City guide 04

Nottingham

Hockley to University Park: where to eat, drink, study and go out on a student loan, and what to skip.

22 Yuniversity picks1 guide7 skipsChecked 10 Oct 2026Research-led

The Guides

Long-form, dated, and honest.

Getting Around Nottingham on a Student Budget
Which bus ticket to buy, why the app beats tapping your card, the tram’s student deals, the free hopper buses and the railcard, with this year’s prices.
Transport10 min →

The Picks

Ordered by the guide, never by a commission. Every one comes with who it’s wrong for.

Cheap eats · University Park£3.50–£5.95
The Goose & Oar
Yuniversity saysThe University of Nottingham students’ union bar in the Portland Building. Its food deals run from veggie nuggets and fries for £3.50 on Mondays to fish and chips for £5.95 on Thursdays, with any wrap and fries £4.75 on Tuesdays and loaded fries £5 on Wednesdays. A wrap is £3.75, or £5.25 with fries, and a pint of Amstel or Inch’s £3.30 (£3.15 for society and sports members). There’s a quiz on Mondays and karaoke on Tuesdays, and some SU pages still call it Mooch.
Wrong forWeekend meals: the kitchen’s published hours are 11am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. And NTU students, unless you’re on University Park anyway.
Cheap eats · Sneinton Market£4–£10
Fox & Grapes
Yuniversity saysA Castle Rock pub in Sneinton Market, surrounded, it says, by small independent businesses and creative studios. Tuesday to Friday, 12–2pm, a burger with fries is £10 and comes with a free soft drink, tea or coffee. On the rest of the menu, ‘Burger Babies’ are £7 for one or £10 for two, four chicken strips £4.50 and skin-on fries £4. The Wednesday quiz, from 8pm, is £1 a head.
Wrong forMondays, when the kitchen’s closed, and late dinners: food stops at 8pm, or 6pm on Sundays.
Cheap eats · City centre£5.95
Pizza Punks
Yuniversity saysA pizza chain that also has menus for Glasgow, Belfast, Leeds, Newcastle and Liverpool. On its Nottingham menu, dated May 2026, a Margherita is £5.95 as a 6-inch or £10.95 as a 12-inch, and weekday lunch, 12–4pm, is a starter and a 6-inch pizzetta for £10. Crust dips are £2 each or three for £5.
Wrong forBig appetites: £5.95 buys the 6-inch, and the 12-inch is £10.95. It lists no student discount.
Cheap eats · Beeston£6.95
Bendigo Lounge
Yuniversity saysA café-bar on Beeston’s High Road, named after the Victorian bare-knuckle boxer William ‘Bendigo’ Thompson and open from 9am every day. On weekdays, 12–5pm, a mug of soup and half a grilled cheese toastie is £6.95, and from 5pm on Tuesdays three tapas with a glass of wine, a pint of Cruzcampo or a soft drink are £13.95. It has gluten-free and vegan menus.
Wrong forWeekend lunch on a budget: the £6.95 deal is weekdays only, and Tapas Tuesday, at £13.95, is over a tenner.
Cheap eats · NTU City and Clifton campuses£3.99–£8.99
The Loft & The Point
Yuniversity saysNottingham Trent Students’ Union food: The Loft, the diner in the SU building on Shakespeare Street, and The Point on Clifton campus, a bar and diner with a snug, pool tables and a terrace. Both link to the same menu: 11-inch sourdough pizzas £7.49–£8.99, loaded fries £5.59 and tortilla melts £3.99. That menu is from 2025, so prices may have changed.
Wrong forUniversity of Nottingham students, unless you’re on an NTU campus anyway.
Nightlife · City centre£8.50–£9
Crisis at Rock City
Yuniversity saysWednesdays in term at Rock City, which bills it as Nottingham University’s official student night. Instead of queuing outside, you can wait in ‘the Q’ in Secret Vault next door: a £3.50 queue fee plus £5, so £8.50 on a regular night or £9 on an allnighter. Advance tickets are sold only at crisisnottingham.com and live in the Ontapp Tickets app, linked to your phone number.
Wrong forAnyone who screenshots tickets: screenshots scramble the QR code and are refused at the door.
Nightlife · NTU City campusFree entry
