Nottingham 1 – Arriving and Central Nottingham

Wednesday, 18 May, 2022

Nottingham has also been on my list and was the last trip we took during the Rail Sale. Just like Norwich, we planned three days, two nights and booked our hotel.

Our train was leaving from St. Pancras at 11:35 and unlike the mad scramble we’d had when going to Sheffield and Leicester, we allowed plenty of time and had a short wait at the station.

The train ride went by quickly. And we got to Nottingham about 13:10.

When we first left the station I was reminded of Leicester. The street ahead of us was very quiet and lined with red brick buildings. After a block or two we turned in front of a new bus station and the college and up a hill where the tram tracks ran on an elevated road. Just a few blocks up and we reached our hotel, The Mercure.

The area we were staying in – Hockley – was considered trendy, bohemian. It was a small grid of streets with a pedestrianised central road lined with small restaurants and bars. We’d decided on Chinese food before we got there but had to choose between three. The area seems to have a bit of a Chinatown and we ended up in one that had two large posters showing that Giles Coren had loved this place. We thought it would be fun to see if Giles was right.

The restaurant was Shanghai Shanghai. We ordered eggplant with green beans and rice, some crispy chilli beef and something called Sweetie Pumpkin Tarts – a sweet-for-sure pumpkin croquette that tasted like dessert. The verdict – Giles Coren hasn’t a clue!

Time to explore a bit. The first thing we discovered was that Nottingham is full of ‘chambers.’ I’ll assume these little hidden mews were solicitors’ offices that have been turned into small cafes and boutiques. They were everywhere. What does this say about Nottingham, that there were so many lawyers?

Meandering just off the main pedestrian way to the market square we came across a church and more alleyways and chambers, but once back onto the busier area we found The Exchange. Saying we found it is a bit silly. How can you miss it?

As soon as we went in, I told Krish that we were surely back in Turin or even Naples. The whole thing looked just like every Italian galleria.
The Exchange Buildings were built between 1927 and 1929, replacing an earlier 18th century building. It was Nottingham’s first shopping centre occupied at that time by Joseph Burton. In the 80s it was called Burtons Arcade before it was refurbished to its present state. I found a virtual tour. See what you think. The Exchange adjoins The Council House, which houses a 200ft high dome. Under the dome at the top are four murals, each showing a key historic time for the city. I photographed the one showing Robin Hood and later Krish took photos of all of them, which will follow in a later post.

Council House is home to Little John, the ‘deepest bell in the UK’ – with an E flat tone. We had heard this bell chiming each quarter hour – where was it, we asked – and remarked that it sounded exactly like Big Ben, an unexpected sound in little Nottingham. Turns out that we aren’t the only ones since it has been considered as a replacement should the ‘delipidated’ Big Ben fail. We’d hear the bell and think, where is it, why does it sound like Big Ben, and then wondered if it came from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (it doesn’t – it’s from John Taylor & Co).

The Old Market Square had no market, and we never saw one while there. It’s pretty vast and people sit around any area that has ledges. I felt it had huge potential for more and I’m sure there must be events at times, but not while we were there. One story said it was the largest public square in England (UK?) while another said it was the second largest. In front of the Council House were two stone lions – nicknamed Oscar (on the right) and the much-loved Leo (on the left). Krish took a liking to Leo and I got to see this Nottingham pet up close the following day.From the square there were some lovely buildings on view. In earlier days I know I would have gone up to each one, but those days are gone so I admired them from where I was.

We wandered a bit but, as far as the eye could see there were only shops and more shops. It felt a bit overwhelming, with me not being an eager shopper. We stumbled on the Victoria Centre, a big indoor mall, decided not to venture in and instead wandered away from there hoping to find a quieter, less shoppy, route back to the hotel for a rest.

This route went on forever, or so it seemed to my poor legs. It was warmer than I’d expected and I wanted water but here, in contrast, there were no shops in sight, no cafes either. We were on some sort of ring road, passing the odd interesting looking building, but I was completely focussed on getting back to rest and water so not many photos to show for it.

I couldn’t have been happier to find myself on streets that already had familiar names. Finally we were back at the hotel. The lobby was spare with a big plaque talking about its history – Byron had slept here, but also Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The halls were peppered with other famous sleepers. I have other pictures of the plaques, so will talk more about the Mercure on George Street then.

Our goal for the evening was a visit to the culinary college dining room for dinner. Krish had discovered this while researching places to eat. I knew the food would be Cypriot, an otherwise unlikely choice, but till now such places have always been hidden gems. I rested and watered and off we set to find the dining room, Fletcher’s.

The dining room was spacious and we were greeted by a bashful student, Erin, who took us to our table and gave us a menu. We each had something different and shared everything. There were high points and lower points but everything was quite lovely and the atmosphere was perfect after a busy day.

By the end of the evening, Erin was a little more animated. Krish and I talked together as we walked ‘home’ about what could have been different – a kitchen that we could see (would that intimidate the student chefs?), a course in interpersonal skills for the servers…mostly. This is Krish’s thing – how something can be improved, how he would do it better. He speculated that this was the young chef’s ‘thesis’ – end of term exam – could be.  The chef himself had come out and given us our main courses but said nothing so we didn’t know who he was until we saw him visiting the table next to ours and lingering to chat a little. That’s when we realised who he was and were sorry for not having had the opportunity to chat to him, had he introduced himself. Perhaps he was a friend of someone on that table, we weren’t sure.  I filled out our evaluation giving everything a 5/5 but mentioning the need for a further focus on how to interact with people. Job done.

And day done. With the aid of a shared glass of zinfandel at dinner, we both slept quite well, despite the advertised but worse-than-expected party noise outside on the street.