Nottingham: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

Nottingham is a city, unitary authority, and county town of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England. The centre of Nottingham lies on the River Leen and its southern boundary follows the course of the River Trent, which flows from Stoke to the Humber. According to the 2001 census, Nottingham had an estimated city population of 275,100 which increased to an estimated 278,700 in 2005. The Nottingham Urban Area conurbation (which includes surrounding suburbs outside the city boundary such as Arnold, Carlton, West Bridgford and neighbouring towns) has a population of 666,358 (2001 figures).^[1] Nottingham is a member of the English Core Cities Group.

The heart of Nottingham City Centre is the Old Market Square, where a major redevelopment was completed in May 2007. Most of the main shopping streets surround the square. The Council House, whose 200ft ^{[citation needed]} tall dome can be seen for miles around, is at the top of the square. In music hall times, many a visiting comedian would comment on stage; "If that's what the council houses are like here I'll put my name down!"^{[citation needed]} Inside the Council House is the Exchange Arcade, a shopping centre. A bohemian quarter of the city known as Hockley is situated to the east of the city, close to the Lace Market area.

History

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled History of Nottingham. (Discuss)

**Demographic evolution of Nottingham**
Year	Population
10th century	<1000
11th century	1,500
14th century	3,000
early 17th century	4,000
late 17th century	5,000
1801	29,000
1811	34,000
1821	40,000
1831	51,000
1841	53,000
1851	58,000
1861	76,000
1871	87,000
1881	159,000
1901	240,000
1911	260,000
1921	269,000
1931	265,000
1951	306,000
1961	312,000
1971	301,000
1981	278,000
1991	273,000
2001	275,000
2005	279,000
source: localhistories.org

A view of the Nottingham skyline from the Victoria Embankment

Nottingham is relatively unusual among big manufacturing cities in Britain in having a mediæval and pre-industrial past of equal importance to its more recent one. The first evidence of settlement dates from pre-Roman times,^{[citation needed]} and it is possible that the Romans also lived in the area.^{[citation needed]}

In Anglo-Saxon times, around 600 AD, the site formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia, where it was known as "Tigguo Cobauc" meaning "a place of cave dwellings", until falling under the rule of a Saxon chieftain named Snot,^[2] whereby it was dubbed "Snotingaham" literally, "the homestead of Snot's people" (Inga = the people of; Ham = homestead). Snot brought together his people in an area where the historic Lace Market in the City can now be found.

Nottingham was captured in 867 by Danish Vikings and later became one of the Five Burghs - or fortified towns - of The Danelaw.

In the 11th century, Nottingham Castle was constructed on a sandstone outcrop by the River Trent. The Anglo-Saxon settlement developed into the English Borough of Nottingham and housed a Town Hall and Courts. A settlement also developed around the castle on the hill opposite and was the French borough supporting the Normans in the Castle. Eventually, the space between was built on as the town grew and the Old Market Square became the focus of Nottingham several centuries later.

The town became a county corporate in 1449, giving it effective self-government, in the words of the charter, "for eternity".^[3] The Castle and Shire Hall were expressly excluded and technically remained as detached Parishes of Nottinghamshire.

During the Industrial Revolution, much of Nottingham's prosperity was founded on the textile industry; in particular, Nottingham was an internationally important centre of lace manufacture. However, the rapid and poorly planned growth left Nottingham with the reputation of having the worst slums in the British Empire outside India. Residents of these slums rioted in 1831, in protest against the Duke of Newcastle's opposition to the Reform Act 1832, setting fire his residence, Nottingham Castle.

In common with the UK textile industry as a whole, Nottingham's textile sector fell into headlong decline in the decades following the World War II, as British manufacturers proved unable to compete on price or volume with output of factories in the Far East and South Asia. Very little textile manufacture now takes place in Nottingham, but the City's heyday in this sector endowed it with some fine industrial buildings in the Lace Market district. Many of these have been restored and put to new uses.