Quids In
Yuniversity saysThursday nights at Nottingham Trent Students’ Union, 8pm to 1.30am, with resident DJs playing house and disco and drinks from £1. It runs at the Clifton and Brackenhurst campuses too; at Clifton it’s at The Point, from 6pm. Its own pages disagree on whether the City night is in The Level or The Loft, so check on the night.
Wrong forUniversity of Nottingham students, since the listing doesn’t say who besides NTU students can go, and anyone after a late one: it ends at 1.30am.
Nightlife · Pelham StreetFrom £2.50
The Bodega
Yuniversity saysA gig venue and bar with club nights from 11pm to 3am: Indie Wednesdays, The Pop Confessional on Fridays and Shameless on Saturdays. Its happy hour has Bodega lager at £2.50, Thatchers Juicy Apple at £3, Guinness at £4.50 and two cocktails for £10; on Mondays it runs 4–7pm, alongside the Social Club’s board games and the week’s new album played in full. Tuesday is quiz night, from 7.30pm.
Wrong forUnder-18s: the club nights and the quiz are all 18+.
Nightlife · Mansfield RoadFree live music
Lincolnshire Poacher
Yuniversity saysA Castle Rock pub since the late 1980s, with 13 cask lines and over 100 malt whiskies. Live music is free every Wednesday from 8.30pm and every Sunday from 8pm. Students get 10% off food and drink every day, or 20% on Tuesdays through the Castle Rock app; fresh cobs are £4.95 and hand-cut chips £5.50.
Wrong forNights that run past 11pm, when it closes (10pm on Mondays). And a hot dinner early in the week: Monday to Wednesday, the kitchen does only cobs and chips, 5–8pm.
Study spots · City centreFree
Nottingham Central Library
Yuniversity saysThe city’s central library on Carrington Street, with study desks, free GovWifi, computers with Microsoft Office, printing, scanning and copying, air conditioning throughout and a ground-floor café run by Bean Culture. Membership is free, and you can join online or in person.
Wrong forSundays, when it’s closed, and late sessions: it shuts at 6pm most weekdays, 7pm on Wednesdays and 4pm on Saturdays.
Study spots · NTU City campusFree
Boots Library
Yuniversity saysNTU’s City campus library, open until 2am every night in term (21 September to 13 December), from 8.30am on weekdays, 9am on Saturdays and 11am on Sundays. NTU also has study space at Library@Newton, 7.30am to 9pm on weekdays, and at Library@Chaucer and Library@Dryden, 7.30am to 8pm.
Wrong forStudents from other universities after the information desk shuts (9pm on weekdays), when visitor access ends. And nappers: sleeping isn’t allowed, and the roof garden is closed for maintenance.
Study spots · NTU Clifton campusFree
Clifton Library
Yuniversity saysNTU’s Clifton campus library, open in term (14 September to 19 December) 8.30am to 9pm Monday to Thursday, until 7pm on Fridays, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 2pm to 7pm on Sundays. Outside those hours its 24/7 Study Zone stays open for study, IT and printing, with its own entrance.
Wrong forStudents from other universities: the 24/7 Study Zone needs an NTU student ID card.
Study spots · University ParkFree
Hallward Library
Yuniversity saysThe University of Nottingham’s library on Library Road, with individual, silent, accessible and group study space, laptop loans for up to 24 hours, and a kitchenette with microwaves in the level 2 café area. Under the University’s standard hours since 1 August 2026, it’s open 8am to 9.45pm on weekdays and 9am to 4.45pm at weekends.
Wrong forAll-nighters: it closes at 9.45pm. And students from elsewhere: from 6pm on weekdays, all weekend and in revision and exam periods, you need a University Card to get in.
Study spots · University ParkFree
George Green Library
Yuniversity saysThe University of Nottingham’s engineering and science library, with a café, vending machines and a kitchenette with a microwave on lower A floor, and hopper buses stopping outside. Until 1 November it’s open 8am to 9.45pm on weekdays and 9am to 4.45pm at weekends; then it goes 24 hours, with University Card access, from 2 November to 11 December, 11 January to 4 March and 19 April to 10 June.
