Oct 20th, 2026
A few lesser known stories among the wider known.
Meeting at the Lions in mkt sq. Walking past the old Fire Station on Shakespear St. On the far corner, used to be the Police Station. It was here that The Beatles hid away after one of their gigs in Nottingham in 1963.
#1 The Beatles third visit to Nottingham was on December 12 1963 at the Odeon Cinema. Police Officer Peter Gibson of the Nottingham City Police Force was assigned to guard the Beatles dressing room. He retired in 1990 after 35 years service to the force. He chatted about that day:
“Many of my colleagues were on the street holding back the crowd, but I got the job of being on their door. The band passed by me every now and then while they were walking the corridors. They were very talkative young guys.“
Discussing the atmosphere inside the theatre, Peter said, “The crowd was getting hysterical, especially the young girls. The noise was extremely loud.“
Peter also confirmed where the band went, initially, after the show:
“The lads came for a couple of drinks in the police bar at my station on Shakespeare Street. In those days all police stations had private bars. Those lads must have been totally exhausted after everything they had just gone through. They sat in the corner in comfy chairs while they relaxed, had a drink and a smoke. They just chatted amongst themselves basically. They were as good as gold.“
From an article written by Alex Kocan (I think) some years ago.
I am yet to write a full story of the Beatles in Nottingham but here are some basic facts.
Walking up North Sherwood Street past the back of the Lincolnshire Poacher pub and then the Jewish Graveyard. More about the Poacher later.
#2 On the corner of Forest Road tell the story of the late night party in October 1955 featuring Big Bill Broonzy. After a gig he went to a party.
Here is the recording and a little background info Big Bill Broonzy party
and another page with some Big Bill in Nottingham facts. I should update that story sometime, adding the fact, that at that party he scrawled his name on the wall. I like to think that it is still there under a few layers of wall paper, if the house still exists that is. I’ve sometimes visualised that night as a short play.
On the corner of Forest Rd and Mansfield give a quick mention of:
Mars Hill – Toad-Hole Hill – The Sandfield/Clay Mansfield Rd dividing line. Oldest road in Notts. Windmills along Forest Road. The Maze around the corner where bare knuckle boxing champion ‘Bendigo’ used to train. Graveyard. Gallows Hill.
#3 Small story of 16 Pillar Hole and William Shaw.
Walk down to ‘The Lodge’ 1857, Police cell
There look down on the Forest. Sport – Forest, Racing, Herbert Kilpin – Goose Fair (show Book later)
A great description of a cricket game on the Forest in 1835 but published in 1843.
#4 Stream flowing across the Forest. In a time when a large part of the land would have still had streams and gullies I have some evidence to suggest that stream once flowed over the Forest probably making it’s way through Hyson Green (a Chinese Tea) to the River Leen in Radford. There is a reference in a novel (but based on real places it seems to me) and a painting that seem to suggest there may have been one.
Further afield:
Rail tunnel
Tram post
Fothergill Watson buildings
and back to the Lincolnshire Poacher. It opened in 1989 but was previously the ‘Old Grey Nags Head which I’ve traced by name back to the 1860’s with probable history before that. I put a webpage together about the ‘Poacher’ a few years ago that is rather convoluted (all my workings out) but if you are interested it is here.
I found a great image of a landlord standing outside the same doorway in 1889.
And finally a little history from my own family.
#5 Goose Fair on the Forest.
Book. Nottingham in the 1960’s & 1970’s
Douglas Whitworth
page 123
photo and caption bottom right
“Youngsters having their age guessed by an itinerant dressed as a cowboy in 1967. The charge was 6d and a lucky charm was the prize if he was incorrect”.
Although I only came across this book in 2023 I realised instantly who the “itinerant” was. It was Leonard Alfred Robinson, my Uncle Len, who was from Wainfleet in Lincolnshire. He stayed at my mum and dad’s house in Lady Bay over that weekend in October 1967 to work the fair. He was married to my mum’s eldest sister, May.
Just short of my tenth birthday I went to the fair and saw him there, but a standout memory for me was back at home on the Sunday morning after the fair when Len put all the money he had earned on the kitchen table to count it. I had never seen so many coins. It was the biggest pile of money I could imagine, like a pirates treasure trove. Although they were mainly half crowns, shillings, tanners and penny’s it was a substantial amount. He earnt well. He didn’t need a stall, just his props which were the pieces of wood, sign, trinkets and wooden box which he stood on to give himself a more prominent position. He was also rather a small man. He most likely kept the money and trinkets in the box.
Len must have travelled to others fairs and probably did seasonal work at nearby Skegness. Some of my Auntie Edith’s lads also worked the Skegness front during the summers of the seventies. They lived in Skegness.
Lillian May Leatherland (b Nottm 13.05.26. d 2004)
Leonard Alfred Robinson (b Lincs 26.06.33. d 1996)
I was unaware of this photo as were Len (I think) and my mum and dad. I have researched my family well and what I think happened is, the photo was taken while Len was working so he never knew, and it didn’t appear in the Evening Post at the time, or my mum and dad would have seen it, and has only surfaced later with the publication of the Douglas Whitworth book in 2009.
As a footnote the image is made more striking by the young girl (I guess she is sixteen) he is talking too.