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Out of Time: All About 'Torpedo' Tom Blower, the Nottingham Man Who Became the First Person to Swim the North Channel of the Irish Sea

Until 1947, no one had ever successfully swam the North Channel of the Irish Sea - a 21-mile stretch of icy cold, choppy water between Scotland and Northern Ireland. Then came Tom Blower, the Notts-born gentle giant who could snap six inch nails and lift two people at a time…

How Nottinghamshire Bat Group Are Standing up for Our Misunderstood Critters

With Halloween just around the corner, we wanted to take a furry close look at one of our most feared and mythologised critters - bats. Angelena Efstathiou of Nottinghamshire Bat Group tells us about the work they do to better understand our local bats, and how you can help protect them…

How Notts Filmmaker Georgianna Scurfield Is Celebrating the City’s Iconic Cattle Market

For 136 years, Nottingham Cattle Market has been a bedrock of the community. As a livestock market and, much later, a home for market stalls and Arthur Johnson & Sons auctioneers, it’s an eclectic ecosystem of stories, experience and big personalities tucked behind Meadow Lane near Trent Bridge. With a view to cataloguing the past and present of the market’s history for future generations, filmmaker Georgianna Scurfield launched The Cattle Market Project, a Heritage Lottery-funded documentary, photography, animation, oral history and historical archive project aimed at celebrating a Nottingham institution…

Film Review: My Policeman

Harry Styles takes the lead in new 1950s melodrama about the love triangle between a schoolteacher, a museum curator, and a policeman…

A Booklover's Dream, Five Leaves Shed Light On Their Regular Bookclub

With its radical reputation, Five Leaves is a bookshop beloved by you Notts lot. But did you know that, alongside stocking all the best and rarest titles, the store hosts a regular book club? With recent titles including The Book of Form and Emptiness and Elena Knows, this month you can look forward to diving into Selby Wynn Schwartz’s After Sappho - the novel which reimagines the stories of feminists, artists, writers and sapphics from the 19th and 20th century. Before the event on Thursday 27 October, we catch up with Five Leaves’ Ross Bradshaw and Jane Anger to learn more…

Six Spooky Books to Get Your Spine Tingling This October

Want a book that sends shivers down your spine? One that fills you will a creeping dread? Our literature team have a few suggestions...

Gig Review: Rina Sawayama at Rock City

We sent Nick Parkhouse down to Rina Sawayama's first ever Nottingham gig...

Showcasing the Best of the Worst, We Learn More About Notts Bad Movie Club

Have you ever seen a film that’s so bad it’s good? Do you often return to ‘hate watches’, sticking on something that’s enjoyable for its awfulness? If so, you’ll love Notts Bad Movie Club, the city’s regular film night showcasing the very best of the worst…

Exhibition Review: Social Resource Project for Tennis Clubs at Bonington Gallery

Renowned conceptual artist, Stephen Willats, returns to Nottingham to finish what he started in the 1970s and ignites a rallying cry for wider engagement in the arts...

Review: Escape From R. M. S. Titanic at Houdini's Nottingham

Colin Baker Chats Doctor Who, Nadine Dorries and Bringing Sherlock Holmes to Mansfield

Ahead of the Palace Theatre's showing of The Hound of the Baskervilles, LeftLion sit down with Sherlock Holmes himself, actor Colin Baker. We discuss the iconic detective, Doctor Who, Nadine Dorries in the jungle, how Davros got him wearing Crocs, and the status of Colin’s lucky underpants...

Film Review: Triangle of Sadness

Another film, another Palme d'Or for Rubel Östlund, this time for a release that plays like a mashup of Gosford Park, Parasite and Lord of the Flies...

Match Report: Nottingham Panthers vs Manchester Storm 15.10.22

The Nottingham Panthers took on Manchester Storm in their fourth Challenge Cup match on Saturday night. Here's how they got on…

Theatre Review: Potatohead at Nonsuch Studios

Stage Co-Editor Ian C Douglas took a trip to see this slightly strange stage production...

Interview: Sea Girls

Benedict Watson caught up with Andrew Dawson, bassist of fast-rising indie-rock band Sea Girls, ahead of their upcoming Rock City gig next month...

Stealth’s Manager Alex Kirkland Tells All About the Club's Redesign

Over the summer, one of Notts’ favourite nightclubs had a makeover. We chat to Stealth’s manager Alex Kirkland about the changes that have been made to the venue and what we can expect now that it has reopened its doors…

Spotlight On: Studio Chocolate

Hand-crafted, artisan chocolates, beautiful baked treats and fresh, tasty coffees - what's not to love? 

We Check Out Nottingham Contemporary's New Exhibition, Hollow Earth: Art, Caves and The Subterranean Imaginary,

Have you ever thought long and hard about caves (steady…)? If so, you’ll love Hollow Earth: Art, Caves and The Subterranean Imaginary, Nottingham Contemporary’s latest exhibition exploring what goes on beneath the ground - and if not, you might be surprised at just how fascinating they are…

New Panthers Captain Matthew Myers Talks Leading the New Season

Born in Cardiff, Matthew Myers first joined the Nottingham Panthers while studying Real Estate Management at Nottingham Trent University. Now captain of the team for the 2022-23 season, the forward is aiming to push his side back to greatness. After a difficult start to the current campaign, we talk to the 37-year-old about his new responsibilities, playing in an arena and wanting to let go of the past…

Interview: SunFried Tribe

We chat to Tobi Read, founder of the Nottingham art collective SunFried Tribe, to learn about the project, how it began and what to expect from future ventures…

Six Small Businesses Talk the Cost Of Living Crisis

It’s been deemed “insignificant” compared to other national news. It’s been ignored by a Government whose sole focus seems to be on those at the top. Yet the rising cost of living is affecting real people in the real world, right now - not least the hard-working, talented minds behind our city’s vital and varied independent businesses. With a challenging winter on the horizon, how are these firms feeling, and are those in charge of the country doing enough to help? We find out… 

Known for Their No Compromise Patties, Yello Yard are Changing the Nottingham Caribbean Food Scene

Specialising in ‘no compromise’ patties, Yello Yard are filling a gap in Nottingham’s food scene that has been around for far too long. Co-owner Jowayne Marks tells us how he and his partner, Mahalia Chambers, made it happen…

Preview: Say It Ain't So - A Weezer Night at The Bodega

Are you a fan of Weezer? Have we got news for you... 

Exhibition Review: Blk this & Blk that … a state of urgency at Djanogly Gallery

Michael Forbes’ work is a bubbling cauldron of ideas, sculptural forms, festival images, and photographs. Both playful as well as critically engaged with serious themes, his art now forms Blk this & Blk that … a state of urgency at Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts…

£250K Budget Indie Film ‘The Fence’ to be Screened in Lenton

Motorbikes, fast cars and Eighties music abound as this retro indie film comes to Notts…