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Undercover artist: Heather Hodkinson champions Green Hustle festival

Our Green Hustle festival-inspired May cover is the work of artist Heather Hodkinson who, as well as helping to shape the visual identity of Green Hustle, has lent her talents to promote lots of other green initiatives around Notts. She talks to us about her love of collage and why it’s important to get out and about.

Life Behind Bars: with Isad ‘Happy’ Habibovic, General Manager at 400 Rabbits

We visit 400 Rabbits to chat to Isad the General Manager about cocktails and Ed Sheeran.

Here's why you cannot miss Dot To Dot Festival in 2026

Dot to Dot is a very special sort of music festival. Held in Bristol and Nottingham over a single weekend, it brings together local scenes and underground darlings, the concrete and the extreme. This year’s lineup is especially strong, with its mix of sleazy electroclash, Irish alt-grunge, rough and tough punk, and Americana emo, all culminating in a once in a lifetime experience...

Comedy, music festivals and local talent: Here's what's on this week in Nottingham 18 -24 May

 This week in Notts! Enjoy local theatre performances and live comedy, or head to Dot to Dot music festival and dance the night away in various venues across Nottingham. Here's our top picks...

Gig review: The Wonder Stuff at Rock City (again!)

Four decades on from their small Stourbridge beginnings, The Wonder Stuff are still here playing live at one of their favourite venues. Tonight they are celebrating their 40th anniversary. But this isn’t just a nostalgia act: loss, line-up changes, hiatuses and everything else that you can throw at a band have taken their toll over the years, but their fans have remained loyal and they’re packing out Rock City tonight.

What to expect from Green Hustle festival 2026

After five joyous, community-celebrating and grassroots action-galvanising Green Hustle Festivals, the team behind the event are this month putting on the most expansive and exploratory edition yet. With the theme of ‘Sow Good’, Green Hustle CIC Co-Director and LeftLion Environment Editor Adam Pickering guides us through how the crew hopes to seed a sustainable and thriving Notts through creativity, inclusion and inspiration.

LeftLion Interviews Podcast #17: Crazy P’s Jim Baron on international tours and festivals, soundtracking The Sopranos and his new venture White Elephant

This episode we are joined by Jim Baron from Crazy P who talks about his career in music, starting a band in Notts that became internationally renown, soundtracking for film and TV and his new venture White Elephant...

Competition: Win A Family Pass for Gloworm Festival 2026

We’ve teamed up with Gloworm Festival to give two lucky familes a truly magical adventure at Gloworm Festival, taking place at Thoresby Park this summer...

14 great music festivals in and around Nottingham for 2026

You can feel it starting... The evenings are lighter and the first warm weekends spark everybody into optimism, and suddenly someone shares a line-up in a group chat and writes, ‘We have to go!’

Across Nottinghamshire and the wider east midlands, 2026 is shaping up to be another packed one. Big-name headliners, grassroots weekends, city takeovers and quieter escapes all sit side-by-side. If you want to start planning your festival season soon, here are some suggestions. 

Life Behind Bars with Vicky Pamo Simples, Bar Supervisor at The Beeston Social

Vicky Pamo Simples tells us what it’s like to be a supervisor at multi-purpose food and drink hub, the buzzing Beeston Social… 

Night Creatures Podcast #7: Parisa East from Acoustickle on finding a young Jake Bugg, musical collaborations and juggling life as a promoter

Night Creatures is a LeftLion podcast, shining a light on the promoters of Nottingham. Your  host and interviewer is Beane, co-founder of Nottingham’s beloved Soul Buggin’ night and  he brings with him two decades of experience of putting on great parties in the city. 

Perfect Pawtraits: Dog Life Drawing at Blend Cafe

Dog Life Drawing is much like any regular life drawing class except for one key difference; the models all have four legs! Kathy Giddins went along to the latest session at Blend Cafe...

Notts County goalkeeper James Belshaw on his storied life in football

Born and raised in Clifton in a Notts County-supporting household, James Belshaw took a circular route to finally becoming Notts County’s goalkeeper. After dropping out of the Magpies youth system in 2005, at the age of 35 he finally signed for the club last January. This followed a journey via the USA, the English National Leagues, two play-off final wins for Harrogate (including one against Notts), and player of the season award at the Bristol Rovers…

Life Behind Bars with Tong Man, Proprietor at The Pillar Box Sherwood

We dropped into Sherwood hotspot The Pillar Box to speak to proprietor Tong Man

Shakespeare Unfolded Festival: A celebration of insightful performances and creative exploration coming to Nottingham

Between Mon 16 – Sat 21 March Nottingham's Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall will be hosting a free festival of performances, workshops, academic insight and open mic nights; inviting audiences to experience William Shakespeare’s classic works in new ways...

Home away from home: life for Nottingham's Ukrainian diaspora

For decades, there has been a strong Ukrainian community in Notts, organising events and fundraisers to keep their culture and traditions alive. As such, Russia’s 2022 invasion of the country made our city an obvious destination for many refugee families. As we pass the invasion’s fourth anniversary, members of City Hub Ukraine and the Ukrainian School Band talk about supporting the diaspora and people caught up in the conflict… 

Gina Birch on truth, insight and how to live a life devoid of convention

An emblem of passion, a staple of creativity... Gina Birch has been key to establishing and presenting the female voice within the punk music movement. Nottingham born Gina is well-known as a founding member of The Raincoats but her contribution goes much, much wider. Ria Serena found out more for LeftLion... 

Life Behind Bars: with John Slee, Manager at The Lincolnshire Poacher

We popped in to see John Slee, Manager at The Lincolnshire Poacher, to talk about whiskey, stables and famous guests...

Night Creatures Podcast #5: Adam and Rob Perkins from Boho Festival on organising Notts parties from the 90s to now

Night Creatures is a LeftLion podcast, shining a light on the promoters of Nottingham. Your host and interviewer is Beane, co-founder of Nottingham’s beloved Soul Buggin’ night and he brings with him two decades of experience of putting on great parties in the city.

What's Happening At Nottingham's Festival of Science and Curiosity in 2026

For two weeks every February, a wide range of scientists, researchers, engineers, creatives and inventors get out of the lab and go into Notts schools, libraries and community venues to show their work...

Review: Beat The Streets 2026

“This is our 8th edition since 2018; we’ve raised over half a million pounds so far!” proudly announces Managing Director of DHP Family George Akins during the Beat The Streets press tour backstage at Rock City. It’s a mind-blowing sum of money and a reminder that this festival hasn’t just become a staple of the Notts calendar for giving the city an amazing day of live music – it’s an event that makes a huge difference. Heading out for another day of venue roaming and charity fundraising, this is what our LeftLion team got up to at Beat The Streets 2026…

Life Behind Bars, with Lucy Simons, co-owner at The Abdication

We chat to Lucy Simons, co-owner at The Abdication...

Undercover artist: Eleanor Youdell is bringing art back into her life

This month’s cover artist Eleanor Youdell shares her journey as an artist, her tips for being creative, and the concept behind her cover art.

Festival review: Paint By Numbers at The Bodega

In a mark of just how healthy Nottingham's music scene is, this year we were treated to a brand new metropolitan festival. Paint By Numbers took place at (award winning) The Bodega, and turned out to be a day of sweat, softness and standout sets. We went along to see tomorrow’s headliners come to the forefront, capturing Nottingham’s music scene at a moment of momentum...

Life behind bars: with Matt Hinton, owner at Brew Tavern

For this month's instalment of Life behind bars, we speak to the man who looks after a claimant to being Nottingham city centre's smallest pub.