http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22623964

I was born and brought up in Notts, though moved away many years ago.

I go back once or twice a year to see family and friends

I didn’t realise it had gone downhill that much or this just an interpretation of statistics to generate a new story?

David Cameron’s Big Society in action, people starving to help subsidise his millionaire mates!

It isn’t in the South East, so highly unlikely to figure on the radar of anyone in government

I was there for the first (and only) time last September. As we were walking around the city centre my friend’s comment was “you can tell this is a city with absolutely no money”

Grim place, which surprised me.

I was there in January. Lots of drunken slappers about, but I thought the city centre was actually quite nice. Just an impression, of course.

I only ever drive around the ring road en route from the A1 to the A625 and the dark peaks….

Are you suggesting that drunken slappers are a less than positive attribute of a city molgrips?

When did you get so old?

Must admit when I go back I am still probably wearing rose tinted specs.

Bit too old to know about “drunken slappers” but that sounds no different to when I was a nipper 😉

Surely drunken slappers are the very lifeblood of this great nation, and a source of immense national pride?

Nottingham in some ways doesn’t feel particularly poor – Ferrari and Porsche dealers on the edge of town – but the Meadows and some other areas have always been rough. When I lived there as a student over 20yrs ago it was grim. Nottingham though does have two big Uni’s and some other reasonable industry. It doesn’t feel like the UK poorest city to me and I’m there about once a week on average. Teesside and Wearside seem grimmer to me.

I have the pleasure of working in Nottingham and was surprised to see that it is supposedly the poorest city in the country. Parts of it are pretty grim, but there are other places that felt worse.

All cities have their own nasty areas; the rough parts of Sheffield are just that as are the nasty parts of London etc. Some parts of Birmingham are pretty run down and sketchy.

^ kate garroway? 😯

Nottingham does suffer from a nasty quirk of city boundaries and statisitics when it comes to stats like this.

Some parts of it are certainly very grim and poor, as with any big city, but a lot of the nicer bits of the city aren’t actualy within the city council’s boundary. Places like West Bridgeford are certainly within “Nottingham”, but actually are the responsibility of the county council.

Contrast that with a city like Sheffield, which on the face it of seems a very similar place, but has just been voted the UKs happiest city. But the city of sheffield includes everything from large parts of the Peaks and posh suburbs like Dore and Whirlow, to some idylic villages to the north. The grim bits in the middle are also there, and they have guns and knives and poverty, just like Nottingham, but its not so obvious in the stats.

‘kinell binners surprised blackpool council haven’t had that site shutdown, not a great advert for the tourist board 🙄

Depends on your sensibilities really. Some might say its the perfect advert 😉

true but there’s cheap tawdry shitholes and then there’s….well…that!

kate garroway?

… and Emma Bunton 😯

I used to think that Nottingham was a cracking city when I lived in Leicester. Not so sure now, but then at that time, the St Mathews estate in Leicester had exactly the same kind of reputation. I believe that was under a labour government…

Donk – I remember the horror on the faces of a couple of my privately educated, metropolitan London mates when I introduced them to the seductive charms of the Northern Riviera.

They gasped, truly slack-jawed in amazement as they were politely requested by a group of charming northern ladies, of similar appearence to some of those featured models, if they would kindly reveal their genitalia. They may have worded it slightly differently from that. 😀

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2dImprgiB8[/video]

You all should walk around Mansfield.

Mansfield’s not that bad, but then I moved here from Worksop and regularly have to work in Bradford and Middlesbrough. 😯

Nottingham is proper posh compared to Shildon.

I’m surprised by that statistic – wife and I have both worked in Nottingham for 10 years now dealing with some of the “poorer” people and areas, and I wouldn’t have thought it was the worst. I now cover Stoke and that “feels” poorer, though many of the people I meet are lovely.

Though, obviously, I live just over the border in Derbyshire. The mysterious place on the map that is, to most Nottingham dwellers, “That Place Past Ikea” 😆

I was there in January. Lots of drunken slappers about, but I thought the city centre was actually quite nice. Just an impression, of course.

Ever tactful. What are you calling slapper? Would you say it to their faces?

I suspect that ‘drunken slapper’ is molgrips speak for ‘ladies who can drink more than I can and who I got a bit scared of’.

Grew up in Chilwell in the 70s and 80s , not a bad place really, remember going into Notts most weekends on my own at 12/13 no problems apart from broad Marsh bus station sometimes.
Mate had a relative in the meadows that we went to visit – wow that opened my eyes
Worked in Retail in Notts from mid 80s to mid 90s – Cinderhill, Bulwell,Bilborough,Hyson Green,Carlton,Bestwood , Clifton etc- all shiteholes and I’m not suprised by the stats
Live near Mansfield now,much better- more places to ride too

I was born and brought up in Notts, though moved away many years ago.

Which school?

I live in Ravenshead v close to mansfield. I also work some days in Nottingham. My wife grew up in her early years on blackbird lees in Oxford. Armpit of the world

Op’s linked story could be a story anywhere in the uk imo

I once drove past what I thought was drunk sleeping it off after a night on the beer / Diamond White; only to get a call from a colleague that the “drunk” had in fact been shot dead and the road was a murder scene. That was in Nottingham

Which school?

Bramcote Hills Comp and Park View Sixthform.

Started MTBing up Hemlock Stone when Rockshox RS1 forks were cutting edge stuff.

Lots of drunken slappers about,

Hmmm. This seems an appropriate juncture to pose the traditional;

‘Yeah… But you would though, wouldn’t you…’

If you want to know what Rotherham was like in the eighties…

go there now!

That gets my vote as most rundown, poor, depressed town/city. Not all that rough, just poor. Town centre is all payday loans, charity shops, betting shops, pound shops, pawnbrokers, amusement arcades, cheapo supermarkets etc.

I lived in Nottingham for almost exactly 6 weeks (summer 2009) – wasn’t sorry to leave.

Jimmers – I went to Chilwell comp, used to have some great mass fights with Bramcote hills lot
I always wondered why I never went to Bramcote Hills as technically it was probably just as near to me if not nearer