh events. The city is particularly famous for its annual Nottingham Goose Fair, Goose Fair, a large travelling funfair held at the Forest Recreation Ground at the beginning of October every year. Established over 700 years ago, the fair was originally a livestock market where thousands of geese were sold in the Old Market Square, but the modern-day Goose Fair is known for its fairground rides and attractions. Nottingham Goose fair 2019

Since the late 1990s, Nottinghamshire Pride has organised an annual pride parade, a day-long celebration that usually takes place in the city in July.

Food and drink

There are more than three hundred restaurants in Nottingham, with several AA Rosette winners (). City-centre restaurant, Ibérico World Tapas, was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the 2013 Michelin Guide. There are also two Michelin-starred restaurants: Alchemilla in the city centre has one star; and Sat Bains, Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, on the edge of the city near Clifton Bridge, has two Michelin stars. There were five other Nottingham restaurants recommended in the Michelin Guide in 2020. Nottingham is recognised as one of the UK's most vegan-friendly cities, and it is where Veggies of Nottingham was founded in 1984. The Nottingham City Council in 2024 announced it had switched to all plant-based catering, following similar changes by other councils including Oxfordshire County Council and Cambridge City Council.

Tourism

In 2010, Nottingham was named as one of the "Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2010" by DK Publishing, DK Travel. Nottingham was ranked number one for the 'Best Value City Break' in August 2017 by TripAdvisor. According to the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) report, tourism in Nottingham city was valued at £628 million in 2017, an increase of 4.1% over the 2016 figure of £604 million. Many local businesses and organisations use the worldwide fame of Robin Hood to represent or promote their brands. The Robin Hood Pageant takes place in Nottingham each year and has been rebranded Robin Hood Live for 2020. The city is home to the Nottingham Robin Hood Society, founded in 1972 by Jim Lees and Steve and Ewa Theresa West. Sherwood Forest County Park is a Natural Nature Reserve spanning in the county of Nottinghamshire only north of Nottingham. This grand forest has been a part of great history for centuries, showing evidence of use by prehistoric hunters and gatherers. It is even said that the legendary Robin Hood of the 1200s has set foot here and hid near the Major Oak, referred to as the 1,000-year-old giant tree. Today, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre & Nature Reserve is internationally recognised, with annual visitors reaching around 350,000. Each February Nottingham celebrates Light Night, with dozens of free creative events illuminating the city. The city has also hosted the Nottingham Cave Festival, Nottingham Puppet Festival, The Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity, plus a series of outdoor film and theatre performances at historical locations throughout the summer. In February 2008, a Ferris wheel was put up in the Old Market Square. The wheel returned to Nottingham in February 2009 to mark another night of lights, activities, illuminations and entertainment. Initially marketed as the Nottingham Eye, it was later redubbed as the Nottingham Wheel, to avoid any association with the London Eye.

Sport

Football

Nottingham is home to two professional football clubs: EFL League Two club

and Premier League club

. Their two football grounds, facing each other on opposite sides of the River Trent, are noted for geographically being the closest in English league football. Notts County, formed in 1862, is the oldest professional football club in the world. It was also among the Football League's founder members in 1888. For most of its history the team have played their home games at Meadow Lane, which currently holds some 20,000 spectators, all seated. They currently play in League Two of the English Football League (most recently played at Level 1 in May 1992). Nottingham Forest, who currently play in the Premier League, were Division One English League champions in 1978 and won the

twice over the next two seasons under the management of

, who was the club's manager from January 1975 to May 1993, leading them to four Football League Cup triumphs in that time. They have played at the City Ground, on the south bank of the

, since 1898. Nottingham Forest joined the Football League in 1892, four years after its inception when it merged with the rival Football Alliance, and 100 years later, they were among the FA Premier League's founder members in 1992—though they had not played top division football from May 1999 until their promotion from the Level 2 EFL Championship in the 2021–22 EFL Championship, 2021/2022 season, 23 years later. The City Ground played host to group stage games in the Euro 96, 1996 European Football Championships. Nottingham won the title of 2015 City of Football after five months of campaigning, which resulted in £1.6m in funding for local football ventures and to encourage more people to play the sport. Nottingham was selected to be a host city for the England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid. It was proposed that if the bid were successful, the city would have received a new Nottingham Forest Stadium.