Nottingham was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and at that time consisted of the parishes of Nottingham St Mary, Nottingham St Nicholas and Nottingham St Peter. It was expanded in 1877 by adding the parishes of Basford, Brewhouse Yard, Bulwell, Radford, Sneinton, Standard Hill and parts of the parishes of West Bridgford, Carlton, Wilford (North Wilford). In 1889 Nottingham became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. Nottingham was extended in 1933 by adding Bilborough and Wollaton, parts of the parishes of Bestwood Park and Colwick, and a recently developed part of the Beeston urban district. A further boundary extension was granted in 1951 when Clifton and Wilford (south of the River Trent) were incorporated into the city.^[4]

Robin Hood

Robin Hood statue in Nottingham

The legend of Robin Hood first arose in the Middle Ages. Robin Hood is said to have lived in Sherwood Forest, which extended from the north of Nottingham to the north side of Doncaster, Yorkshire. Although Robin Hood is generally associated with Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, some authors (eg Phillips & Keatman, 1995) argue that he came from Yorkshire. Hood's main adversary was the Sheriff of Nottingham. Today the office of Sheriff of Nottingham is a ceremonial position with no real jurisdiction. Whilst the accuracy of the legend is questionable, particularly the finer points, it has had a major impact on Nottingham, with Robin Hood imagery a popular choice for local businesses and many modern tourist attractions exploiting the legend. The Robin Hood Statue in Nottingham is within walking distance from the Old Market Square.

Caves of Nottingham

The Nottingham Caves have always formed an important part of the region, at first providing shelter and sanctuary, but growing to house thriving tanning works and in modern times becoming a tourist attraction. The caves are artificial, having been carved out of the soft sandstone rock by prospective dwellers, and have grown to become a complex network under the city. The city has more manmade caves than anywhere else in the country and this whole cave network has Scheduled Ancient Monument protection equal to that of Stonehenge, making Nottingham Caves a site of vast importance to the heritage of the United Kingdom. Part of the network can be viewed by the public at the City of Caves attraction which is accessed from the upper mall of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.

Before the industrial revolution, the cave network was substantially expanded and became home to a large proportion of the poorer populace, particularly those involved in the tanning industry. The majority of the caves were thought to have been used for storage by the 18th century and were still inhabited until around 1924 when the last family (the Shore family) moved out of the caves in Ilkeston road, they came into use again as air raid shelters during World War II. A section of the cave network under the Broadmarsh shopping centre is now open as a tourist attraction, and some parts are still used as pub cellars.

Another section of the caves, under the castle, is still in regular use as the indoor rifle range of the Nottingham Rifle Club. In addition, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn, a pub that claims to be the oldest in Britain, is partly built into the cave system below the castle. Although the pub's building only dates from the 16th or 17th century, the caves themselves may date to the 11th century and could have been the site of the brewhouse for the castle.

Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle, founded by William the Conqueror, famed through the Middle Ages as one of the country’s finest strongholds, and where Charles I raised the Royal Standard in 1642 no longer exists, and has been replaced by a classical ducal palace. Of the mediæval castle only the (restored) gatehouse, and the ruined remains of some walls/foundations, survive.

Architecture

Nottingham Castle (The Ducal Mansion) as it stands today, rising above the towers of Nottingham's Inland Revenue offices

The city descends from north to south, and eventually to the River Trent, though the river itself is not a central feature. The western third of the city houses the castle and several new tall buildings along with some harmonious streets around Nottingham Playhouse, that are mainly occupied by professional firms, and the unimposing Nottingham Cathedral (Roman Catholic). The central third leads down from the Nottingham Trent University building past the Theatre Royal to Old Market Square, which has Nottingham Council House to the east. This was built in the 1920s to display civic pride, ostentatiously utilising baroque columns and statues of two lions; the Exchange Arcade underneath, containing boutique shops, is a small but pleasant covered area. Portland Stone from the same quarry used for St Paul's Cathedral was used to construct the Council House and Exchange Arcade. Streets lead south to the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, a bus terminus. The Canalside, further south of this - and adjacent to the railway station and several new but sympathetically designed modern offices - is an inviting redevelopment of 19th century industrial buildings into a cluster of bars and restaurants. The eastern third of the city contains the Victoria Shopping Centre and the Victoria centre flats (1972), at 75 m high the tallest building in the city. Interesting areas of this part of the city are Hockley Village (see below) and the Lace Market, where the old red-brick warehouses have been utilised for other purposes, creating an attractive aspect to this part of the city. The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is in this area; it and the adjacent Shire Hall are two of the more interesting buildings from the city’s pre-industrial past.

Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem pub

Further to the east lies Old Market Square, focal point of the city, and reputedly the largest open square of any English at 22,000 m².^[5] It was recently redeveloped, with work being completed in March 2007, and there are currently plans to erect a statue of the late Brian Clough, a legend in the city for his triumphs with football team Nottingham Forest. The statue's position has yet to be finalised, but it is likely to be on the left of the Council House, at the bottom of King Street and Queen Street, looking out over the Old Market Square.^{[citation needed]} Wollaton Hall lies about 4 km to the west of the centre, just north of the University of Nottingham's University Park Campus.

Three pubs in Nottingham claim the title of "England's Oldest Pub". The contenders for the crown are Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem near the castle, The Bell on the Old Market Square, and The Old Salutation on Maid Marian Way. Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem is supposedly named for its role as a meeting point for those going on the Crusades in the Middle Ages. However, its claim may be due partly to the questionable date of 1189 painted on the side of the inn. A recent television documentary tested the three claimants and found that, while each has its own evidence, none can claim exclusivity. The Trip, while the oldest building and oldest location, was for most of its early life a brewery and not a public house. The Salutation sits on the oldest recognised public house site, but the current building is comparatively recent. The Bell, although not in such an antiquated location, does boast the oldest public house building. There is also conflicting information available: dendrochronology from roof timbers in the Salutation give a date for the building of c.1420 with similar dates for the Bell. Ultimately, the roots of the multiple claims can be traced to various subtleties of definition in terms such as "public house" and "inn". Prominent local architect Watson Fothergill is responsible for many of the city's fine 19th century Gothic Revival buildings.

Education

The University of Nottingham and Highfields Park

Despite a lot of investment, the closing of numerous schools and the opening of new city academies, Nottingham remains near the bottom of the league tables at both Primary and Secondary levels. At primary level, The City of Nottingham's local education authority was ranked second-worst overall in the country, at 149th out of 150 LEAs rated.^[6] At secondary level, Nottingham came third from bottom nationally in terms of GCSE results attained.^[7] The LEA has instituted a plan for wide-sweeping reform of education across the city, but in many cases have been met with opposition from parents who say the planned changes are not in the best interests of education. Stanstead School, in the Rise Park area, successfully managed to prevent its planned closure, with the Independent Schools' Adjudicator finally ruling against the LEA in February 2006.^[8] The decision, the first of its kind in the country, adds more weight to the campaigns of the many other schools attempting to prevent closure or amalgamation.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Nottingham is home to two universities: the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University (formerly Trent Polytechnic). Together they are attended by over 40,000 full-time students. The University of Nottingham's teaching hospital, Queen's Medical Centre, is the largest hospital in the UK.

Other notable educational institutions include the further education college New College Nottingham, Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, Nottingham High School, Bilborough College, Nottingham High School for Girls, Chilwell Comprehensive School, The Nottingham Bluecoat School and Technology College, South Nottingham College, The Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama and Djanogly City Academy and Greenwood Dale Technology College. Nottingham is home and headquarters of the National College for School Leadership.

The Nottingham School of Fashion is a fashion school respected around the country. The designer Paul Smith trained there.

Industry

Nottingham is home to the headquarters of many well known companies. One of the best known is Boots the Chemists, founded in the city by Jesse Boot 1st Lord Trent in 1849 and substantially expanded by his son John Boot (2nd Lord Trent).

