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From painting to dating: what's happening at the Malt Cross until September 2025?

The next three months are set to be a busy few for the Malt Cross: Nottingham's buzzing, preserved Victorian music hall, on St James' Street. If you're looking for a weird or wonderful event that will get you socialising with all kinds of different people, they've probably got you covered. Here are some highlights, which we've picked out...

We chat to Set In Motion about what drives them, Splendour Festival, and their playlists...

Set in Motion are one of the Nottingham music scene’s most promising bands. Noted for catchy indie hooks, powerful songs and incredible live performances, over the last two years they’ve made a name for themselves as a guitar music powerhouse act. We caught up with vocalist and guitarist Alfie Wallace, guitarist Dillan Telford, bassist Niall Hopkins and drummer Joe Carnell - outside the Fox and Grapes - to discuss their imminent Splendour Festival set, their future plans and what they’re listening to at the minute...

Save the last dance: how Torvill and Dean put Nottingham on the ice dancing map

Beeston, 14 February 1984. I was fourteen, with nowhere to go for Valentine’s Day and zero interest in ice skating. However, these were the days of four TV channels (and the fourth was quite new), so mass TV events were a must watch. Plus Torvill and Dean were from Nottingham! So, we joined the twenty million to tune in to their Bolero at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics…

Equation Launches Lifeline for LGBTQ+ Survivors of Domestic Abuse

In a powerful show of solidarity and progress during Pride Month, Nottingham-based charity Equation has launched its dedicated LGBTQ+ Domestic Abuse Service...

Cherelle Fulton tells us about Behind Closed Doors: a program spotlighting creative women in Notts

Over at New Art Exchange, Behind Closed Doors is creating a new space for women in the creative industries to connect, collaborate and reshape the scene in Nottingham. Co-ordinator Cherelle Fulton discusses what fuelled her projects, including live music night Can’t Stand The Rain, the importance of community and connectivity, and creating safe spaces for women.

Stage review: a beautiful night of drag, burlesque and art with Niche Artefact

Thursday night saw a flamboyant jamboree of creativity and performance as Niche Artefact returned to Revolución de Cuba for a beautiful night of drag, burlesque and art...

Gig review: Gracie Abrams at Motorpoint Arena, with Dora Jar

In a show postponed from March, US pop sensation Gracie Abrams finally arrived in Nottingham to round off her The Secrets of Us world tour in intense, glittering style…

In photos: Vee Adu at The Old Bus Depot, with SUNIQ and Rowan Holly

Flamboyant theatre, nature documentaries, comedy by a castle and up and coming Notts music: here's what's on 30 June - 6 July 2025

This week in Notts... check out flamboyant theatre, thought provoking film, up and coming Notts music, vegan food and a comedy night by a castle.

“Not behind a tree, I wouldn’t do that”: Overheard in Notts June 2025

Banksy, beavers and nine thousand pound fish all feature in this month's Overheard in Notts - 

Comedy Review: Omid Djalili's Namaste Tour at the Nottingham Playhouse

The Persian Comedy Powerhouse performs his critically acclaimed new show to the Nottingham audience. So what's it all about...

Festival review: LeftLion at Download Festival 2025

Rock and metal fans from around the world descended again on Donington Park – just a short drive from Nottingham – for the ultimate celebration of rock music. LeftLion's Natalie Owen was right there in the thick of it, soaking up the chaos, the riffs, and the raw energy of Download Festival – a true titan of the UK festival scene. Here's how it went down...

Pretzels, muffins and seriously good coffee: we tried out Derby Road's District Coffee

There’s a cool new place to caffeinate in the city centre. Lucy Campion met with Ash and Bobby Williams the owners of Derby Road's District Coffee to find out more about this contemporary coffee shop and its famous pretzels.

Theatre Review: The Nottingham Drag Pageant at The Nottingham Arts Theatre

It’s official- Nottingham cannot get enough of drag- and it knows how to do it better than most cities!...

Theatre Interview: The Nottingham Drag Pageant Contestants

Meet the competitors in the Nottingham Drag Pageant 2025. Queens and kings slug it out in a feast of jaw-dropping costumes and laugh out loud humour. But there can only be one and who will win the coveted crown...?   

