Nottingham is not a city to shout about itself. In everything from its long history of iconic clubs (Kool Kat, Venus, the Bomb) to its new status as a Unesco City of Literature (who knew?), Nottingham just seems to get on with being Nottingham, without courting wider fame or validation. It is a city that likes to keep it real – in more ways than one. This is the place that gave us such angry young men as Alan Sillitoe, director Shane Meadows and Sleaford Mods. As the radical bookshop Five Leaves states on its website: “Nottingham is increasingly seeing itself as a ‘rebel city’.”
There is certainly a self-contained, DIY energy to its constantly bubbling music scene, although Nottingham is rarely in the spotlight (Jake Bugg apart). While tipping you off about local talent (Invisible Orchestra, Crosa Rosa, Rob Green, Field Studies), Notts’ creatives extol a scene that, like this small city itself, is tight-knit, collaborative, multicultural. Outside of headline venues such as Stealth and Rock City, there is a teeming substrata of organisations, such as Wigflex, I’m Not From London, Mimm, Truth & Lies, Gringo and Hello Thor, all of whom seem to be simultaneously DJs, musicians, gig/party organisers, record labels and all-round creative catalysts.
The wider arts scene is similarly self-reliant. For its size, Nottingham has an unusually high number of artist-led collectives, small galleries and studios that draw in talent from across the east Midlands. In food and drink, the city has been slower to take control of its own destiny. From the maverick, two-Michelin-star Restaurant Sat Bains to the excellent deli-café, Delilah, it has always had a handful of individual, high-quality independent operators, but only recently, particularly around hip Hockley, has a younger generation – Oscar & Rosie, 200 Degrees, Junkyard, Annie’s Burger Shack – brought some fresh ideas to the table. As ever, modestly, discretely, Nottingham is happening.
Nottingham playlist by Shut the Front Door
MUSIC
JT Soar
A former vegetable warehouse, this 60-capacity venue is so DIY that gig-goers bring their own booze. “Phil Booth, who runs it, is brilliant,” says Miles Clark of I’m Not From London, one of several local underground promoters which uses JT. “It’s a good, raw-edged venue,” agrees Kyle Hougham, manager at the record shop Rough Trade.
• Open 24 hours, Aberdeen Street, 07854 889034, on Facebook
The Brickworks
Lurking in the former industrial units of Sneinton, Brickworks is a basement warehouse space (basically, a bare-bones room with a great sound-system) for clubbers who want to sweat not pose. Look out for parties from local leftfield rave heroes, Wigflex, and disco/house aficionados Shut The Front Door. As for other ad hoc events in town, Nottingham Irish Centre hosts reggae and jungle nights and eclectic shindigs with menswear store and record label Mimm. Shut The Front Door’s Olly Martin also loves The Lofthouse, an all-purpose creative hub whose gigs and club nights often come with a side-order of video art or a craft market: “You go up winding stairs to this long NY-style loft and it’s a really cool space.”
• Newark Street, on Facebook
The Chameleon
The tiny music room at this arts cafe is a renowned crucible of experimental music and, says Clark: “It’s got the biggest sound-system to room-size ratio I’ve ever seen.” Up and coming Notts guitar bands tend to pay their dues at the similarly intimate Maze.
• 17 Angel Row, on Facebook
Bar Eleven
Lively late bar-cum-club, where, says Martin: “There’s some really cool small parties going on.” Saturday’s Rapture fuses funk, old school hip-hop and disco, while Phlexx Records’ nights focus on UK Funky and garage. Monthly Dutty runs the gamut from grime to deep techno.
• 23 Goose Gate, 0115 958 2611, on Facebook
Jam Café
Cafe-bar by day, music venue by night and a local legend. “It’s small, always rammed and one of our favourites,” says Clark. “I’ve seen acoustic acts there through to the heaviest music imaginable.” Hougham agrees: “It’s a great late-night venue. It’s eclectic on the DJ front, the dancefloor’s tight and it’s a nice creative scene.”
• 12 Heathcote Street, 0115 948 3566, jamcafe.info
DRINK
Kean’s Head
Nottingham’s Castle Rock brews traditional real ales, but in its pubs and particularly in the one-room Kean’s Head, it has embraced craft beer. “It gets really interesting stuff in,” says Matthew Hinton, owner of the Brew Cavern bottle shop. “For Nottingham Craft Beer Week, Buxton Brewery did a full 18-beer keg and cask tap-takeover.”
• Pint from £3.46, St Mary’s Gate, 0115 947 4052, castlerockbrewery.co.uk
The Boilermaker
It is unusual to include two bars from the same owner here but in Notts there is no avoiding Junkyard (see below) or this neo-speakeasy, which is confusingly hidden behind an unmarked door in what looks like a boiler showroom. “The staff are ingenious. They’ve got cocktail creations you won’t find anywhere else. The Creole Slim Shady is superb,” says Wayne Asher, distiller of Nottingham’s Redsmith gin.
• Cocktails £7.50, 36b Carlton Street, boilermakerbar.co.uk
Rough Trade
Not just a record shop, this is also a thriving bar-venue that hosts everything from Trent Bass Society’s hectic yard parties to monthly illustration social, Drink & Draw. Whether you are here for a film screening, a gig or a thematic journey into global music history with DJs Truth & Lies, you can drink well, too. The bar serves four draught beers from London’s Crate, as well as a tight selection from Beavertown and Brooklyn.
• Pint from £4, 5 Broad Street, 0115 896 4012, roughtrade.com
Junkyard
The draw? Good dude-ish food (Cubano sandwich, mac’n’cheese balls, pork belly sliders) and an incredible range of craft beers. Hot local brewery Black Iris makes house beers for Junkyard (and its more traditional sister venue, the Herbert Kilpin) and, once-a-month, it throws open its doors for a day of nice beer and noisy bands at Piss Up In The Brewery (pint from £3, 20 August).
