Moving to Nottingham

DollGirl

Anyone live there?

Whats it like?

Might be going at Christmas

See Ye

Well I went to school there in the 80s and the folks still live about 10 miles north so I'll see if I can help. I don't know where you live now or where you're from but Nottingham is kind of BIG ... over quarter of a million people in the city not to mention the add-on 'suburbs' which almost run into Derby, so it has all the amenities you'd expect. Ther populations is pretty multi-cultural with an older layer of Polish & Ukranian immigrants who arrived after WW2 and quite large Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi and Afro-caribbean communities. It is also a YOUNG city, there are two universities and as this site shows there are a lot of young people around.

Shops : 2 large shopping centres (Victoria & Broad Marsh) with the usual chains and shopping streets linking the two of them. There's also an area called Hockney which has more independent off-beat type shops.

Nightlife : If bands aren't just doing London and Birmingham they'll probably do a gig at the Royal Centre, there's a scattering of clubs and if you want culture the Theatre Royal does the traditional opera/plays/Shakespeare stuff while the Playhouse is a bit more daring. If you're going at Christmas then you'll be in time to catch the pantomimes ;-)

Pubs : as you'd expect there are a LOT of these. I'm not up on what's what but you probably can't go wrong in any of them around Slab Square (the locals' name for the Old Market Square). The historic ones are Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, the Salutation Inn and the Bell.

Food : A bit of everything for all budgets.

Sport : 2 top flight soccer teams, a good rugby team, Ice Skating team, water sports (rowing, kyaking etc at Holme Pierrepont) there's also cricket (?)

Transport : good city buses, a tram, direct rail line to London - the same station that Eurostar to Paris leaves from. There's a shuttle bus to East Midlands airport where you can get cheap flights to the rest of Europe.

Other : if you're more outdoorsy then the Peak District is not far away for Climbing and walking; if historical houses are your thing then there are loads of country houses to visit - Hardwicke Hall, Chatsworth, Kedleston, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, Newstead Abbey.

Now where to live .. if you have a choice. THere are some areas I would avoid - they're a bot more run down and despite the fact there may well be a strong sense of community you may feel less safe walking around at night. Hyson Green, Forest Fields & St Anne's (the latter has a reputation for gun crime). In fact Nottingham city does have a bit of a reputation for violence but it's a wee bit self-perpetuating in that it has a reputation so some young lads come into town looking for a bit of a chance to prove themselves on Fri & Sat nights.

Oh and did I mention the accent ? Not too far south from Sean Bean. Don't be upset if people call you "duck" it's a term of erm well it's just like the Aussies say "mate".

I had a quick look at the wiki page for the city and you could do worse than read around it and the districts it highlights. If you have any more specific questions I'll be happy to try and answer.