'There's an opportunity now for the city to seize the moment and become the heart and capital of the East Midlands'

THE Queen of the Midlands. A rather unofficial designation, but one that nevertheless evokes Nottingham’s status as a regional capital for much of the 20th century.

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

It is a title that, more recently, the city has struggled to claim with anything like as much confidence.

A 1964 BBC documentary saw its presenter declare: “Nottingham is Queen of the Midlands - the pomp about the place, it's a regional capital. Leicester was provincial, parochial, small, compared to this enormous metropolis.”

That description from 60 years ago jars with the day-to-day reality we see when walking around Nottingham in 2025.

The Broad Marsh redevelopment still has some way to go, the Debenhams building stands empty and even the fountains in Old Market Square have been switched off.

Broader issues replicated across many other UK cities - rough sleeping, empty shops and antisocial behaviour - are also to be found here.

Perhaps nothing has been more symbolic of the city’s troubles in recent years than the city council itself. Effectively declaring bankruptcy in 2023 and having commissioners sent in shortly after, the authority has long struggled under government cuts and occasionally its own well-documented blunders.

Yet the current city council leadership now regards many of those issues as being in the rear-view mirror.