Wrong forStudents from other universities: the 24-hour periods are University Card only.
Study spots · Jubilee CampusFree
Djanogly Learning Resource Centre
Yuniversity saysThe library on the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus, open 8am to 9.45pm on weekdays and 9am to 4.45pm at weekends. Its computer room is open 24 hours with a University Card, and the whole library goes 24-hour in the same periods as George Green Library. There’s a kitchenette with a microwave and a boiling-water tap.
Wrong forStudents from other universities: out-of-hours access needs a University of Nottingham card.
Study spots · LentonFree
Radford-Lenton Library
Yuniversity saysA city library on Lenton Boulevard with study desks, free GovWifi, computers and printing. Membership is free, and you can join online or in person.
Wrong forMost of the week: it opens only on Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am–1pm and 1.30–5pm, and on Saturday mornings, 10am–1pm.
Under a tenner · Lace MarketFree
Nottingham Contemporary
Yuniversity saysFree exhibitions at Weekday Cross, Tuesday to Friday 10am–5pm, Saturday 10am–6pm and Sunday 11am–5pm: book free entry online or at reception, and donations are welcome. Blend, its coffee shop, opens every day.
Wrong forMondays, when the exhibitions are closed. Blend stays open, but its kitchen doesn’t.
Under a tenner · Lakeside Arts, University ParkFree
Djanogly Gallery
Yuniversity saysThe main gallery at Lakeside Arts, next to Highfields Park. Its current exhibition, LagosPhoto: Stories of Movement and Belonging, is free and runs until 10 January 2027. It’s open Tuesday to Saturday 10am–4pm and Sunday 12–4pm, and the two Lakeside car parks stay free.
Wrong forMondays, when it’s closed. And don’t assume the next show is free: Lakeside gives the price exhibition by exhibition.
Under a tenner · SneintonFree
Green’s Windmill and Science Centre
Yuniversity saysThe interactive science centre, garden and shop at Green’s Windmill on Windmill Lane are free to visit, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–4pm. The windmill itself has been closed to the public since repairs began on 3 November 2025.
Wrong forAnyone hoping to go inside the windmill while the repairs go on. And Mondays and Tuesdays, when it’s closed.
Under a tenner · Hockley£7–£9
Broadway Cinema
Yuniversity saysAn independent cinema and café bar on Broad Street, run by a registered charity. Students pay £9 at any time, with ID. If you’re 18–25, a year’s membership is £18.25 and tickets are then £7, so against the student price it pays for itself on your tenth film. Prices are as of 9 October 2026.
Wrong forCash: it’s card only. And over-25s, who can’t get the 18–25 membership.
Under a tenner · ArboretumFree
Nottingham Arboretum
Yuniversity saysThe council calls it Nottingham’s oldest public park and the closest to the city centre: it opened on 11 May 1852, has over 800 trees, and there’s a tram stop about 150m away. The entrances are on Waverley Road, Arboretum Street, North Sherwood Street and Addison Street.
Wrong forAnyone who’ll need a loo: there are no toilets. And evening walks in winter: the council’s park-hours table, headed 2025, closes city parks at 4.30pm from November.
Under a tenner · University BoulevardFree
Highfields Park
Yuniversity saysA 21-hectare park with a lake, next to Lakeside Arts and, says the council, often confused with the University Park campus beside it. Trams stop close to the University Boulevard entrance, and the Pavilion Café is open 8am–4pm on weekdays and 10am–4pm at weekends.
Wrong forA free afternoon on the water: boating, in season, and the adventure golf cost extra. And late coffee: the café shuts at 4pm.

