26.10.22

How Big is Nottingham and What is it Famous For?

Whether you want to visit Nottingham, study in Nottingham, or move to Nottingham, this is your essential guide to the city some call “The Queen of the Midlands”!

How Big Is Nottingham?

The city of Nottingham covers 28.81 square miles, and in 2020 it had an estimated population of 330,000. Though if you take in the city’s wider conurbation, the population’s closer to 770,000.

This makes Nottingham the largest city in the East Midlands, and the second-largest in the whole of the Midlands, after Birmingham.

What is Nottingham Famous For?

Nottingham is famous for many things. Let’s take a quick look at some of the things that put this city on the map.

Sport & Sports People from Nottingham

Many famous sport personalities either come from, trained in, or are otherwise associated with Nottingham. These include the ice skaters Torvill and Dean, the swimmer Rebecca Adlington, the boxer Carl Froch, and the football manager Brian Clough, who has a statue in the city centre.

The city has two professional football teams: Notts County, the oldest professional association football club in the world, and Nottingham Forest. Nottingham also has its share of rugby, cricket, and ice hockey teams, and is home to The National Ice Centre, the Holme Pierrepont National Watersport Centre, and Trent Bridge International Cricket Ground.

So if you like sport, you’ll feel right at home in Nottingham. In fact, tourism body VisitEngland named Nottingham England’s official Home of Sport in 2015.

History of Nottingham

For many, Nottingham is synonymous with Robin Hood, the heroic outlaw who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. Robin’s story may be a myth, but his legend lives on in Nottingham. Near Nottingham Castle you’ll find a Robin Hood statue, as well as a plaque showing King Richard the Lionheart marrying Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Incidentally, Maid Marian Way is a major road running through the city.

But there’s more to the history of Nottingham than dashing archers and evil sheriffs. The city was the birthplace of Raleigh Bicycles. And during the Industrial Revolution, Nottingham was a world-leader in lace and other textiles. Though nowadays, you’re more likely to find an invigorating cocktail than a delicate trimming in the city’s Lace Market.

Nottingham Bands & Music Scene

When it comes to local heroes, Nottingham may not have the same claim to fame as cities like London, Liverpool, and Manchester. But the city still gave us many internationally renowned bands and artists, including Ten Years After, Tindersticks, Anne Briggs, Jake Bugg, London Grammar, and Sleaford Mods. If you’re into extreme metal the influential Earache Records label was founded here.

Nottingham has many live music venues, including the Royal Concert Hall, the Nottingham Arena and, The Boedga, The Rescue Rooms and, perhaps most legendary of all, Rock City.

Science & Industry

In 2005, Nottingham was named one of the UK’s “science cities”, in recognition of its historical and ongoing contribution to scientific research. Here you’ll find BioCity, the UK’s largest bioscience innovation and incubation centre.

Nottingham is also the home of Boots the Chemists, which essentially means that the painkiller Ibuprofen was first developed and manufactured here. Other major companies that call this company home include E.ON Energy, Gala Bingo, Siemens, Speedo, Vision Express, Specsavers, and Games Workshop.