Nottingham city centre is a good place to be. Preparing to show three Japanese potential investors around the centre earlier this month made me look at the place with a new pair of eyes. Entertaining the city’s guests was the first commercial “brief” for my new company, Brackenbury’s Britain.
Meeting our guests on Victoria Street, we headed first for the Lace market (making sure a photograph was taken of the “Creative Quarter” badge). The architecturally phenomenal Adams building was an excellent place to start. A chat about Nottingham’s textile history allowed me to say how good the city had been in taking old processes and then embracing new technology.
St Mary’s medieval church followed but then straight into the Galleries of Justice. Sitting in the ancient courtroom dressed in a judicial wig was a fantastic photo opportunity given the added frisson of my describing my early years in practice in those courts (sure they spent the rest of the afternoon looking for my “mutton chop” whiskers).
Popping in to the “Pitcher and Piano” bar based in the old Congregational church with wonderful stained-glass and then immediately into the Nottingham Contemporary was a real contrast. The latter is of course a contemporary art icon nationally with its international standard shows. Then to our guests’ highlight. They hadn’t realised that Paul Smith’s international headquarters is in Nottingham and so a visit to the flagship store was something of a pilgrimage but even more so the original shop on by Byard Lane (another photo opportunity!)
I had never seen the Council House dome as similar to that of the Duomo in Florence – but one of our guests did. Even Market Square looked resplendent in the summer sun with the fountains playing at the far end. They were easier to explain than the statue of Brian Clough!
The most talkative guest was actually very “arty”. His interest in the Fothergill Watson architecture seemed genuine. He certainly quizzed me closely about the international classical concert series at the Royal Centre allowing me to tell of a concert series that was one of the best outside London. It was therefore an easy “sell” to talk more about the range of theatre both in the Royal centre and the Playhouse, one of the best provincial cultural offerings anywhere.
Of course, no visit to Nottingham would be complete without a visit to Nottingham Castle and to Robin Hood’s statue (dipping down to the “Old Trip “- without doubt, of course, the oldest pub in England.) Sitting opposite the statue enjoying a cold drink being questioned closely about all that Nottingham had to offer made me realise how great that offer is. An offer we should all shout about much more!