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Festival Review: Bearded Theory 2026

Now a firm staple of the local festival calendar, Bearded Theory takes place in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside and is a haven for music lovers looking to kick start their festival season with plenty of wonder and family fun. Taking place over an extremely hot and sunny May bank holiday weekend, the 2026 edition boasted one of the most stacked line-ups of local, national and international talent that we can remember. To give us an insight, LeftLion contributor Marta Tavares went along to report from Catton Park…

Red Sea FC: the refugee football team building community through the beautiful game

Red Sea FC are a hardworking local football team. Founded in 2019, they provide a welcoming found- family and shared cause for refugees living in Nottingham. Freya Peters heads to the Forest Rec to meet founder Ezedin Osman to find out what motivates him and how the players are finding community far away from home… 

How ANTI All Genders Barber adds an extra dose of inclusivity to cutting hair in Nottingham

While getting a haircut is a fairly ordinary part of life for some, having a stranger alter your appearance can feel daunting for others, especially if you’re trans or non-binary and find yourself tangled up with widely-debated, unequal gender-based prices, or neurodivergent and don’t feel great about the socially-sanctioned small talk. Nottingham’s ANTI All Genders Barber is looking to provide a solution to that… 

Night Creatures Podcast #6: Oli Gibbons from Tumble Audio, Risque Rhodes and Build Beats on Notts and Rave Culture

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.

Pick six: Hana Glover, owner of The Bead Shop Nottingham

For this month’s Pick Six we turn to Hana Glover, who has been running Nottingham’s crafty paradise The Bead Shop on Market Street since 2000.

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…

Fine Fat Funk: Fat Digester talk thirty years of making music ahead of Beat the Streets

Not many Nottingham-based bands and acts can boast a thirty-year longevity, but Fat Digester certainly can. The eclectic, cool and funky collective have been making audiences move and groove in awe since the 90s, and have no intention of stopping or slowing anytime soon. We had a chat with frontman Paul 'Ned' Needham all about the band’s approaches, stage shows and very exciting future plans!

Theatre Review: Sleeping Beauty at Nottingham Playhouse

This year's Playhouse panto brings us a classic tale with modern twists. You may become spellbound but, unlike the princess, you most definitely will not fall asleep... 

Left Stag: November - The Fading Beauty of the FA Cup

At the risk of this column being renamed Grumpy Stag, Nostalgia Stag, or In My Day Things Were Better Stag, I’m going to have to moan about something else here...

Derek Jacobi, dark storytelling, beautiful photography, music, theatre and more: Here's what's on this week: 29 September - 5 October

The nights are rolling in, so time to book in some cosy evenings of storytelling or indulge in some beautiful photography. Here's what's on in Notts this week...

Book Review: 'Huckleberry Dreaming' by Brooklyn Beaumont

A charming coming-of-age novel about what it means to grow up and find family amongst strangers, set against the backdrop of a dystopian regime and shaped by themes of drug abuse, gang violence, and personal responsibility. 

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...

Festival Review: Bearded Theory 2025

Back for its 17th year, this independent gem - which sits by the Trent and straddles the Derbyshire and Staffordshire border - is somewhat of a starter gun for the local festival season. Following last year’s quagmire-like conditions, attendees are thankfully greeted with blue skies and sunshine for the 2025 edition of Bearded Theory. Here’s what went down…

Five reasons not to miss Bearded Theory this year

A plethora of top quality artists, creative activities and unique educational content… Bearded Theory really does have it all. The festival takes place over the late Bank Holiday weekend in the beautiful setting of Catton Park, under an hour from our Nottingham doorsteps. Here are five reasons you can’t afford to miss the 2025 edition…

By the willows: Refugee Roots and Red Sea FC bring the beautiful game to Attenborough

Refugee Roots a local charity helping refugees build friendships and find a place to call home recently sponsored the Red Sea FC, a team largely made up of refugees whose goal is to ‘bring together sport-loving youth from all over the globe.’ The team made up of members of the refugee and migrant communities that have recently arrived to Nottingham and consider this city their second home entered the development league and proudly wear the kit sponsored by Refugee Roots. 

At the game where the team premiered wearing their new kits, volunteer befriender and language teacher Dr Christopher Towers, a poet, academic and football lover who also has a particular passion for football poetry and written collections such as Hinterlands made sure he wasn’t on the bench for this game and came to experience it all.

From Masterchef to Market Street: Vanilla Bean bakery and café opens in Bingham

Opened by former MasterChef contestant Amy Vyse, Vanilla Bean is an artisan bakery, café and patisserie in Bingham, which doubles as the new residence for popular Nottingham supper club Incognito Club. Lucy Campion, food co-editor, chatted to Amy about her culinary journey so far and tried a selection of the baked goods on offer.

The Beautiful Game: Notts County through the photographer’s lens

John Anderson is a professional photographer with a passion for Notts County FC. After years of corporate jobs and taking photos of Queen Elizabeth, in 2016 he decided to pursue a passion project and take photos at Meadow Lane. However, his focus is usually on the crowd rather than on the pitch… 

Review: Beat The Streets 2025

It may have been a cold and rainy day, but that didn’t stop thousands of Notts residents darting between Talbot, Pelham and Broad Street for this year’s edition of Beat The Streets. With the annual festival having raised a whopping £491,100 for Framework since it began back in 2018, this was another opportunity for local music fans to enjoy the vibrant sounds of our great city and raise vital funds for this great cause in the process. Not ones to miss out, we sent our team down to the festival to capture the sights and sounds of this amazing event...