Other sports

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is based at

, a List of Test cricket grounds, test cricket ground that was one of the venues for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. Nottinghamshire won the 2010 County Championship. The rugby union team, Nottingham R.F.C., competes in the RFU Championship, playing their home games at the Nottinghamshire Sports Club in the Lady Bay area of the city. The Nottingham Outlaws (rugby league team), Nottingham Outlaws are an amateur rugby league team that plays in the Yorkshire Men's League. The Nottingham Caesars are the city's American football club, playing their games at the Harvey Hadden Stadium in the Bilborough area of Nottingham. The city was the birthplace and training location for Torvill and Dean, who won gold medals in ice dance at the 1984 Winter Olympics, 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. The

, which first opened in 2000, is the home base of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team, and hosts an array of winter sporting events including the UK Speed skating, Speed Skating Championships. The plaza at the front of the ice centre is named "Bolero Square" after Torvill and Dean's gold medal-winning performance. Other sporting events in the city include the annual Nottingham Trophy (tennis), Nottingham Trophy tennis tournament (staged at the Nottingham Tennis Centre), the Nottingham Marathon, "Robin Hood" Marathon and the Outlaw Triathlon. Nottingham has two roller derby leagues: Nottingham Roller Derby (formerly Nottingham Roller Girls, formed 2010, and home to the Super Smash Brollers from 2013 to 2020) and East Midlands Open Roller Derby (formed 2020, after the Super Smash Brollers team left the Nottingham Roller Derby banner to become a new, standalone league). The Nottingham Hellfire Harlots Roller Derby, Nottingham Hellfire Harlots were a Women's Flat Track Derby Association, WTFDA-ranked league from 2010 to 2023. They announced their disbanding on 3 August 2023, citing the difficulties with continuing to run a grassroots sports team. In October 2015, Nottingham was named as the official Home of Sport by VisitEngland, for its sporting contributions and in recognition of its development of football, cricket, ice hockey, boxing, tennis, athletics, gymnastics, and water sports.

Transport

Air

Nottingham is served by East Midlands Airport (formerly known as ''Nottingham East Midlands Airport'', until it reverted to its original name), near Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire, north-west Leicestershire, just less than south-west of the city centre. Another airport also serving Nottingham being Nottingham (Tollerton) Airport, Nottingham City Airport, located in Tollerton,

, England. It is situated southeast of Nottingham City Centre.

Trams

The reintroduction of Nottingham Express Transit, trams in 2004 made Nottingham one of only nine List of modern tramway and light rail systems in the United Kingdom, English cities to have a light rail system. As of May 2025, trams ran either from the city centre to

in the north to Totton Lane in the south, or between Phoenix Park park and ride and Clifton, Nottinghamshire, Clifton.

Railways

, formerly ''Nottingham Midland'', provides access to rail services for the city; trains are operated by CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway and Northern (train operating company), Northern. It is the only remaining station in the city centre and is the second-busiest railway station in the Midlands for passenger entries and exits. Nottingham was an important interchange for many railways and mineral lines which served the city, its suburbs and the collieries around the city. The city once had five other railway stations: * Nottingham Carrington Street railway station, Nottingham Carrington Street was the first station opened in Nottingham on the former Midland Counties Railway. It was opened in 1839, before closing in 1848 to passengers after the opening of Nottingham Midland station. The site is now under Nottingham Magistrates' Court. * Nottingham Victoria railway station, Nottingham Victoria which was the second largest station in the city. Owned jointly by the Great Central Railway and Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway. It closed in 1967, after declining usage and the station buildings were demolished. The site is now the

shopping centre. The clock tower is still in situ and the cutting is under the shopping centre at the lower level including the old Mansfield Road Railway Tunnel. * Nottingham Arkwright Street railway station, Nottingham Arkwright Street was originally the second station in Nottingham, near to Nottingham Midland. It was originally only to be opened temporarily but was kept open until 1963, when it was closed. It reopened briefly in 1967 as the terminus of a skeleton service from Nottingham to Leicester Central railway station, Leicester and Rugby Central railway station, Rugby, only to be closed in 1969. The site is now buried under a road alignment, tram tracks and industrial buildings. * Nottingham London Road railway station, Nottingham London Road Low and High Level was located directly north-east of Nottingham Midland and the low-level platforms were closed to passengers in 1944. The high-level platforms were closed in 1967. Goods services continued to serve the station until 1972 when the rails were removed. The station is still in situ and is now used as a leisure centre. * Nottingham Racecourse railway station, Nottingham Racecourse was located near Nottingham Racecourse and was a minor station on the line between Nottingham and Grantham. The station closed in 1959 and the line is still in use. Nothing remains of the station.

Buses

Nottingham is served by a municipal bus company,

(NCT), which is the biggest transport operator in the city with 330 buses. NCT has won five ''UK Bus Operator of the Year'' awards, most recently in 2019. The former

shopping centre and multi-storey car park was demolished in the early 2020s; the car park was rebuilt to include Broadmarsh bus station, a bus station and library, while the centre was demolished and plans to be landscaped into an urban park.

