Nottingham looks grim

[AskAwayAgain]

I live in the East Midlands a bit of a way from Nottingham. But we went into Nottingham to see a show. We had not been there since before the pandemic so I said to DH lets go in early and look around the shops beforehand and have something to eat.

I was really shocked by how awful the street from Marks and Spencers to Broadmarsh looked. Most shops closed and some that were open looked really tatty. I also had memories of the side streets being full of interesting gift shops, but most were gone.

Victoria Centre looked okay, but overall the City Centre was really poor and had little to offer, I am still shocked that a major City looks as bad as this.

“Grim” must be MN’s most overused word. It is used to describe everything!

Anyway. I see what you’re saying and unfortunately so many high streets are like this these days. Particularly sad and empty at nighttime too

I am inclined to agree. My son is at uni of Nottingham and I find the city depressing on the whole. The young folk seem to love it though.

Maybe lots of good bars for young people?
But it needs major investment. it did not used to look like this.

I was in Victoria centre last week and it's really gone downhill, market Square didn't look great either

I'm in the SE, most of the towns I reach are like this and don't get me started on the pot holes and rubbish.

Ahh Shotingham? Not much has changed then.

Even Leeds has closed shops everywhere with scruffy wood covering the fronts and homeless people everywhere. There are no big shops to replace the ones that have gone.

Although it does have some of the nicest housing stock.

Completely agree. I've lived here for 19 years now, and it's really gone down hill. I was born and brought up in Leicester, and when I was a teenager a trip to Nottingham for shopping was a big thing. Now Leicester has had a fortune spent on it and Nottingham is the poor relation. It's just so flat and depressing now. A friend moved to Liverpool a few years ago and if it wasn't for work I'd move there in a heartbeat. Discovering Liverpool was the final mail in the Nottingham coffin for me.

Nottingham might be grim, but it’s still way better than Leicester. Which isn’t saying much…

Nottingham, Vitoria center market, all but shut up now. Market square, used to be used all day every day by kids, teens the elderly, now it’s just a couple of broken water features.
the castle, closed for 3 years to refurbish, spent millions on it, now closed to the public. At least we still have the theatre.

I love Nottingham but then again I live in Derby.
I find notts has a much better feel to it.

If you think Nottingham is grim then don't go near Derby. Everyone who lives there thinks Nottingham is brilliant.

A lot of the North and Central Midlands looks like that now unfortunately. Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Derby, Stoke on Trent, Stafford.

Lichfield is booming though with grand development plans in the works.

Most town and city centres in the U.K. are a shadow of their former selves. It’s all very sad.

It must have changed in the last ten years. My daughter was at uni there and I loved visiting. What's happened in such a short time?

Same in a lot of cities and towns now. There is a separate thread at the moment about Bath, which is sadly also looking grim these days. So many formerly grand and beautiful cities/towns becoming a sad shadow of what they once were.

I agree but think you'll find most town centres are like this, it's just too risky to open retail.

Online shopping has killed off the town centre and with parking I think folks are most likely to go to retail parks.

I only go into Nottingham, for the theatre and cinema, but most off the units in cornerhouse have gone. I think Nottm is still popular for Nightlife and has plenty off restaurants, bars, pubs and seems more busy in the evening.

But as folks have said you think Nottingham is bad, don't go to Derby! Least we have history, historic buildings, pity what has happened to the castle.

I think Broadmarsh area is being turned into more green spaces and the library will be there. And hopefully more shops will open near the bus station.

But it has happened in only 3 or 4 years, that is what is so shocking.

Went into Manchester recently and thought the same. It looked so run down, full of litter, homeless people, grey. Couldn't wait to get out.

I have lived in Nottingham for all my life and used to be proud to tell people I was from there. It was a lovely, vibrant City. It is now an absolute shit hole with boarded up shops, derelict shopping centre, filthy streets and homeless people on every corner.

People say that other City Centres are the same, but it is not my experience on the whole.

Part of the problem is our love of internet shopping which only accelerated during the pandemic. It's a societal change and all town centres are heading this way
DH works in local govt. and there are always meetings to discuss ways to combat the change in town centres
I live on the south coast - don't think southern cities are exempt. Lots of oarded up shops in my southern market town. A couple of eateries have opened this year. Looks like town centres in this century will be more meeting places for food and entertainment.

Some retail estates are still thriving.

I was at university in Nottingham ( decades ago!) and worked in Derby for several years. When I visited each of them for the first time after the pandemic, I was shocked at the decline. I did wonder if my disappointment was in part down to the fact that I now view them through a very middle aged lens, because there is less there to interest me nowadays.

DH and I now go to Nottingham only for the theatre and Broadway Cinema, the amazing cheese shop and a couple of restaurants, and to Derby for the Quad cinema and the impressive museum. The Hogarth exhibition that's currently on at the museum is fantastic.

Same has happened to Sheffield City centre. A man was stabbed by a complete stranger for no reason on Friday on the High Street. I refuse to take my kids even in the day.