Other large current employers include the credit reference agency Experian, the energy company Powergen, the tobacco company John Player & Sons betting company Gala Group, Siemens, Speedo, high street opticians Vision Express, games and publishing company Games Workshop the creator of the popular games Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Warhammer 40,000 and the American Credit card company Capital One, whose European offices are situated by the side of Nottingham station. Nottingham is also the home of HM Revenue and Customs and the Driving Standards Agency.

Although Boots itself is no longer a research-based pharmaceutical company, a combination of former Boots researchers and university spin-off companies have spawned a thriving pharmaceutical/science/biotechnology sector. BioCity, the UK’s biggest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, sits in the heart of the city and houses around thirty science-based companies. Other notable companies in the sector include ClinPhone and Pharmaceutical Profiles. The city has recently been made one of the UK's six Science Cities.

Until recently bicycle manufacturing was a major industry, the city being the birthplace of Raleigh Cycles in 1886 and later joined by Sturmey-Archer, the creator of 3-speed hub gears. However, Raleigh's factory on Triumph Road, famous as the location for the filming of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was demolished in Summer 2003 to make way for the University of Nottingham's expansion of Jubilee Campus.

Nottingham is also joint headquarters of Paul Smith, the high fashion house.

Creative Industries are a target growth sector for the city [1] with graphic design, interiors and textile design being a particular focus. already many small design companies are establishing a base in the city with Jupiter and the multi award winning Purple Circle being two of the higher profile consultancies.

Ceramics manufacturer Mason Cash was founded and continues to have operations in Nottingham.

The schools and aerial photographers, H Tempest Ltd were Nottingham based for many years, until relocating to St Ives (Cornwall) around 1960. A skeleton office remained for many years in the original building next to Mundella School.

Many of the UKs railway ticket machines and platform departure boards run software written by Atos Origin in their offices in Nottingham. Other major industries in the city include engineering, textiles, knitwear and electronics. An increasing number of software developers are located in Nottingham: Free Radical Design and Reuters are all based in the city.

Nottingham is progressively changing from an industrial city to one based largely in the service sector. Tourism—particularly from the United States and the Far East—is becoming an increasingly significant part of the local economy.

Economic trends
Year	Regional Gross Value Added (£m)	Agriculture (£m)	Industry (£m)	Services (£m)
1995	4,149	2	1,292	2,855
2000	5,048	1	912	4,135
2003	5,796	-	967	4,828
source: Office for National Statistics

In 2004 Nottingham had a GDP per capita of £24,238 (US$48,287, €35,529), which was the highest of any English city after London, and the fourth highest of any city of the UK, after London, Edinburgh and Belfast. ^[12]

Shopping

Debenhams, Old Market Square

By 2006, Nottingham was positioned fifth in the shopping league in Britain (CACI Retail Footprint 2006), behind London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester but ahead of Leeds, Southampton, Bluewater, Liverpool and Newcastle upon Tyne.

There are two main shopping centres in Nottingham: Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh. The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre £400 million redevelopment to create 300 stores (136,000 sq m of retail) is to start in 2007, with the names of the anchor tenants being announced in September 2007. Smaller shopping centres are the The Exchange Arcade and the Flying Horse Walk (the latter once a famous hotel). In 2007, two new shopping centres will open, Trinity Square and The Pod. The new developments will increase the shopping sales area in the city centre by 28% to 4.3 million square feet. The Bridlesmith Gate area has numerous designer shops, and is the home of the original Paul Smith boutique. There are also various side streets and alleys that hide some interesting and often overlooked buildings and shops - streets such as Poultry Walk, West End Arcade and Hurts Yard. These are home to many specialist shops.

Many department stores also operate in Nottingham. House of Fraser, John Lewis, Debenhams, and Marks & Spencer all have branches. John Lewis was until recently called Jessops, even though owned by John Lewis since 1933. It changed its name in 2002 after a refurbishment. Hockley Village caters to alternative tastes with shops like Ice Nine and Void, famous across the city.