Marked, so you can avoid them

The Skips

Half a guide tells you what’s good. A whole one tells you what isn’t.

Nottingham Castle at £18
Skip
City centre
An adult ticket is £18 plus a booking fee, with no student price listed, and the cave tours are a £9 add-on. To be fair, the ticket lets you back in all year, and a £39 Rover Pass adds Wollaton Hall and Newstead Abbey. Nottingham Contemporary and Lakeside’s Djanogly Gallery are free.
Wollaton Hall at £18, plus parking
Skip
Wollaton Park
The Hall and its natural history museum are £18 for an adult, with no student rate, and parking is £5 on weekdays or £6 at weekends. The ticket does let you back in all year, but the formal gardens close from 26 October to 15 January while the Wollaton Lights trail is set up and run. Highfields Park, by University Park, is free.
City of Caves at £11
Skip
Lace Market
Even with a student ID it’s £11 (adults pay £12): over a tenner, though the ticket works as an annual pass, and a joint ticket with the National Justice Museum is £22 for students. The caves’ entrance is by Nottingham Contemporary, whose exhibitions are free.
Tapping your card on NCT buses by day
Skip
NCT buses
Contactless Tap & Go charges adult fares: £3 a trip, capped at £5.70 a day in the City Zone. Buy in the NCTX Buses app with your university or college photo ID and it’s £2.50 a trip, or £4.70 for 24 hours. After 7pm, a single is £2 for everyone, however you pay.
A Robin Hood season card for NCT buses alone
Skip
Greater Nottingham
A student Robin Hood Season covers any bus, tram or train inside the Greater Nottingham boundary, at £84 a month. If you only ride NCT buses, NCT’s own student month on Easyrider is £69.15; if it’s only the tram, a student tram month is £70.
TOTUM for bus fares
Skip
NCT and the Robin Hood network
NTU’s cost-of-living page suggests signing up to UNiDAYS and TOTUM for discounts, but NCT and the Robin Hood network don’t accept TOTUM (or NUS Extra or ISIC) as proof for student fares: they want photo ID from your own college or university.
Parking at Clifton South Park & Ride for the 901
Skip
Clifton
NET, which runs the tram, clamps the cars of people who park there to catch the 901 hopper, with a £140 release fee, unless the driver has a valid tram ticket for the day. A student tram day ticket is £4.70.

The high-stakes guide

Where to Live in Nottingham

Lenton, Dunkirk, the city centre or Beeston? What a room in a shared house costs on Unipol’s figures, and what the rules that changed on 1 May 2026 mean for you.

Lenton £129 (£113 excl. bills)
Dunkirk £121 (£104 excl. bills)
City centre £133 (£123 excl. bills)
Arboretum £125 incl. bills
Beeston £125 (£99 excl. bills)
Radford No published figure
Clifton No published figure

Read the housing guide

Method — picks are ordered by the guide, never by a commission. Every guide shows the day it was last checked. Corrections are logged in public, with dates: see the corrections. Spot something out of date? hello@yuniversity.co.uk

Nottingham

The Guides

Getting Around Nottingham on a Student Budget

The Picks

The Goose & Oar

Fox & Grapes

Pizza Punks

Bendigo Lounge

The Loft & The Point

Crisis at Rock City

Quids In

The Bodega

Lincolnshire Poacher

Nottingham Central Library

Boots Library

Clifton Library

Hallward Library

George Green Library

Djanogly Learning Resource Centre

Radford-Lenton Library

Nottingham Contemporary

Djanogly Gallery

Green’s Windmill and Science Centre

Broadway Cinema

Nottingham Arboretum

Highfields Park

The Skips

Nottingham Castle at £18

Wollaton Hall at £18, plus parking

City of Caves at £11

Tapping your card on NCT buses by day

A Robin Hood season card for NCT buses alone

TOTUM for bus fares

Parking at Clifton South Park & Ride for the 901

Where to Live in Nottingham