Controlling a strategic crossing point over the Trent, the Saxon town of NOTTINGHAM was built on one of a pair of sandstone hills whose 130-foot cliffs looked out over the river valley. In 1068, William the Conqueror built a castle on the other hill, and the Saxon and Norman communities traded on the low ground in between, the Market Square. The castle was a military stronghold and royal palace, the equal of the great castles of Windsor and Dover, and every medieval king of England paid regular visits. After the Civil War, the Parliamentarians slighted the castle and, in the 1670s, the ruins were cleared by the Duke of Newcastle to make way for a palace, whose continental - and, in English terms, novel - design he chose from a pattern book, probably by Rubens. Beneath the castle lay a market town which, according to contemporaries, was handsome and well kept - "One of the most beautiful towns in England", commented Daniel Defoe. But in the second half of the eighteenth century, the town was transformed by the expansion of the lace and hosiery industries. Within the space of fifty years, Nottingham's population increased from ten thousand to fifty thousand, the resulting slum becoming a hotbed of radicalism. In the 1810s, a recession provoked the hard-pressed workers into action. They struck against the employers and, calling themselves Luddites , after an apprentice-protester by the name of Ned Ludd, raided the factories to smash the knitting machines. This was but the first of several troubled periods. During the Reform Bill riots of 1831, the workers set fire to the duke's home in response to his opposition to parliamentary reform and, in the following decade, they flocked to the Chartist movement.
The worst of Nottingham's slums were cleared in the late nineteenth century, when the city centre assumed its present structure, with the main commercial area ringed by alternating industrial and residential districts. Crass postwar development , adding tower blocks, shopping centres and a ring road, has embedded the remnants of the city's past in a townscape that will be dishearteningly familiar if you've seen a few other English commercial centres.
Nottingham's restaurant scene has improved immeasurably in the last five years. French and Mediterranean cuisine are in vogue at present, but the Asian places continue to prosper. In the last couple of years, cafés have sprung up all over the city centre. Almost without exception, they've adopted the same formula - angular and ultra-modern furnishings and fittings and a wide range of bottled beers. A few offer tasty, broadly Mediterranean food as well.
Bentons Bar Brasserie corner of Heathcote and Lower Parliament streets. Pleasant café-bar offering tasty dishes from an imaginative menu - salads and pastas through to steaks. Inexpensive.
Petit Paris 2 Kings Walk, off Upper Parliament Street, near the Theatre Royal tel 0115/947 3767. Arguably the best restaurant of its type in town, offering delicious bistro-style French cuisine in neat and informal surroundings. Moderate.
La Cappanna 596 Mansfield Rd tel 0115/985 7411. Outstanding, family-run Italian restaurant with all the usual dishes plus a great line in seafood - the mussels are, so some locals say, the best in England. The regular menu is supplemented by daily specials. The decor is very ordinary, but don't let that put you off. It's located a mile or so north of the city centre. Moderate.
Pizza Express 20 King St tel 0115/952 9095. Fashionable pizza and pasta spot serving the chain's usual delicious pizzas. There's another branch at 24 Goose Gate, Hockley tel 0115/912 7888. Moderate.
Saagar Tandoori Restaurant 473 Mansfield Rd tel 0115/962 2014. Excellent Indian restaurant, a mile or so north of the city centre. The decor is very homely - you feel as if you're in someone's living room - but it's a very popular spot with locals. Moderate.
Shaw's 20 Broad St tel 0115/9500009. Smashing mid-range restaurant in an old, imaginatively converted store with a restaurant in the basement and an agreeable bar upstairs. The menu is lively and creative and the daily specials are first-rate.
Wax Café Bar 27 Broad St. Amongst the city's burgeoning band of café-bars, this is one of the trendiest. The food here is good - all light Mediterranean dishes at very reasonable prices. Inexpensive.
World Service Newdigate House, Castle Gate tel 0115/847 5587. Chic restaurant with bags of flair in charming premises up near the Castle. An international menu done with imagination. Expensive.
Nottingham's nightclub scene is boisterous and fast-moving, with places moving in and out of cool all the time. The pubs around Market Square have a tough edge to them, especially on the weekend, but within a few minutes' walk there's a selection of equally lively and more enjoyable drinking-holes. For live music , both popular and classical, most big names play at the Royal Centre Concert Hall on Wollaton Street, and nearby Rock City pulls in some star turns too. The Broadway, in the Lace Market at 14 Broad St (tel 0115/952 6600, ), is far and away the best cinema in town, featuring the pick of mainstream and avant-garde films.
Pubs and bars Broadway Cinema Bar Broadway Cinema, 14 Broad St. Informal, fashionable bar serving an eclectic assortment of bottled beers to a cinema-keen clientele. Can get too smoky for comfort, so they have a smaller, smoke-free café-bar upstairs. ... read more >>
Clubs The Bomb 45 Bridlesmith Gate. The frontrunner in the club scene with regular house, techno and jungle nights. Media Queen St. Grooviest place in town with grand decor and great sounds. Hosted a Renaissance night and features... read more >>
