The Nottingham experience

Nottingham is a vibrant city, and needs to be experienced in person to appreciate everything it has to offer. Whether you fancy shopping, eating out, dancing the night away or finding a quiet oasis in the middle of the city – our handy city guide covers pretty much everything, with lots of ideas for places you might want to visit. If you find a hidden gem, do let us know via Facebook or Twitter so we can share it with others!

Some of you might be looking at courses based on our other campuses – don’t worry, we have a Derby city guide and a Sutton Bonington city guide so you can see exactly what these locations have to offer as well. Why not take a trip to see for yourself. We’re actually in the best place to explore all parts of the country, with London less than two hours away by train, the beauty of the Peak District practically on our doorstep, and East Midlands Airport a bus ride away if you want to travel even further afield. Take advantage of the discounted rail fares you can get as a student and go exploring.

Whichever University of Nottingham campus you are based at, you will have convenient access to everything you’ll need as a student, including shops, sports centres and places to eat. There are excellent public transport links from University Park Campus so you can get from campus to town easily, this includes access via a 10-minute bus ride, a short ride on the new tram, or a quick cycle using on campus cycle hire. As well as this there are also late night options such as taxis with set rates for Nottingham students and regular late-night buses. We have great inter-campus links as well, with the University’s free hopper bus network, which can take you between University Park, Sutton Bonington, Jubilee and Derby Hospital Campuses.

Did you know? Nottingham was ranked as the third least car dependent city in the UK*, just behind London and Brighton, based on its excellent public transport links – meaning you’ll never have to miss out on any of the great activities and events which take place all over the city.

* According to The Car Dependency Scorecard 2012 published by Campaign for Better Transport. 

As a city, Nottingham has so much on offer in terms of entertainment; there is always something to do no matter what your taste is. There are a wide array of venues, which have hosted a mix of big names including Russell Brand at our Royal Concert Hall, Beyoncé at the Capital FM Arena, Johnny Vegas at Just the Tonic Comedy Club and Arctic Monkeys at Rock City, to name just a few.

For those who want to soak up some culture, a must visit is Nottingham Lakeside Arts, the University’s public arts centre, which hosts an exciting array of exhibitions, music, drama, dance and much more. Lakeside is on University Park Campus and has rapidly established itself as a cultural hot spot in Nottingham. As well as attending some of their great events, or having lunch at one of their two cafes, Lakeside also gives students the chance to really get involved. They offer internships and work placements, as well as an annual collaboration with Nottingham New Theatre, our student-run theatre, which allows students to work alongside leading professionals on every aspect of producing theatre from directing to set design and marketing. One of our notable alumni is Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson who studied history and was part of the Nottingham New Theatre, so taking part in extracurricular activities at Nottingham could take you anywhere!

Take a look at our city guide for more ideas of things to do in Nottingham.

Here at Nottingham we are well-known for our world-changing research and the lengths our staff and students strive to help make the world a better place. We’re proud that we were ranked 8th in the UK for our research power in the most recent Research Excellence Framework. Last year the University was awarded the Times Higher Education award for research project of the year, for research which led to the discovery of a new layer of tissue in the cornea, which has revolutionised eye surgery.

Research at Nottingham has a huge impact on the world, the city and inspires everyone around us. Even those who are not involved in the research directly have an effect – our staff and students have raised countless funds to support research. The Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir David Greenway and his team have completed three gruelling cycling challenges as part of the University’s Life Cycle campaigns, with the latest raising £750,000 for children’s brain tumour research taking place in Nottingham.