Is Nottingham a nice place to visit

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I know you shouldn’t judge a town on one event but must admit the attack on two students and the caretaker has tainted my view. My DH went to the university and would like us to visit with our dc but I am nervous.
He would like to travel by train to Beeston and walk to the university park and around it and neighbouring Wollaton.
I have also heard that gun crime and drugs related crimes have increased since he was there.
So my question is whether you would feel comfortable with his plans or if there are bits we should avoid using Ubers?

Dd spent 4 years there at uni. She loves it. Absolutely loves it. But I hate it - I hated visiting her there, to me (as an ex South Londoner who went to school in Brixton, so very used to rough places!) I always felt unsafe. People wearing police tags in McDonalds, lots of obviously mentally ill people talking to themselves and shouting at people (and yep my dh has bipolar and serious depression so I am fully aware this doesn’t mean they’re going to attack anyone but it does make you feel uneasy), lots of groups of rough looking teens. Just horrible. Dd and her friends have had people follow them home, someone randomly punched one of them as they sat in the back of a taxi, they’ve had some man come up and hit one of them in the head unprovoked in a nightclub. All sorts.

She came home for good in the summer and I’ve never been more relieved. We live in South Norfolk having moved here from London as London felt rough and Nottingham is much worse imo.

Fuck off about pizza from Amigos 😂

And what's he on about, do you live in some posh Surrey suberb or something, Beestons considered posh rahnd ere duck!

Was it posh in 1990? To be fair we do live in a very rural area where everybody knows who everybody is.
What is wrong with Amigos pizza, is that considered posh?

Beeston and Wollaton and the University are miles from the City Center.

The city centre is absolutely bloody awful these days, especially after the sun goes down. The city is full of food shops never making any food and delivery people not delivering anything. Just loads of them cycling around and whizzing past you far too close.

How old are your DC just to give idea of activities you could do?
Are you planning on staying for a few days?
Not much in the way of hotels in Beeston but it’s 15 minutes from city centre on the tram. Some lovely coffee shops and eating places, lots of students and academics live in the area due to the university being so close. Lakeside art gallery next to the university at Highfields (just outside of Beeston on way to Nottingham, trams and buses between the two stop right outside), the gallery has an Andy Warhol exhibition on at the moment until April, £6 for adults free for children, I went last week, def worth a visit (pre book tickets online), good coffee shop there and a big play park for the kids, nice walk around the lake, think there’s also a crazy golf and rowing boats there.
Wollaton hall and grounds are a short bus ride from the city and beautiful to walk around.
The city itself is a mixed bag. Hockley is thriving again with small independent places to eat which is great to see. Nottingham castle had a big upgrade but I’ve not been so can’t give personal recommendation to.
There the theatre royal, concert hall and the Nottingham playhouse if you like shows, you’ll find something to suit your tastes I’m sure!
stsy away from market square as there have been issues over recent month with youths gathering and fighting with knives. They fight each other though, not general public but if you see them it can feel intimidating.

I assume he wants to walk around Wollaton Park which is absolutely lovely.

Not at all! 😂

And Poppa pizzas is better! There are loads of places in Beeston to eat, Bendigo lounge, Cafe 66, Beeston social (which has arcade machine so great for the kids), Pudding pantry, Rassams desserts (they have a singing robot that brings you the food!). Then you’ve got Greenhood coffee shop, AM, and Christine’s Delights.

Oh and there’s a fab new noodle bar Kojima noodles on the corner of Wollaton Road.

He says the only thing he remembers about Beeston was the train station, macdonalds, 2p beans in Sainsbury’s and then about 10 charity shops on the walk back to campus. This could be because he was a skint student though.

McDonald’s went years ago! Still many charity shops though. Although I think that’s the same everywhere.

Ah yes, an Amigo's pizza, Food of the Gods! DH and I were on first name terms with their delivery drivers when we were students. Sadly it's no longer there.

🤣, tis true, from another Northern lass, ayup me duck, 🤪

It’s a nice fun city , a little run down in parts but Hockley is full of great restaurants , the campus is lovely as is wollaton park and there’s great ice skating for the kids , the galleries of justice , art house cinema , independent shops curry houses etc

Nottshappening on Insta is great if you want to find out what’s on/ great bars restaurants/ events etc

If he hasn’t been to Beeston since 1990, he’s not going to recognise the place.

Used to live around there & my family is from Long Eaton/Beeston/Chilwell.
Last year my family & my brothers family passed through to show our kids where their great grandparents used to live in Long Eaton & we walked into town to go to Birds. Long Eaton has really gone downhill! It felt very rough to us, compared to what we remember. Didn’t stop in Beeston but never thought of it as posh - surely that was Chilwell?

100% this!!

Unfortunately long Eaton has gone massively down hill, it’s a ghost town, however Beeston has thrived and has gone completely opposite way.

I would really recommend staying at the Orchard Hotel on the campus itself - if your DH is an alumnus he should get a discount - phone them up and ask.

The chip shop in the same row of shops as Amigo’s is not what it used to be and hardly ever open. It house to be fab. Amigos pizza is ok. We sometimes have one on nights but nothing special. But it’s a student haunt.

The chapter and cafe next door to Amiga’s is very nice though and brand new.

DS is at NTU - so right in the middle of Bandit Country - and honestly, it's not that different from many other UK cities.

We are from a 'naice' part of London, but at least London, so DS is a bit streetwise. It's a bit run down and DS says that there are a lot of idiots, petty criminals and drunks but they are outweighed by students so as long as he sticks to groups he feels pretty safe. I have visited him a couple of times and I would tend to agree that it's a bit rough but it didn't feel that different to visiting DD in Manchester or Bristol.

The flip side of this is a strong police presence - more than I notice in London - which is no bad thing,.

Nowt wrong with Amigos, but much much nicer places to eat!

Amigos is just a bog standard takeaway place.

Yes Beeston was actually considered MORE posh in the 90s than now.

This is an accurate testament.

Nope born and bred in Birmingham so no sheltered life here, moved away from there for the same reason. I agree most city centres are exactly the same though, such a shame to see how bad our city centres have become.

This. We spent a weekend visiting Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham and Nottingham was by far the worst of the cities.

DD loved the uni and the course on paper and was ok during the visit but in the end moved it further down her list.