Nottingham Travel Guide

Overview

Nottingham is situated in Britain's East Midlands region, 150 miles north of London, and is home to some 300,000 people.  Famous for the exploits of the semi-mythical Robin Hood and his band of followers, Nottingham also has an interesting industrial and hidden - literally - underground side due to its geology.  These days the city is a vibrant mix of bars, clubs and restaurants driven in part by its sizable student population.

History

Nottingham was founded by a Saxon with the marvellous name of Snot in the 7th Century AD (hence, Snottingham), at a crossing of the River Trent overlooked by two sandstone bluffs.  In the 19th Century Nottingham boomed during the UK's industrial revolution and was particularly known for its fine lace.  In the late 20th century the city's neglected industrial areas of lace warehouses were sympathetically redeveloped and today the Lace Market district is a stylish collection of apartments, clubs, restaurants and offices.

Points of Interest

The casual visitor to the city would be totally unaware of the effect its unique geology has had on the below-ground side to the city's character: Nottingham's friable sandstone has lended itself to the creation of man-made caverns beneath the city and there are believed to be 400 in all.  These have been put to diverse use, for example as extensions to public houses (pubs) and general cellar space, through to wartime air raid shelters during the Second World War.

One of these pub/cave combinations that deserves a special mention is Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, reputedly England's oldest pub founded in AD1189.  The pub's name is a reference to the Crusades which were in progress at the time of its foundation!  Today it's possible to buy a beer and retire to a cosy room literally hollowed out of the sandstone.

Sherwood Forest is also deserving of a mention - although now only a fraction of the size it was in medieval times, the visitor centre based 19 miles north of the city has much information on the exploits of Robin Hood and you can see the still-standing huge, ancient Major Oak tree that Robin allegedly hid in from the Sheriff of Nottingham's men.

Nightlife

Nottingham is renowned throughout the UK for its vibrant nightlife of bars, restaurants, clubs and music venues.  As the host to two universities and over 20,000 students there are plenty of takers for all these nightspots.

Sport

There are few cities in the UK of comparable size that can boast the range of sporting venues & teams that Nottingham offers:

It's home to two football (soccer) league teams - Nottingham Forest and Notts County FC, a test match cricket ground at Trent Bridge which also hosts Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, and last but not least the Nottingham Panthers play league ice-hockey at the city's swanky new Ice Arena.

Travel & Getting There

Nottingham does have its own airport - Nottingham East Midlands Airport (NEMA) - this predominantly serves European holiday and business travel destinations rather than inter-continental services.  Although, it is worth stating that routes to other European cities improve month-by-month as two budget carriers have hubs here - Easyjet and BMI Baby.  However, the other two main ways of reaching Nottingham remain Road and Rail: There is a good rail link to London St Pancras, one-and-a-half hours away, and the M1 motorway links Nottingham with London 150 miles to the south, a three hour drive.