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I said in the first place that I have many fond memories of Nottingham (from my first 20 years of life being brought up there). There are many places to see and live and as 'loppylugs' points out, things change from how we remember them.

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I log onto Nottstalgia and the first thing that catches my eye is 'Nottingham Is Crap'. Wonderful. I suppose that other cities have free parking and you can park where you like. They built all their r

basfordred (#75), the photos of the meet-ups prove that.

This is fact I had a newsagent beer off which me and sue ran for 8 years,at the same time I was a social care manager working to rehabilitate clients with aquired brain injury,my day started at 3.30a

Over the years we have all fell in love with Nottingham, otherwise we would not be on here reminiscing about it, we have all said how the city's councils & planners have been stupid/short sighted/criminal and whatever over many things that have happened but the love we new is still there. It may have been the friends we had, the pastimes we followed or just the familiarity of it all. My thoughts are for those that follow, The children especially the grandchildren, what is the legacy we leave, playing fields disappear, all sports have to be paid for, youth clubs have ceased to exist because of H&S issues/PCI checks/political correctness, (fancy telling a Nottingham Lad 'Don't call me "Miduck" indeed). I don't go 'intatown' very often now because I suppose I do not know it any more, (I tried to drive onto Heathcote St. to pick someone up, what a mess, it seems no one else knows either, lots of empty disabled parking spots but not a car in sight.

So I suppose Nottingham is now 'Crap'. Its not the one we know though is it?

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With my job, I get to visit lots of towns and cites around the UK.

Believe me, Nottingham is a damn sight better than a lot of other places, such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Glasgow, Plymouth, Newcastle, Coventry, and especially Liverpool and Manchester.

Birningham if the world had piles that's where they would be. :)

They ort to put barriers & red lights round it & notices saying "Danger hole in the world keep out" ;)

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Birningham if the world had piles that's where they would be. ;)

Last time I heard that expression was when Mike Harding performed his stand-up at the Royal Concert Hall (or it might have been the Theatre Royal, I forget).

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Been away from the pc for a while and missed my daily visits to Nottstalgia!

I grew up in Nottm and spent the first 39 years of my life there, my kids were all born there, I'm an ozzy now, but will always have a spot in my heart for my home town, hence why I visit this site.

One of my daughters is currently in the uk and has spent 2 weeks in Nottm and loved it ! albeit she left there 25 years ago.

Don't think I could live full time there again, the cold would kill me ! but love to visit even though things are changing and not for the best in some cases.

There are worse places in the UK to live, and far worse places in other parts of the world.

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  • 5 months later...

Another old thread I found interesting, mainly because there seemed to be some strongly held views being kept in check by the need to remain polite and not cause (too much) offence. For what it's worth here are my thoughts.

I've lived in Nottingham all my life, my mum and dad were Nottingham people and, except for one uncle and a cousin, my whole immediate family remain(ed) within the Nottingham area. But for two periods of about six months each, I've always worked in Nottingham too. That said, I've also spent some time in Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and York.

I think it all comes down to your personal circumstances (health, finances, age, etc) and your interests - what you want out of life and how important those thing are to you. If I couldn't get ready access to Books, Live Music, Art, Real Ale in City Centre pubs, an independent Cinema where the film is more important than merchandise, independent quirky cafés (you get the picture), then I'd feel hard done by. You can (probably) get all these in most big cities, but my city happens to be Nottingham and it works for me.

If you only judge a city by what the local council gets up to and how and where they make/spend the money, then a large proportion of every city's residents will, indeed, declare it to be CRAP!

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I left in 1975 to work at a brand new mine in what used to be North Yorkshire, but what Edward Heath made into Cleveland, next to Teeside. Lived by the sea in a small country town. Quality of life was far higher, cleaner air, beautiful country views.

My parents used to come up for long weekends to spend time away from the city and be by the sea.

Lived in Oz in Wollongong and Bathurst.. Lived in Sacramento California....God I hated that place, I hate ALL large cities tbh.

I love my life out in the sticks, could never return to Nottingham or any city, too noisy, too many people, to much traffic......

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#34

I used to work as a guard on the goods trains down to Wollongong, Cringilla and Port Kembla. We used to get a huge bonus as the train had three engines. It often ran on a Sunday too at double time, plus it was always a 12 hour shift. It was really nice trip too down Thirroul, Helensbrgh etc. Loved it.

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Nottingham is not crap, it has just changed, like every other town, city or village in this world, I get back to Nottingham between 1 to 3 times a year, and every time I go back something has changed, I miss the old shops and places, but that is progress for you weather you like it or not, you cannot go back in time in real life, but in your mind you can go back to when you want .. :)

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Beautiful area Bilboro-Lad, humidity used to get to me at times, although the beaches did give some relief. I worked at Wongawilli Colliery when I lived in Wollongong, we were owned by AI&S so all our coal went to the steel works.

On "dog watch" we'd look out from the top of the incline and watch the lightning hundreds of miles out to sea...Some great views from the top of the escarpment too.

