Appreciate this is an old thread, but this comment is the only reference that graffiti I have ever seen online!
The legible part of the graffiti reads "MOD REVIVIAL" and was spray painted onto the bridge by my Dad at some point in the '80s. My dad was a Mod in the '60s and his brother was a Rocker. Some sort of rock or Mod event was taking place in the '80s and that was sprayed on. It is still on the bridge 30-odd years later.
As for Sawley and Long Eaton, they are in Derbyshire and the only connection to Nottingham is that the post is sorted in Beeston. Everything else