LeftLion's Latest Listens #24: Notts music we're currently spinning

In the latest edition of LeftLion's Latest Listens for 2025, our music team reviews new releases from Cappo, Dorothy Ella. GIRLBAND!, The Doctor's Orders Collective and We Are Sovereign...

How Colwick design studio Future Makers wants to reinvent the plastics industry

Like it or not, our modern world is built on plastic - and whilst the long-term health and ecosystem impacts are still poorly understood, the early signs are pretty alarming. Tackling this issue is set to be a generations-long task, but pioneering Colwick-based design studio Future Makers are giving it a crack, turning waste plastic into useful, solid, creations that are built to last, whilst giving back. Founder and Director Tristan Hessing guides us through their manufacturing process, the education gap hampering creatives working with this abundant material, and why we need more young people joining and innovating in the plastics industry.

Three days of darkness and light: the Nottingham attacks as they happened

Two years on, Benedict Cooper remembers how the city came together in the wake of the Nottingham attacks, in which students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber and caretaker Ian Coates were tragically killed.

Setting the stage: catching up with the Nottingham Playhouse's artistic director Adam Penford

Over the last few years the Nottingham Playhouse has become one of the most buzzing regional theatres in the UK. Originally established in 1948, the venue has a long history of attracting quality actors like Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, Hugh Grant, Vicky McClure and Mark Gatiss to perform its stage. With a clutch of new awards and accolades over the last couple of years, we thought it high time to catch up with their artistic director Adam Penford…

We chat to filmmaking duo Bird Bros about their new film Lazar

Travel back in time with us to the 17th century as we hear all about Lazar, the fantastical odyssey set in an ancient Sherwood forest which follows a bard, an outlaw and oh, there are some nymphs of course...

Gig review: AC/DC UK at Rescue Rooms

AC/DC UK kept a packed Rescue Rooms rocking all night long with a thoroughly convincing set featuring many of AC/DC’s greatest anthems, complete with a spectacular exploding cannons finale...

Words to live by: marking one decade of the Nottingham Poetry Festival with poet Ben Macpherson

This month marks the tenth anniversary of Nottingham Poetry Festival - a kaleidoscopic set of events that sees poetry collide with activities like musical open mics, meditation and arts and crafts, all the while celebrating the art form, and its age-old centrality to the city of Nottingham. To mark the occasion, festival producer and local poet Ben Macpherson told us about the festival’s importance to Nottingham, and what people can expect from this year. 

Nottingham actor Laquarn Lewis on his role in the brand new BBC drama: What It Feels Like For a Girl

Set to be released on 3 June, upcoming BBC mini-series What It Feels Like For A Girl tells the story of Byron, a Queer teen who is desperate to escape the confines of Hucknall. Based on the novel of the same name by Hucknall-born journalist Paris Lees, the witty, gritty and heart-breaking show delves into what it was like growing up as a trans person in a small town during the early 2000s. To hear about the show, ahead of the premiere, we caught up with LaQuarn Lewis, who plays Fallen Diva, ‘the premier podium dancer-cum-hellraiser’ Lady Die…

Talking comedy, clowning, and Broadway Cinema with Derbyshire actor Ada Player

Ada Player is a BAFTA-nominated actor, director and writer from Derbyshire with training from the renowned clowning school L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier. Screen Editor Sofia Jones chats to Ada about clowning, her Channel 4 comedy Peaked and her short film Spare Part. 

Festival Review: Dot To Dot 2025

The Sunday of the late May Bank Holiday in Nottingham – often the greatest day of the year in our city. Why? Well, because of Dot To Dot of course! Arguably the greatest metropolitan festival in the country, it takes place in multiple venues throughout Bristol on Saturday and right here in Nottingham on Sunday. With the 2025 edition marking the festival’s 20th Anniversary, there was an even greater sense of occasion at this year's event. Heading out to take in the sights and scope out the very best emerging talent from the local scene, the UK and some artists from even further afield, here’s the LeftLion live report from Dot To Dot 2025…