This nostalgic piece reflects on some of the things we've lost in Nottingham, both recently and over the decades. From the beloved fountain displays in Old Market Square to the roundabout at the top of Maid Marian Way, these changes illustrate the city's evolution and leave many reminiscing about the past.
As the year grows to an end, we're feeling rather nostalgic. A time for reminiscing and reflection, it got us thinking about some of the things we've lost in Nottingham - not just during 2024 but the over the decades.
In their place came the bright shiny new contemporary water feature which put an end to the troublesome bubbles. When the sun appeared children loved splashing around in the water. Work began in May on the multi-million scheme designed to transform an "outdated and polluted" roundabout and improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The major scheme followed a public consultation exercise of just 400 responses.
No more North Carolina with pulled pork, the end of the Boston Nibbler with melted Swiss cheese and smoky bacon and RIP to Death Valley with the killer heat of Scotch bonnet chillies. See Santa at the Co-op One of the highlights of the festive season for youngsters was seeing Santa in his grotto in a winter wonderland at Nottingham's main Co-op.
Play on the grasshopper in Broadmarsh There were hard knocks, but no doubt fond memories for the kids of the 70s hand 80s, who crawled through the big wooden grasshopper in the shopping centre and ended up with painful knees, heads and shins. Listen to the Xylophone Man The name Frank Robinson might not mean a lot but mention the Xylophone Man and it's sure to bring back memories of the pensioner who made shoppers smile with his plinky plonky tunes on a toy xylophone in Lister Gate in the 90s.
Go clubbing at Barry Noble's Astoria These were the days when you could get smashed on a fiver and still have enough change for the bus fare home. Beer was 45p and spirits 35p at Barry Noble's Astoria, which younger whippersnappers might know better as MGM or Ocean on the corner of Greyfriar Gate and Collin Street.
Have lunch at Brown Betty's There was nowhere else quite like Brown Betty's, the tiny café with just a couple of tables, which became a bit of a Nottingham institution for filling the stomachs of everyone from hungover students to office workers with its legendary egg and bacon cobs and Sloppy Joes. Earlier this year Toys R Us opened within WH Smith in Victoria Centre following a new deal between the two brands.
Scoops of Flying Saucers, sherbet lemons, fizzy cola bottles, shrimps and chocolate raisins were a must. Aniseed balls, Black Jacks, Brazil nuts and spogs were a no-no. There used to be a Wimpy on every high street - now, in Nottingham, there's none. The city's last remaining Wimpy - a fixture at the Broadmarsh Centre since 1975 - closed in January 2019 to the dismay of everyone who'd ever frequented the upper mall for a cheeseburger.
Study at Trent Polytechnic Today Nottingham boasts two universities, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham. But in the 70s and 80s, NTU was a polytechnic focusing on vocational and hands-on courses. In the 1960s, the Odeon became the world's first cinema to have two screens and as well as showing films, it was a platform for live music, with The Beatles playing there in 1963. The Odeon closed in 2001 and was later demolished. Today it's the site of Taco Bell.
Ross Bradshaw, who worked there, before going on to later open Five Leaves Bookshop in the city, says: "People in Nottingham now remember it as having a much more radical profile and stock than Five Leaves Bookshop, which opened in November 2013. But memories are often false – Mushroom had a humour section, sold a lot of Bill Bryson and and majored in self-help!"
NOTTINGHAM HISTORY CHANGES CITY CENTER Nostalgia
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