Are you thinking of moving to Nottingham? When it comes to things to do, the city punches well above its weight. We’ve detailed the best ways to spend time in Nottingham to help you decide if you’d like to live here.
Watch live sport
Thanks to the city’s rich sporting history, sports enthusiasts living in Nottingham are spoilt for choice. Notts County FC is the oldest professional football club in the world. And their local rival Nottingham Forest FC is back in the top flight of English football. Football frenzy is very much alive in the city, so there are many opportunities for sporting days out.
But if football doesn’t whet your appetite, there’s much more on offer. Nottingham is also home to Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, one of the country’s biggest cricket venues. There’s a jam-packed schedule of county cricket games throughout the spring and summer for you to attend, as well as the odd test match.
The sport doesn’t stop there. Ice hockey is a popular sport in Nottingham due to the Nottingham Panthers, a top team competing in the Elite Ice Hockey League. They play their homes at the Motorpoint Arena, a massive venue that has hosted world championship boxing and other major sporting events.
Tennis also features on the Nottingham sports scene. Every year, high-ranked tennis players on the WTA and ATP tours play the Rothesay Open, a grass court warm-up tournament for Wimbledon that dates back to 1887.
With Nottingham being a relatively small city with excellent transport links for commuters, it’s easy to get to the many different sporting venues for a day or night out.
Enjoy live music
There’s a show for everyone in Nottingham. Some of the world’s biggest music artists regularly grace the stage of Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena. The likes of Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga and Elton John have previously made Nottingham a tour stop.
And we can’t forget about Rock City. Many times voted the UK’s best live music venue, Rock City has attracted the biggest and best names in rock, hip-hop and electronica since opening its doors in 1980. Gig tickets are affordable, and you can also go to one of the many club nights.
Shifting gears, there’s the Theatre Royal in the heart of the city centre. The historic venue puts on everything from pantomime to opera.
If you fancy a night out, there aren’t many cities better than Nottingham. Get Listed ranked it the 26th best city for nightlife, but we think that’s lower than Nottingham deserves. There are bars and nightclubs to suit everyone’s tastes, like Stealth for dance fans or cosy live jazz club Peggy’s Skylight.
Explore the history
If you’d like to live somewhere with a sense of history, Nottingham could be the place for you. What else would you expect from a city synonymous with England’s greatest legend?
The tale of Robin Hood is engraved in English folklore, and the famed outlaw still casts a shadow over Nottingham. For a day out, you can join a Robin Hood tour to transport yourself back to the medieval Sherwood Forest and behold the Major Oak where Robin Hood and his merry men slept.
The city itself contains many historical points of interest, including Nottingham Castle. The original castle was built by William the Conqueror, and the newly restored site is open to day visitors. Keen explorers will enjoy traversing the City of Caves before vising Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, a pub built in a cave that claims to be Britain’s oldest tavern.
Wollaton Hall is a must-see in Nottingham. The 400–year–old Elizabethan country house is one of the grandest in the UK and is the centre-piece of the beloved Wollaton Park. It always makes for an affordable day out for families.
Other historically-themed activities include visiting the National Justice Museum and the Industrial Museum. Whether you want to live in Nottingham or are just visiting the city, you’ll have so much history to discover.
Food and drink
Foodies will feel at home thanks to the diverse restaurant scene in Nottingham. According to BBC Good Food, Nottingham offers world-class dining experiences and international cuisine.
Top food critic Jay Rayner named Nottingham’s Kushi-Ya as his restaurant of the year in 2022. The in-demand Japanese restaurant has made its way onto the Michelin Guide. In addition, Alchemilla and John’s House each hold a Michelin star, while Restaurant Sat Bains currently has two stars.
There is hardly a better place for eateries than Nottingham’s Creative Quarter. The area containing Hockley and Lace Market has been called one of the coolest postcodes in the UK and is one of the best places to live in Nottingham for young professionals. Whether you live in Nottingham or are just visiting, there’s a long list of forward-thinking restaurants, cafes and bakeries to try, like local favourites Annie’s Burger Shack and Paste Contemporary Thai Cuisine.
Shopping
As a shopping destination, Nottingham stands tall above most UK cities and is easily the best in the East Midlands region.
Case in point, the city is home to the busiest shopping street in Europe, Clumber Street. Here you can find big-name stores as well as independent shops and boutiques.
Round the corner is Nottingham’s Creative Quarter, which boasts a variety of thrift shops. Not far from there lies Bridlesmith Gate, a charming street adorned with red brick buildings. Here book lovers can immerse themselves in one of the biggest Waterstones in the country. Plus, there’s a large selection of designer stores in this part of town.
In terms of shopping centres, Nottingham has two. Intu Victoria Centre is a large shopping centre in town with a massive indoor market and over 120 stores, including John Lewis and House of Fraser. The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is undergoing a rebuild to become the beating heart of the city centre.
Every year, Nottingham’s shopping scene is boosted by the Winter Wonderland fair from early November to December 31. Set in the Old Market Square, this festive celebration breathes a real Christmas spirit into the city with ice skating, live entertainment and market stalls. In the summer, Nottingham lights up again when Nottingham Beach comes to town and turns the Old Market Square into a tropical paradise.
Want to move to Nottingham?
If Nottingham sounds like the place you’d like to live, you can get moving right away. At We Buy Any Home, we help people sell their houses fast so they can move without the chain collapsing. Why go through the uncertainty of selling with an estate agent when you can sell fast for cash? Give us a call today to explore a better way to sell your house.