Culture

Nottingham Playhouse and Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror

Nottingham has two large-capacity theatres, the Nottingham Playhouse and the Theatre Royal (which together with the neighbouring Royal Concert Hall form the Royal Centre) and a smaller theatre space at the University of Nottingham's Lakeside Arts Centre. There are also several art galleries which often receive national attention, particularly the Nottingham Castle Museum, the Angel Row Gallery (attached to the main library), the University of Nottingham's Djanogly Gallery and Wollaton Park's Yard Gallery. Both of the city's universities also put on a wide range of theatre, music and art events open to the public throughout the year.

The city has several multiplex cinemas alongside two arthouse cinemas in Hockley. The independent cinemas are the Broadway Cinema, one of the major independent cinemas in the UK and Screen Room, which claims to be the world’s smallest cinema (at just 21 seats). Broadway was redeveloped and expanded in 2006. Quentin Tarantino held the British premiere of Reservoir Dogs there in 1992.

There is a classical music scene, with long-established groups such as the city's Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, Harmonic Society, Bach Choir, Early Music Group Musica Donum Dei and the Symphonic Wind Orchestra giving regular performances in the city.

The annual Goose Fair in October is always popular, being one of the largest fairs in the country.

Nottingham won the Britain in Bloom competition, in the Large City category, in 1997, 2001 and 2003. It also won the Entente Florale Gold Award in 1998.

Nottingham is known for its large teenage alternative scene (rock, punk, emo etc.), the heartland of which is Old Market Square. Another focus for their activities is the Rock City concert venue. The Sumac Centre based in Forest Fields has for many years supported local upcoming musicians, artists and film makers, and a variety of campaign groups.

Nottingham has a strong grass roots "Do it yourself" music culture, and is very in touch with underground trends in modern music. Nottingham is renowned as one of the biggest cities supporting the Dubstep movement of dance music. It also has a strong DIY Punk and Indie/Folk scene based at venues such as The Old Angel Inn, The Rose of England and Lee Rosys Tea in Hockley.

Tourism

Nottingham receives a considerable volume of tourism. Many visitors are attracted by Nottingham's nightlife and shops, by its history, and by the legend of Robin Hood, visiting Sherwood Forest, Nottingham Castle and The Tales of Robin Hood on Maid Marian Way. Popular history-based tourist attractions in central Nottingham include the Castle, City of Caves, Lace Market, The Galleries of Justice, and the City's ancient pubs.

Parks and gardens include Wollaton Park (over 500 acres) near to the University Highfields Park on the University of Nottingham campus, Colwick Park, which includes the racecourse, and the Nottingham Arboretum, Forest Recreation Ground and Victoria Park which are in or close to the city centre. Sherwood Forest, Rufford Country Park, Creswell Crags and Clumber Park are further away from the city itself. A new park is being developed in the city at the Eastside City development.

Entertainment

New Buildings on the South Side of the Lace Market area.

The 2,500-capacity Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and 9,500-capacity Nottingham Arena attract the biggest names in popular music. For less mainstream acts and a generally more intimate atmosphere, Nottingham boasts a selection of great smaller venues including Junktion 7, The Old Angel, the award-winning dedicated rock music venue Rock City and Rock City's compact sister venues The Rescue Rooms, The Social and Stealth. These venues, with their packed listings and close proximity, make Nottingham one of the centres of live popular music in the UK.

Nottingham city centre has a very large number of lively clubs and bars. While many of these venues are very attractive, concern has been expressed regarding alcohol-related disorder in Nottingham, notably (but not exclusively) in a BBC Panorama documentary in 2004.^[13]

In the 1980s, Nottingham was barely mentioned in the Good Food Guide; but now there are several restaurant entries and a range of cuisine reflecting the ethnic diversity of the city. The Nottingham Restaurant Awards play a leading role in promoting the industry.

