Nottingham - A vibrant City
In Nottingham, leisure and culture is big business.
Nottingham is ranked 5th most vital shopping destination in the country and with 370 pubs, restaurants, cafes and clubs in the central square mile, Nottingham has been named the world cuisine capital of Britain with six different restaurants serving tastes from around the world in every square mile of the city.
Culturally, the Royal Centre and Nottingham Playhouse offer a rich variety of award-winning theatre, showcasing the best in classic and contemporary plays, musicals and entertainment. Nottingham 's thriving music scene is firmly on the national map as a must-visit for international stars and up and-coming bands alike, with artists from Beyonce playing at Nottingham Arena, to the latest rock and indie acts enjoying the rite of passage that is playing Rock City .
New exhibitions and events came to Nottingham in 2006 - the British Art Show, Game City and Art of Games Workshop attracted over 90,000 visitors to the city. We not only have more sports facilities per person than any other area in Europe - including the National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham Tennis Centre and the National Ice Centre - but also Nottingham Forest and Notts County football clubs and Trent Bridge Cricket Ground when we want to watch professionals at work.
Nottingham is the only major city in the country to have achieved the top score for culture in the 2006 Audit Commission Comprehensive Performance Assessment ratings, with no other Core City able to match this level of success.
Throughout the county of Nottinghamshire , there's stunning scenery and a wealth of historic buildings to explore beyond those connected to the legend of Robin Hood. The city and its surrounding area is steeped in history and has a number of English Heritage sites including Newstead Abbey - the ancestral home of the poet Lord Byron and the Caves of Nottingham - an ancient labyrinth of sandstone caves buried beneath the city centre.
Nottingham has the fourth largest student population in the country, with 60,000 students (42,000 full-time) attending the two world-class universities alone. One in every nine of Nottingham 's residents is a student and the city has the highest graduate retention rate in the UK . Students come here for an education, and stay for a career and a lifetime.
Science City starts at our universities. In 2004/05, the Universities were awarded a record £100m in new research grants and contracts and £45m for research and infrastructure for 2006, well over 50% of the total for all Universities in the region. Both Universities also attract a significant amount of funding for important outreach work to help take public awareness and understanding of Science into the wider community.
Nottingham 's schools are improving faster than the national average. With Building Schools for the Future pumping new resource into transforming and renewing the city's secondary schools - not to mention the two new city academies in the pipeline - Nottingham is becoming ever more ambitious.
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