Pros & Cons of Living In Nottingham

Nottingham is a vibrant city that sits within the heart of England, it’s packed with a rich history which is clear in the architecture, but a modern vibe to compliment it. It offers the perfect blend of history and culture, with the association of the legendary Robin Hood to the Castle but with it’s youthful energy from the University, numerous theatres, galleries and live music venues it really offers that perfect mix.

If you’re thinking of moving to the area, then you might be wondering what the pros and cons of the area are, and ultimately whether it’s a good place to live. In this article we have a deep dive into the city of Nottingham, and if you’re interested then you can quickly navigate through using the buttons below:

Is Nottingham a good place to live?

Before we deep dive and pick apart the city for its positive and negative points, we wanted to provide an overview of whether Nottingham is a good place to live.

Nottingham is considered a wonderful place to live, and is popular with a variety of different people in all circumstances of life. It offers a fantastic balance of city life, nature, community and history, meaning there is something for everyone. We’ll dig far deeper into these later, but the city has fantastic public transport, is well-known for its top school and almost every town or suburb has good amenities.

Each area in Nottingham is different and depending on your individual preferences and lifestyle it may mean that you prefer certain areas – our post on the most expensive areas in Nottingham may give you an insight into some of these and their differences.

Just like within any city, there are of course some areas which you could consider a little more deprived and you need to do a lot of research into the particular suburb you are looking at purchasing a property (or visiting).

What are the positives of Nottingham?

The positives of living in Nottingham in our opinion do outweigh the negatives, which you may expect as we recommended it as a good place to live, but we’ve picked out some of what we would consider to be the most significant pros for you below, so you can decide.

Affordable Living

Nottingham is considered an affordable option when you compare it to some of the other major UK cities – it’s got a very good balance of quality of life and cost of living. Rental prices vary quite heavily as it depends on where you choose to live, but utility bills and transport for instance are on the lower side compared to other urban areas. If you were to compare it to other like-for-like cities, you would say the prices are similar to that of Leeds & Sheffield, but cheaper than Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh for instance.  

Green Space

The Green Oasis, Nottingham is one of the most beautiful cities you’ll come across in regards to it’s green space for its overall size. It’s got a mix of bustling parks to scenic woodlands, there is something for everyone (if you like nature, of course).

Surrounded by beautiful countryside, The Sherwood Forest and Dukeries, you’ll also find Highfields Park, Wollaton Park, The Meadows and the Nottingham Arboretum more centrally – a mix of areas for picnics, flowers, gardens, wildlife parks and watersides.

Transport Links

The area has a well-developed public transport network which makes it really easy to get around the city and any of its surrounding areas. In the city centre, there is a travel centre, a wide range of network of buses which cover most the city, and a major train station that connects to most of the UK cities.

Vibrant City

In recent years the city has undergone a lot of transformation and is emerging as a really exciting and dynamic place to live and visit. It’s got a fantastic cultural scene, a thriving student population, lots of modern amenities, and green space to go with its historic charm that all add to the vibrance.

Great Nights Out

The diverse nightlife scene in Nottingham caters for a range of tastes. There are loads of pubs and bars to choose from ranging from the traditional to more trendy cocktail bars. Afterwards, you can follow that up by visiting any of the local clubs which offer a variety of different genres from indie to electronic – from Popworld to Rock City. If restaurants and dining out is more your thing, there are hundreds of options including Alchemilla, Bar Iberico & Mesa just to name a few.

Music & Culture

There’s a diverse range of musical experiences available in the City with live venues such as Rescue Rooms, The Bodega and more, you can often find several local successful musicians as well as new talent. There are sometimes even music festivals throughout the city.

In terms of culture, there’s a strong industrial heritage, a more modern university atmosphere and an urban feel that really mix into a strong sense of community and passion for the arts. It really is a great blend.

Very Family Friendly

It’s an extremely family-friendly city, there are lots of different activities available including the City of Caves, and National Justice Museum, with zoos, farms and play centres, to name just a few things. It’s also generally considered a safe city and an overall suitable place to raise a family.

What are the negatives of Nottingham?

As with any city, there are downsides to living in Nottingham and we want to make you aware of some of the things that you should maybe just watch out for when considering moving to the area.

Constant Development

We’ve mentioned it as a positive with a large amount of the city undergoing redevelopment and restoration, but it’s also a negative for those living there. It can often cause disruption and the city has had a feeling in recent years of never truly being “complete”, there is also something going on in terms of large scale construction and it can often frustrate the locals.

Crime

A lot of articles around the internet mention that Nottingham is a safe place to live, and generally it is, however it’s worth noting that the crime rate is actually particularly high. The area of Nottingham has a 26% higher crime rate than the East Midlands, and 34% higher than England, Wales & Nothern Ireland as an overall average.

Traffic and Congestion

The transport links are great, but the traffic can be pretty bad, especially as you close in on the city centre. Now this is often true of most cities, so maybe take this with a pinch of salt, but it can take a while to get around and often driving into the city isn’t as advisable as taking the tram.

Homelessness

It’s a significant issue in Nottingham, there are various initiatives to try and address the issue but it still remains a complex challenge. It’s mainly due to the rising cost of housing and low wages as well as the high amount of unemployment (which we touch on next). The council are trying to do a lot with supporting the homeless with emergency accommodation and support and hopefully it does get better overtime.

Job Market

Historically the job market in Nottingham had been somewhat complex, and it’s employment rate is lower than the national average – in fact, it’s one of the lowest of any major UK city. If you need to look for a new job with your move, we’d maybe advise doing this before hand or at least investigating the job market to see your options. The significant portion of the workforce employed in the area is business administration and support services, but there are potential opportunities with education, healthcare and technology.

Are there any deprived areas of Nottingham to avoid?

Again as with any area, there are places that you could consider being more deprived, and perhaps may be worth looking further into should you want to move to the area. According to the census posted by Nottingham Post  here are areas to look out for:

Radford

Like a couple of the inner city areas, this area has faced its challenges with deprivation and social issues, but there are positive developments and improvements they are undergoing in the area. It still garners a reputation for being a bad area, but this is definitely changing.

Hyson Green

The crime in the Hyson Green area is particularly high right, and it gets a bad name for being a dangerous place. It does however have a thriving community spirit and is an area with several businesses, it is considered one of the areas to avoid.

Newark South West

Newark on the whole isn’t a bad area, which is why you may be surprised to find it in this list it did in fact shock most of the residents – but compared to some of the other areas in Nottingham it ranked low for education, employment, health and housing – although in our opinion, it’s not actually that bad!

St Ann’s

The inner city area of St Ann’s has a bad reputation, it faces its challenges with deprivation, social issues and crimes but just like some of the other areas in this list, it has undergone significant changes and improvements in recent years. It’s an area that has been identified due to its issues with unemployment and poverty, facing a higher crime rate than most other parts of Nottingham.

How much money do you need to live comfortably in Nottingham?

Wherever you look Nottingham is referred to as the “affordable city”, but is that actually true? Well as far as cities go, simply put, yes it is. Let’s take the average salary in Nottingham, according to Talent UK this sits at roughly £35,000 per year which is a monthly take-home of £2,393.31. If you take Numbeo cost of living statistics for Nottingham then the average estimated monthly costs without rent are around £810.40, combining that with the average rent of say a 2-bed house in Nottingham of £828, your total would go up to £1,638.4.  

Overall as you can see, in terms of cities, that makes it a pretty reasonable and affordable place to live with an additional £754.91 of excess spending money monthly.