The large number of students in the city bolsters the nighttime entertainment scene. There are several well established areas of the city centre for entertainment such as Lace Market, Hockley, The Waterfront and The Corner House.

Sport

The City Ground and River Trent

Nottingham is home to two football teams: Nottingham Forest (currently in Football League One) (who under their most famous manager, the late Brian Clough, won the European Cup twice in succession) and Notts County (who play in Football League Two). Notably, these two stadia are the closest in England. The latter is the oldest Football League team in the UK, and indeed the world, having been founded in 1862 - a year before the establishment of the Football Association.

Trent Bridge cricket ground, located across the river in West Bridgford, Rushcliffe, is the home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, who were winners of the 2005 County Championship and runners-up in the 2006 Twenty20 cup competition. Trent Bridge is a major venue for international Test matches, and also hosts other important cricketing events such as the Twenty20 cup finals and regular one-day international games. The ground, which has won architectural awards for the design of some of its newer stands, also houses a cricket academy, a hotel, and a gym, and also uniquely features not one, but two public houses built within the ground itself.

All three famous sports venues are within sight of each other even though the River Trent separates Trent Bridge and Forest's stadium (known as the City Ground and near to the cricket ground) from Notts County's ground, Meadow Lane. As a curiosity Meadow Lane is actually in the City of Nottingham and the City Ground is in the County of Nottingham, the river forming the boundary. Forest should not be confused with 'The Forest', which is an open green space where the Goose Fair (see above) is held; however, the team take their name from this open space, having been founded there in 1865. This makes Forest the third oldest team in the league.

The National Ice Centre and Nottingham Arena

The National Ice Centre, a large ice skating rink; the city's links to ice skating can be traced back to arguably its most famous children of recent times, Olympic ice dancing champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean who collected a unanimous 6.0 score at the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo. The NIC is used as a training and competition venue for speed skating, sledge hockey and figure skating and receives an annual grant from bodies such as Sport England to maintain and fund these sports.

The NIC is the home of the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team, founded in 1946 and the current British Play Off Champions. There is a thriving junior ice hockey programme which is also based at the centre. Since 2001, Nottingham has been the host city of the annual ice hockey Play-Off Championship Finals weekend, which attracts fans from many different parts of the country. Also calling the NIC home is the Nottingham North Stars recreational ice hockey team. Founded in 1989 North Stars are one of the oldest recreational clubs in the country.

The city's rugby union side, Nottingham R.F.C. are currently based at a new venue in West Bridgford near to the City Ground, and play their league matches at Meadow Lane.

There is a large tennis centre, where the annual Nottingham Open is held in the weeks immediately prior to Wimbledon and has been used as warm-up practice by various tennis stars.

Trent Bridge cricket ground.

The National Water Sports Centre is based at Holme Pierrepont, with a 2000 m regatta lake for rowing, canoeing and sailing, and a white water slalom course fed from the river. A number of other sailing, rowing and canoeing clubs are also based along the River Trent, as is the boatbuilder Raymond Sims.

Every year since 1981 Nottingham has played host to the 'Robin Hood Marathon' taking in many of the city's historic and scenic sights. The race is run alongside a half marathon and a fun run among other events and is widely considered to be the second best marathon in the UK.

Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in Nottingham before the second world war. The original venue known as Olympic Speedway was redeveloped by the building of the White City stadium which also featured speedway. A book by Philip Dalling, published by Tempus Publishing, chronicles speedway events in Nottingham. For a short spell in the 1980s the promotion based at Long Eaton raced under the Nottingham Speedway banner and the team was known as Nottingham Outlaws.

Transport

Road

Nottingham is close to the M1 motorway and the major A52 road and A46 road.

Air

East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire, served by low-cost international airlines, makes the city easily accessible from other parts of the world providing daily services to many principal European destinations such as Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Amsterdam, internal flights to Edinburgh and Belfast and limited services to trans-continental destinations such as Barbados, Mexico, Sanford and Florida. Nearby Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield also provides domestic European and Trans-Atlantic services. Birmingham International airport is about one hour's drive away and 2 hours 15 minutes on the train, providing flights to most principal European cities, New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Dubai and the Indian sub-continent.

