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20 Years of Hockley Hustle

This month, Nottingham city’s biggest independent arts and music festival, the brilliant Hockley Hustle, is celebrating twenty years of bringing sound and colour to our streets. Showcasing an eye-watering array of genres and talent, the festival is more than just a good time – it’s raised over £250K for 27 local charities, as well as providing stages for thousands of artists from Nottingham and beyond. 

This year, the Hustle is back on Sunday 25 October, bringing 500 acts to fifty stages. You’ll be able to catch the carnival, chill to some acoustic sounds, dance at the silent disco, enjoy punk, soul, Hip-Hop, and more.

To celebrate, here’s what the Hustle’s massive team of promoters, mainstay artists, and central organisers remember most fondly about the last twenty years of music and mayhem…

The Scientist: LeftLion chats 20 years of With Love And Squalor with We Are Scientists' Keith Murray

20 years ago, in the midst of an indie boom kickstarted by a thriving New York rock scene, We Are Scientists emerged as the band seemingly just there for a good time, rather than a long time. However, two decades and nine albums later, they have become one of the mainstays from that flourishing mid-00s period, all thanks to a consistently solid discography and their natural chemistry with one another. Ahead of their show at Rock City later this week celebrating 20 years of their beloved debut album, With Love And Squalor, LeftLion caught up with the band’s charismatic frontman, Keith Murray…

40 years of Notts County FC's Lifeline scheme

Notts County FC’s Lifeline scheme is an independent volunteer-run lottery and fundraising scheme, launched forty years ago this month, to support the football club through financial difficulties. Members pay £2 per week and are entered into a range of lottery draws and receive access to events, stadium tours, a training session, hospitality offers and more…

Common Ground: Alan Lodge's upcoming exhibition documents protests, parties and festivals over the last fifty years

Opening this month at Bonington Gallery is Common Grounds: Counterculture & Confrontation since 1976, a retrospective of the work of Alan ‘Tash’ Lodge. One of the UK’s most prolific photographers of alternative lifestyles, Alan’s work gives a vivid first person insight into the new age traveller movement and the 90s free-party scene, raising questions about the right to gather, policing, surveillance and community.

Green and pleasant land: how The Meadows is building sustainability and community health

Five years ago, the Notts suburb of The Meadows got a major funding boost to help the community live greener, richer lives and take local action on climate change. With that grant now ending, local resident Lottie Limb takes a look at what the Green Meadows project has achieved and how it can evolve.

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!

Night Creatures Podcast #4: Nate Coltrane from Mimm on 14 years of parties, Nottingham Street Food Club and Our Yard

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 over twenty years of experience of putting on great parties in the city.

Early Christmas parties and dance music at The Model: Here's what's on in Notts this week, Mon 1 - Sun 7 December

December 2025 starts with a bang in Nottingham, as a host of occasions from the festive, to the musical, to the artistic, take place... 

A Cup of Jim: 35 years of Lee & Fletcher coffee

After 35 years of roasting and supplying coffee to some of Nottingham’s best-loved independent businesses, there’s not much Jim Lee, owner of Lee & Fletcher, doesn’t know about a cup of joe. Lucy Campion finds out more about Jim’s journey in the world of java.

Night Creatures Podcast #3: Killer Jim from Out To Lunch on 25 years of Northern soul, jazz funk and jazz dance events in Nottingham

Night Creatures is a new 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 over twenty years of experience of putting on great parties in the city.

Nottingham celebrates ten years as a UNESCO City of Literature with a spectacular gala on 1 December

In 2025, Nottingham turns the page on a remarkable chapter; ten years as a UNESCO City of Literature and the charity is throwing a party worthy of Nottingham’s words!

Artist Hetain Patel on his new audio visual show and his early career spent in Notts

Hetain Patel is an English visual artist specialising in performance, sculpture, video and photography. Born and brought up in Bolton, his work is influenced by identity, his family's Indian heritage and mainstream Western pop culture. Hetain came to Nottingham in 2000 as a Fine Art student and spent more than a decade here before spreading his wings; exhibiting in Norway, India, Belgium and more. He’s back with his latest work as part of nottdance Festival 2025…

Night Creatures Podcast #2: Laurence and Steve from Smokescreen Soundsystem on thirty years of club nights, free parties, police, gangsters and more

Night Creatures is a new 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 over twenty years of experience of putting on great parties in the city...

Gig review: Ellur at The Bodega, with Fright Years and Cara Flynn

In the middle of a breathless and busy UK tour, Yorkshire-based indie-pop purveyor Ellur stopped off at The Bodega, bringing happiness and a uniquely collective experience. With Fright Years as main support, the night also gave local songwriter Cara Flynn the chance to shine...

Celebrating 160 years of the Theatre Royal

We look back on 160 years of Nottingham’s Theatre Royal and some of the famous productions and people it has brought to the city…

By youth, for youth: Nottingham celebrates 25 years of International Youth Day

This year marked the 25th anniversary of International Youth Day; we headed down to the pop-up shop organised by Nottingham City of Literature’s Youth Board to join in with the celebrations...

We Chat To Wellington Films About Their 25th Anniversary

For 25 years, Wellington Films has been producing films in Nottingham’s Broadway Cinema. I caught up with Al Clark to hear what producing ten feature films and over forty short films has been like...

We built this city: celebrating twenty years of I'm Not From London with head promoter Will Robinson

Man about town, creature of the night, gig aficionado, and master of mayhem Will Robinson has been keeping Nottingham’s music scene alive and kicking for twenty years with promotion company I’m Not From London. As the fifteenth Waterfront Festival draws close on Saturday 2 August at the Canalhouse, anniversary celebrations in the works and a great roster of gigs coming up, we caught up with Will to hear some highlights from two decades of gigs.

Review: 28 Years Later

We review the sequel to Danny Boyle's classic, 28 Weeks Later. We ask ourselves, 'What if zombies, but pretentious..?'