• Pint from £4.95, 12 Bridlesmith Walk, 0115 950 1758, junkbars.com
The Alley Café
Much-loved for its veggie/vegan food, its organic beers (Sam Smiths, Stroud, Pitfield) and its grassroots music programme. Look-out for KinDread Soundsystem’s outdoor dub sessions and Wire & Wool, a new talent night affiliated with I’m Not From London. Says INFL’s Will Robinson: “We’ve had poets, smaller acts on, Sleaford Mods and Jake Bugg when they were starting out, and, like many nights in Nottingham, it’s free.”
• Pint from £3.60. 1a Cannon Court, 0115 955 1013, alleycafe.co.uk
FOOD
The Cod’s Scallops (branches in Sherwood and Wollaton)
The new Mansfield Road, Sherwood, branch of this award-winning chippy brings its modish menu of cod and chips, oysters and dressed crab tantalisingly close to the city centre. For Nottingham’s two-Michelin-star chef Sat Bains, it is well worth the mile or so detour: “Done well, there’s something about fish and chips that speaks to the soul of Brits and this place is always rammed. It’s all done old school in beef dripping but you can have your fish steamed or baked, too.”
• Takeaway from £6.40, 311-313 Mansfield Road, 0115 708 0251, codsscallops.com
The Pudding Pantry
Its cheesecakes, tarts and salted caramel pancakes shine, but the Pudding Pantry is not solely about dessert. Before the sugar rush, try its homemade sausage rolls and gussied-up sandwiches. “They’re baking different cakes every day at a level of skill most of us can only hope to achieve,” says Jordan Cox, a local food geek and former Great British Bake Off contestant.
• Lunch dishes from £4.50, 27-29 Trinity Square, 0115 950 4660, thepuddingpantry.co.uk
Edin’s Kitchen
Filled floor-to-ceiling with bric-a-brac, Edin Gondzic’s cafe-restaurant is a one-off whose tasty, scratch-cooked food is excellent value (two-course lunch, £7.50). From lamb tagine to a fig and stilton toastie, the menu roves far and wide in a way that defies the safety-first logic of the high-street chains.
• Lunch dishes from £2.80, 15 Carlton Street, 0115 950 1172, edinsnottingham.co.uk
200 Degrees
This indie coffee shop is Sat Bains’ go-to for a flat white, cold brew or nitro (yes, coffee textured with nitrogen). He says: “When you taste that against the usual chain shit or whatever, there’s no comparison.” 200 also does a decent line in upmarket salads, soups and sandwiches. Think roast lamb with a dill, orange and pink peppercorn pesto.
• Light meals from around £4, 16 Flying Horse Walk, 0115 837 3150, 200degs.com
Nottingham Doughnut Co
“They’re bringing the US craze for overloaded deep-fried balls of soft and sweet dough to Nottingham,” enthuses Cox, who writes a food column for the Nottingham Post. This tiny takeaway-cafe (there is limited communal seating on a couple of benches) serves 16 varieties of handmade ring and filled doughnuts daily. Look out for its crème caramel custard doughnut topped with burnt sugar.
• £2-£3, 26a Long Row, 07961 021019, On Facebook
CULTURE
Primary
Housed in a Victorian school building, this artist-run studio complex hosts exhibitions (open to public, Fri/Sat) and, according to Steve Mapp, boss at Broadway arts cinema, an “engaging programme of events where artists share, experiment and learn with the public about visual art”. Several galleries operate independently within Primary. Sam Thorne, director at Nottingham Contemporary, flags-up TG’s “ambitious programme”. He’s also a fan of Bruce Asbestos’ Trade, and Primary’s bakery-cafe Small Food (Fri/Sat), which uses natural leavening and slow fermentation: “It’s beautiful. Try the pain au chocolat.”
• 33 Seely Road, 0115 924 4493, weareprimary.org
Five Leaves
“One of the great things about the city is its proliferation of writers and writing,” says Nottingham Playhouse chief executive, Stephanie Sirr. This autumn, the Playhouse will stage Darkness, Darkness adapted from John Harvey’s Nottingham-based Resnick detective novels (from September 30). Elsewhere, head to graphic novel hub Page 45 and Five Leaves, a publishing house and book shop which in its events and stock strongly supports Nottingham’s fertile scene.
• 14a Long Row, 0115 837 3097; fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk
Backlit
This independent gallery provides affordable space for local artists, but its programme of exhibitions, artist-led workshops and debates has a global scope. This month (3-19 August) it is holding a range of drop-in events exploring sewing, drawing and ceramics as well as a separate digital project, Dancing Girl Emoji, where six international artists will present work on the theme of online communication.
• Ashley Street, 0115 837 2426, backlit.org.uk
Film clubs
Nottingham has a number of energetic specialists, such as Reel Equality (motto: “love film, hate sexism”) and Watergate Cinematek, which host creative pop-up screenings. “Kino Klubb and Kneel Before Zod like to dress spaces up,” says Mapp. “Zod is renowned for its Halloween parties.” Every October, horror and sci-fi geeks Mayhem run an eponymous festival from Broadway cinema (this year 13-16 October). Last year, it brought director Nicholas Roeg up for a screening of his Don’t Look Now in St Mary’s Church.
mayhemfilmfestival.com
Union Chambers
This building may be best known for the “exciting young” Syson Gallery. But, says Thorne, whose Nottingham Contemporary is currently showing Michael Beutler’s hand-crafted gallery transformation, Pump House, the wider Union Chambers also comprises, “great initiatives like the independent publisher Landfill Editions and Dohm Shop, which has lovely ceramics”.
• 19 Weekday Cross, sysongallery.com