Roads

In April 2012, Nottingham became the first city in the UK to introduce a workplace parking levy. The levy charges businesses £350 on each parking space made available to their employees, provided that the business has more than ten such parking spaces. The council have used the revenue of around £10 million a year to develop the city's tram system. There has been a 9% reduction in traffic and 15% increase in public transport use since the introduction of the levy. In September 2010, Nottingham was named ''England's least car-dependent city'' by the Campaign for Better Transport (United Kingdom), Campaign for Better Transport with London, Brighton and Manchester in second, third and fourth place, respectively.

Scooter hire

Nottingham was one of several trial locations arranged by the Department for Transport to facilitate local journeys by Motorized scooter, electric scooters. Started in October 2020 together with Derby City Council, in December 2023 the trial was extended until 2026. Riders must be 18 years of age minimum, hold a full provisional driving licence, must ride on roads and bus lanes only, not pedestrian footways, and pay by mobile-phone app. In late December 2023, the partner-business, US-based Superpedestrian, planned to cease trading by 31 December, and the scooters were withdrawn from their city centre locations. Nottingham City Council are to seek a new provider to continue the scheme.

Waterways

Nottingham's waterways, now primarily used for leisure, were used extensively for transportation in the past.

Public services

Emergency

Fire and rescue services are provided by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, and emergency medical care by East Midlands Ambulance Service, both of which have their headquarters in Nottingham. There are two major National Health Service hospitals in Nottingham, the

(QMC) and Nottingham City Hospital, both managed by the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The QMC is a teaching hospital with close connections to the University of Nottingham Medical School, Medical School at Nottingham University; until 2012, it was the largest hospital in the UK. Nottingham City Hospital includes maternity and neonatal facilities but has no Emergency department, A&E department. Students from the Medical School are attached to most of the departments at City Hospital as part of their clinical training. Law enforcement is carried out by Nottinghamshire Police, whose headquarters are at Sherwood Lodge in

. The city has a Nottingham Crown Court, Crown Court and a Nottingham Magistrates' Court, Magistrates' Court. Laurie Macdonald of ''Inside One'' magazine observes that Nottingham's former high crime rate earned it the nickname "Shottingham", but that by 2013 this image was outdated. The article was written in response to a uSwitch survey that had found south Nottinghamshire to be the fourth-best place to live in the UK in terms of living standards. Crime in the city of Nottingham had also fallen by three-quarters since 2007.

Utilities

Severn Trent, Severn Trent Water is the company responsible for supplying fresh water to households and businesses in Nottingham, as well as the treatment of sewage. Severn Trent took over these services from the City of Nottingham Water Department in 1974. Nottingham was host to the UK's first and only local authority–owned and not-for-profit energy company, Robin Hood Energy. Veolia operates a cogeneration (CHP) plant in Nottingham for generating energy from biomass. The city has one of the largest district heating schemes in the UK, operated by EnviroEnergy Limited, which is wholly owned by Nottingham City Council. The plant in the city centre supplies heat to 4,600 homes and a wide variety of business premises, including the Concert Hall, the Nottingham Arena, the Victoria Baths, the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, the Victoria Centre, and others.

Religion

Historically, the requirement for city status was the presence of an Anglican (Church of England) cathedral; however, Nottingham does not have one of these, having only been designated a city in 1897 in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. From around AD 1100, Nottingham was part of the Diocese of Lichfield, controlled as an Archdeacon of Nottingham, archdeaconry from Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire. In 1837, Nottingham's archdeaconry was placed under the control of the Diocese of Lincoln and, in 1884, it was incorporated into the newly created Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, Diocese of Southwell which it is still part of today. The bishop is based at Southwell Minster, northeast of the city. St Mary Nottingham

Although lacking an Anglican cathedral, Nottingham has three notable historic Church of England parish church, Anglican parish churches, all of which date back to the Middle Ages. The oldest and largest of these is St Mary's Church, Nottingham, St. Mary the Virgin, situated in the Lace Market. The church dates from the eighth or ninth centuries, but the present structure is at least the third building on the site, dating primarily from 1377 to 1485. A member of the Major Churches Network, St. Mary's is considered the mother church of the city and is used for holding civic services, including the annual welcome to the new Lord Mayor. In the heart of the city is St Peter's Church, Nottingham, St. Peter's, the oldest building in continuous use in Nottingham, with traces of building dating back to 1180. The third notable Anglican parish church is St Nicholas Church, Nottingham, St. Nicholas', known locally as "St. Nic's", situated on the edge of the city centre in the direction of the castle. There are various chapels and meeting rooms in Nottingham. Many of the grand buildings have been demolished, including Halifax Place Wesleyan Chapel, but some have been re-used, notably High Pavement Chapel which is now a public house. The city has three Christadelphian meeting halls and is home to the national headquarters of the Congregational Federation. Nottingham is one of 18 British cities that do not have an Anglican cathedral. It is, however, home to the Nottingham Cathedral, Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Barnabas, which was designed by Augustus Pugin and consecration, consecrated in 1844. It is the cathedral church for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham. Today, there are places of worship for all major religions, including Christianity and Islam (with 32 mosques in Nottingham).

