Nottingham

The name comes from the Old English Snotingaham, "the homestead of Snot's people". The Anglo-Saxon settlement stood on the hill now called the Lace Market, protected by a ditch and rampart. After the Norman Conquest William the Conqueror built a castle on the rock opposite, and a "French Borough" grew up around it; the land between was gradually filled in and the Old Market Square became the town's centre. In 1194 supporters of Prince John, among them the Sheriff of Nottingham, held the castle against the returning Richard the Lionheart. The Black Death of 1349 may have killed around 60 per cent of the people, and in 1449 the town became a county corporate, governing itself.

The medieval castle was demolished after the Civil War, and in the 1670s the Dukes of Newcastle built a mansion on the rock. During the Industrial Revolution Nottingham became an internationally important centre of lace-making; Raleigh bicycles were made here from 1886, and Boots grew from a local chemist's into a national retailer. In 1831 rioters protesting against the Duke of Newcastle's opposition to parliamentary reform burnt his castle mansion. The town grew rapidly and was made a city in 1897.

The 20th century brought new housing estates and the decline of the lace and textile trade, and in 1958 race riots centred on St Ann's. Electric trams ran from 1901 to 1936 and returned in 2004. More recently the Broadmarsh shopping centre was demolished in the early 2020s, and the castle, restored at a cost of £30 million, closed when its operating trust failed in 2022 and reopened in 2023.

Robin Hood and his enemy the Sheriff of Nottingham are the city's best-known characters, and the city's public art includes James Woodford's statue of the outlaw. Literature runs deep: Lord Byron, D. H. Lawrence and Alan Sillitoe all have links to the city, whose Raleigh factory was used to film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and it still has a publishing industry and a poetry scene.

The Theatre Royal, the Playhouse with Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror outside, and the Royal Concert Hall form the core of a busy arts scene, alongside Nottingham Contemporary and New Art Exchange, the Broadway and Savoy cinemas and live-music venues such as Rock City. Bands from Ten Years After and Paper Lace to the Tindersticks and the Stereo MC's came from here.

Sport is a large part of local identity. Notts County, founded in 1862, is the oldest professional football club in the world; Nottingham Forest won two European Cups under Brian Clough and plays at the City Ground; Trent Bridge stages Test cricket; and the city was the birthplace and training ground of Torvill and Dean, Olympic ice dance champions in 1984. Goose Fair, more than 700 years old, fills the Forest Recreation Ground each October. The city's communities add an Asian Mela, Holi in the Park, a Caribbean-style carnival, Chinese New Year fireworks, a St Patrick's Day parade and Sikh celebrations to the calendar.

About 331,000 people lived in the city in 2024, and the wider conurbation, including suburbs such as Arnold and Carlton, has about 769,000. The city is diverse: at that census about two-thirds of residents were White, with large Asian, Black and mixed communities.

Almost 62,000 students attend the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Law. Boots, Experian and other large companies have their headquarters here, the Queen's Medical Centre is a major teaching hospital, and BioCity, set up by the two universities, houses some 80 science companies. The textile trade declined after the Second World War, Raleigh's old factory was demolished in 2003, and the Lace Market's streets now hold bars, restaurants and shops.

Getting around without a car is easier than in most English cities, helped by the trams and by a workplace parking levy, introduced in 2012, whose revenue goes towards the tram network. Local government is changing: the city joined the East Midlands Combined County Authority, with its elected mayor, in 2024, and under reorganisation plans most of the urban area is to form a Greater Nottingham council from 2028. In 2024 the city council switched its catering to entirely plant-based food.

Nottinghamshire's own snack is mushy peas, eaten on their own and traditionally with mint sauce, sold from stalls at fairs and fêtes — Goose Fair above all — while mushy peas served with chips are known locally as a "pea mix". Goose Fair itself once had a reputation for its excellent cheese. The Bramley apple, the classic English cooking apple, comes from a pip planted in Southwell in 1809; it is usually eaten cooked because of its sourness, and turns golden and fluffy when cooked in pies, tarts and dumplings.

The city's old pubs are part of its food and drink history. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is built into the caves under the castle, which may have stored the castle's beer, and two other city-centre pubs dispute its claim to be the oldest in England; one of them, on the Old Market Square, still keeps beer in medieval cellars. Local breweries supply many pubs, and Nottingham Brewery's ale is poured in the city centre.

Eating out has grown more ambitious: Nottingham has two Michelin-starred restaurants, and more are recommended by the guide. The Lace Market and Hockley are the main areas for restaurants and bars, the canal-side by the station has bars in converted warehouses, and budget restaurants line Mansfield Road near the Victoria Centre. The old Sneinton Market units are now used by small artisan businesses, and the city's South Asian, Caribbean and other communities add their own kitchens.