Rail

Nottingham is served by train services operated by Midland Mainline from Nottingham railway station to London.

The re-opening of the Robin Hood Line to passengers rather than just freight, between 1993 and 1998 linked Nottingham with its close neighbours of Hucknall, Mansfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield. Other lines connect the city to Beeston, Burton Joyce, Netherfield and Carlton. Nottingham has direct services to London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and Norwich.

From 11 November 2007 Midland Mainline and Central Trains services in Nottingham will be replaced by a new franchisee East Midlands Trains with the exception of the Nottingham to Cardiff services which will be operated by Cross Country

Nottingham railway station is the last survivor of a once much larger rail network around Nottingham. At one time Nottingham was served by Four other railway stations,

Nottingham Victoria Station (closed 1968)
Nottingham Arkwight Street (Closed 1969)
Nottingham London Road High Level (closed 1969)
Nottingham London Road Low Level (closed 1948)

See also: Nottingham's Tunnels

Light Rail

Nottingham Express Transit a light rail system opened in 2004, running from Hucknall in the north to the city's railway station. An additional spur to/from Phoenix Park serves as a Park and Ride Station close to the M1 motorway (Junction 26).See National Park and Ride Directory for details. Phase 2 development of the system will add two new lines will to the southern and western suburbs to create a three-line network.

Buses

Nottingham is bucking the national trend, as bus use in the city is growing and employment rates are rising.^[14] This is a result of the city council, as well as the two principal operators, Nottingham City Transport (NCT) and Trent Barton, making multi-million-pound investments in some of the newest fleets in the country. NCT was also the first transport operator in the UK to use RFID technology for its EasyRider bus passes, introduced in 2000. The two operators are also frequent winners of the National Bus Operator of the Year award.

Crime

Nottingham is served by Nottinghamshire Police and has a Crown Court and Magistrates' Court.

In 2000 - 2003 the press and other media claimed Nottingham was the 'gun-crime capital of the UK', although by 2007 the BBC reported that the number of shootings in the City had fallen from 51 (in 2003) to 13 (in 2006)^[15]. The incidence of many crimes in Nottingham is several times higher than the English average.^[16] A 2006 crime survey^{[citation needed]} stated that Nottingham topped the crime rankings for police statistics on murders, burglaries, and vehicle crime, and "had almost five times the level of crime as the safest town in the rankings". The survey was condemned as inaccurate by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire Police^[17] due largely to the use of out of date (2001) population figures, although a revised survey based on 2004 population estimates backed up the original rankings.^[18]

While the crime figures in the city are high, initiatives introduced to tackle the levels of crime appear to be having an effect, with a 2006 Home Office survey showing that the overall level of crime in the city is down by 12% since 2003.^[19] Initiatives include the Community and Neighbourhood Protection Service developed by Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire Police and Nottingham City Homes to take an uncompromising stance to anti-social behaviour.^[20] It comprises Community Protection Officers (CPOs), Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and Anti-Social Behaviour Officers who work with internal and external agencies to reduce anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime.

Community Protection Officers (also known as City Wardens) highly visible in their bright yellow stab vests, are accredited by the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police to issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for littering and are tasked to reduce other anti-social behaviours.

Religion

The Roman Catholic Cathedral from Derby Road

In Nottingham one can find places of worship for all the major world religions, including Christianity, Paganism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism. The Nottingham Interfaith Council works to make connections between faith groups and show the wider public the importance of spiritual aspects of life and the contribution faith groups make to the community.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Barnabas on Derby Road was designed by the architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, it was consecrated in 1844 and is the cathedral church for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham established in 1850 which covers Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw District), Leicestershire, Derbyshire (except Chesterfield and parts of the High Peak), Rutland and Lincolnshire (pre-1974 boundaries).