Demographics

Ethnic demography of Nottingham over time

The population of Nottingham is (). The population of

is 729,977 (2011) and the Metro population is 1,543,000 (2011). The city of Nottingham has a density of . 65.9% are White, 14.9% Asian, 10% of West Indian origins, 5.9% are of mixed heritages and other groups are 3.3%.

Media

Television

The BBC has its BBC East Midlands, East Midlands headquarters in Nottingham on London Road. ''BBC East Midlands Today'' is broadcast from the city every weeknight at 6:30 pm. From 1983 to 2005 ITV Central, Central Television (the ITV (TV network), ITV region for the east Midlands) had a studio complex on Lenton Lane, producing programmes for various networks and broadcasting regional news. The studios are now a satellite campus of the University of Nottingham, since 2005. The city was granted permission by Ofcom to establish its own local television station. After a tender process, Confetti College was awarded the licence. The station was declared open by Prince Harry in April 2013 and Notts TV began broadcasting in spring 2014.

Radio

In addition to the national commercial and BBC radio stations, the Nottingham area is served by licensed commercial radio stations (though all broadcast to a wider area than the city). Radio stations include: * BBC Radio Nottingham (103.8 FM & Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB) * Gold (British radio network), Gold East Midlands (DAB) * Greatest Hits Radio Midlands (106.0 FM & DAB) * Hits Radio East Midlands (DAB) * Capital Midlands (96.2 FM & DAB) * Smooth East Midlands (106.6 FM & DAB) * Kemet FM (97.5 FM) * Radio Dawn (107.6 FM) The city's two universities both broadcast their own student radio station. Fly FM (Nottingham), Fly FM is based at Nottingham Trent University's city campus and is broadcast online. The station originated in 1996 with its original name of Kick FM. University Radio Nottingham (URN) is broadcast around Nottingham University's main and Sutton Bonington campuses on medium wave (AM), as well as over the internet. URN was founded in 1979 after starting out with a slot on BBC Radio Nottingham in the late 1970s.

Newspapers and magazines

Nottingham's main local newspaper, the ''Nottingham Post'', is owned by Local World and is published daily from Monday to Saturday each week. LeftLion, ''LeftLion'' magazine (established 2003) is distributed free of charge across the city, covering Nottingham culture including music, art, theatre, comedy, food and drink. Student tabloid ''The Tab'' also publishes online content and has teams at both universities.

Film

Nottingham has been used as a location in many locally, nationally, and internationally produced films. Movies that have been filmed (partly or entirely) in Nottingham include: *''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' (1960) *''The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (film), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'' (1962) *''The Ragman's Daughter'' (1972) *''Robin Hood (1973 film), Robin Hood'' (1973) *''In Celebration (film), In Celebration'' (1975) *''Twenty Four Seven (film), Twenty Four Seven'' (1997) *''Once Upon a Time in the Midlands'' (2002) *''This Is England'' (2006) *''Magicians (2007 film), Magicians'' (2007) *''Control (2007 film), Control'' (2007) *''Mum & Dad'' (2008) *''Easy Virtue (2008 film), Easy Virtue'' (2008) *''Bronson (film), Bronson'' (2009) *''The Unloved'' (2009) *''Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee'' (2009) *''Goal III: Taking on the World, Goal 3'' (2009) *''Bunny and the Bull'' (2009) *''A Boy Called Dad'' (2009) *''Oranges and Sunshine (film), Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) *''Weekend (2011 film), Weekend'' (2011) *''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012)

International relations

Nottingham is Town twinning, twinned with the following cities: *Ljubljana, Slovenia (1963) *Minsk, Belarus (1966–2022) *Karlsruhe, Germany (1969) *Harare, Zimbabwe (1981) *Ghent, Belgium (1985) *Ningbo, China (2005) *Timișoara, Romania (2008) *Krasnodar, Russia (2012–2022) *Września, Poland Note: Ljubljana, Minsk, and Harare are capital cities. Nottingham ended its relations with Minsk and Krasnodar in March 2022.

Notable people

List of mayors and lord mayors

The Sheriff of Nottingham

Notes

References

External links

{{Authority control Nottingham, Cities in the East Midlands County towns in England Local government districts of the East Midlands Local government in Nottinghamshire Towns in Nottinghamshire Unitary authority districts of England Unparished areas in Nottinghamshire Boroughs in England Former civil parishes in Nottinghamshire