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Another old thread I found interesting, mainly because there seemed to be some strongly held views being kept in check by the need to remain polite and not cause (too much) offence. For what it's worth here are my thoughts.

I've lived in Nottingham all my life, my mum and dad were Nottingham people and, except for one uncle and a cousin, my whole immediate family remain(ed) within the Nottingham area. But for two periods of about six months each, I've always worked in Nottingham too. That said, I've also spent some time in Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and York.

I think it all comes down to your personal circumstances (health, finances, age, etc) and your interests - what you want out of life and how important those thing are to you. If I couldn't get ready access to Books, Live Music, Art, Real Ale in City Centre pubs, an independent Cinema where the film is more important than merchandise, independent quirky cafés (you get the picture), then I'd feel hard done by. You can (probably) get all these in most big cities, but my city happens to be Nottingham and it works for me.

If you only judge a city by what the local council gets up to and how and where they make/spend the money, then a large proportion of every city's residents will, indeed, declare it to be CRAP!

My home city is Nottingham and I adore the place. I dont live anywhere near the city but I miss it so. My work (from the army and after retirement from the army it tends to locate you to certain places, Teesside being one) means that I look at Nottingham how I recall it, but also that it is a hugely interesting city with the right blend of house cost, communications links, restaurants and entertainment.
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I should also mention, there were two other Nottingham lads at Wongawill Colliery, Mal Beresford and his Dad Clarrie, sadly Clarrie passed on a few years back.

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  • 3 months later...

Nottingham born and bread

I used to love my city (Queen of the Midlands) it use to be called when we had all the big stores Tobys Wolle's C&A

Griffin's Pearson's and I bet members can remember lots more. Now living out side of the city I catch the bus into Nottm I look at the buildings as I travel up Alfreton Road and I agree they do look a mess. I use to work at the top of Alfreton Rd in the 60s and my friend's mum used to work at Jersey Capwoods The factory on Alfreton Rd with a large chimmey Now this

factory has been closed for years. I think it closed in the 70s and it was left to go to rack and ruin, when you were coming into Notts it was a real eye sore. The other day as I approached the city the large chimmey had gone, it has only took

about 30 years to pull it down. When are the planner's going to get there heads together and make us once again a city to be

proud of. What about Slab square every one seemed to think the fountains where great A good idea yes but go over to France

and go to Antibes a much smaller town than Nottingham, but the fountains are just brilliant. Lets have the flower beds back.

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Very astute.

I think all of your points are really well made.

The social vandalism by successive Notts councils has left the city looking like a shadow of its former self.

The destruction of communities like Arkwright Street and the closure of big manufacturers in the centre has taken its toll.

Stupid one-way schemes, ill considered shopping centres, high business rates and ridiculous rents have resulted in the closure of almost all the stores you mentioned.

Frankly, it's not an appealing place to come into.

I don't know what the aim was with the removel of the fountains in Slab Square and the replacement with what looks like storm drains.

It seems clear to me that the local planners don't have a clue. They've put all their hopes into this new tram scheme - thinking that it will encourage people to come into town..

Yet they put pressure on Boots with the parking space levy to pay for it. (I've heard that they are thinking of moving their manufacturing to Asia).

You're right about other European cities. I'm always impressed with how 'cared for' they look. Take any provincial town in France (or Italy for that matter), they always looks as though the local people are proud to live there and enjoy the nice surroundings and buildings.

Notts used to be a great place to go. Now it's expensive and uninviting.

Sad.

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The reason i love nottingham is its people,when i lived away it was always a comfort to come back and hear," AY UP DUCK".

" Home is where the heart is"

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It's all about money, the present slab square is cheaper to maintain, with no flower beds and no fountains to clean out. Cheaper to maintain and more for the councillors to spend on their cross cultural visits (holidays and back handers)

I went to Bristol on the bus a few years ago from Broad Marsh, and on the return journey was shocked at the shabby streets we passed through to get back to the bus station. (in fact most of the cities we called in at had the same sort of approach through crumbling back streets) I wondered what sort of effect this had on people visiting our city for the first time, as usually your first impressions are how you would label a city.

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About time.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Quote from post no. 42

"Take any provincial town in France (or Italy for that matter), they always looks as though the local people are proud to live there and enjoy the nice surroundings and buildings."

Possibly because the people who live there are French (or Italian) ?

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I may be trading on dangerous ground here. Last time I was in Nottingham was 1997, but I did grow up there. From what I read in many posts there are far fewer born and bred Nottinghamians and a high proportion of chavs. Large companies like the Raleigh, Players etc have closed or outsourced their business so there is less sense of community. Only consolation, if it can be called that, is that this blight seems to be in so many of our cities, not just poor old Nottingham. The problem lies within.

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I suppose it could be called the dilution of the native, a result of population movement and imigration etc, but mainly only recent imigration. Children I know of past imigrants have plenty of the Nottingham character and have done great credit to the city; I suspect more than many of us have achieved in fact.

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