LeftLion August 2024 Issue 174

#174 August 2024

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Credits

Featured Contributor

Aestiv-Al Alan Gilby (alan.gilby@leftlion.co.uk)

Editor-in-Chief Jared Wilson (jared.wilson@leftlion.co.uk)

Editor Sophie Gargett (sophie.gargett@leftlion.co.uk)

Head Designer Natalie Owen (natalie.owen@leftlion.co.uk)

Partnerships Manager Adam Pickering (adam.pickering@leftlion.co.uk)

Web Developer Tom Errington (tom.errington@leftlion.co.uk)

Music Co-Editor Phil Taylor (music@leftlion.co.uk)

Music Co-Editor Karl Blakesley (music@leftlion.co.uk)

Fashion Editor Addie Kenogbon (fashion@leftlion.co.uk)

Hi there my name is Marcus… I’m a designer, illustrator, printmaker and generally a history and horror geek in a nutshell. I’ve been contributing to LeftLion more recently for fun, providing a range of illustrations for articles that piqued my interest. My work spans various styles and mediums, from digital to traditional painting. Whether it’s a whimsical sketch or a detailed illustration, I aim to infuse every piece with vibrant energy and emotion.

I’ve been painting traditionally a lot more these days, and also teach lino printing workshop classes at a few venues throughout Nottingham – Attenborough Nature Reserve, Strelley and a few in Beeston (Planetree and Yellowwood Cafe).

I am always open to creative projects from illustration, poster work or just custom painting commissions. I’m looking forward to providing even more zany visuals for readers to enjoy!

Stage Co-Editor Ian C. Douglas (ian@leftlion.co.uk)

Stage Co-Editor Dom Henry (dom.henry@leftlion.co.uk)

History Editor CJ DeBarra (history@leftlion.co.uk)

Screen Co-Editor Autumn Parker (screen@leftlion.co.uk)

Screen Co-Editor Sofia Jones (screen@leftlion.co.uk)

Art Editor George Dunbar (art@leftlion.co.uk)

You can check out Marcus’ illustration for our escape room interview on page 31.

Q]@marcusgilmoreart marcusgilmoreart.com

Supporters These people #SupportLeftLion

Community Editor Rose Mason (community@leftlion.co.uk)

Food Co-Editor Julia Head (food@leftlion.co.uk)

Food Co-Editor Lucy Campion (food@leftlion.co.uk)

Literature Editor Andrew Tucker (literature@leftlion.co.uk)

Photography Co-Editor Dani Bacon (photography@leftlion.co.uk)

Photography Co-Editor Fabrice Gagos (photography@leftlion.co.uk)

Environment Editor Eleanor Flowerday (environment@leftlion.co.uk)

Cover art Dani Bacon Editorial Assistant Caradoc Gayer Editorial Intern Rachel Enemua Writers Beth Green Trev Bassey Gemma Cockrell Conall Stacey

Rachel Imms Rich Higton Kieran Lister Richard Minkley Anne Holloway Nadia Whittome Michael Prince Rachel Enemua Talia Robinson Photographers Rachael Halaburda Art Lewy Sam Nicklin

Distribution Dom Martinovs

Dan Lord Sophie Taylor Emma Gibbon Tom Morley Brian Roberts Harvey Tomlinson Tony Shelley Graham Stamper Bethan Rosson Simona Peneva Nigel King Sparrow’s Nest Dungeon Club

Illustrators Jim Brown Bryony Loveridge Marcus Gilmore Robin Hood Improv Festival

123 Learning, 35A Creative, Alex McFarlane, Alison Gove-Humphries, Alison Hedley, Alison Knox, Anamenti, Anne Johnson, Ant Haywood, Audrey & Lizzy & Margot, BadGrammar MakesMeSic, Barbara Morgan, Ben Martin Saxophone, Ben Stewart, Big Bob McPlop, Cerys Gibson, Chris Jarvis, Chris Underwood, Claire Foss, Clare Foyle, Colin Tucker, Cyra Golijani-Moghaddam, Dan Hemmings, David Knight, Dick Watson, Dominic Morrow, Donna Rowe-Merriman, Eden PR, Emilija O, Erika Diaz Petersen, F C and E Ledger, Felipe Melo, Graye Wilde, Half Moon Holistics, Harry Sutcliffe, Harry Turner, Hayley Howard, Hazel Allister, Heather Oliver, Holly's Merry Moggies, Ian Carroll, Ian Phillips, Ian Storey, Ian Yanson, James Place, James Verran, Jane Dodge, Janine Lees, Jean Forsey, John Haslam, John Hess, John Holmes, John Kelsey, John & Jackie Scruton, Jonathan Day, Joshua Heathcote, Julian Bower, Julian McDougall, Justyn Roberts, Katherine Sanders, Kathleen Dunham, Kay Gilby, Kaye Brennan, Kayzi, Kerry Mcdermott, Kiki Dee the Cat, Lawrence Poole, Laura Wilson, Leigh Woosey, Lilian Greenwood, Livi & Jacob Nieri, Louise Duffield, Louise Obuchowski, Marc Weaver, Mark, Mark Barratt, Mark Bond, Mark Gasson, Mark Jacobs, Mike Carter, Miri Debah, Monica White, Mr A, Nic, Nick Palmer, Nigel Cooke, Nigel King, NottingJam Orchestra, Paul Boast, Pearl Quick, Philip Renshaw, Rach, Rachel Ayrton, Rachel Morton, Raphael Achache, Redbrick Communications, Richard Goodwin, Rob Arthur, Rose Harvey, Roy Manterfield, Russell Brown, Ruth Hoyland, Sally Longford, Sam Hudson, Sam Stiling, Sarah Manton, Selectadisc, Simon Evans, Steve Benton, Steve Holland, Steve Lyon, Steve Wallace, Sue Barsby, Sue Reader, The Edgar Family, TeaBag, Tracey Newton, Vanessa Shaw, Will Horton.

Fancy seeing your name (or the name of your band, small business, loved one, pet etc) in this mag every month? It only costs a fiver and the money supports this magazine.

Plus you get all kinds of other treats too.

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Contents 17

26

40

Rock the Cache-bah

Dungeon Club turns 60

Rights for Flies

We dive into the craze of geocaching, a free and fun way to turn your walks and wanders into a treasure hunt

From cutting-edge jazz and motown to police raids, we celebrate the riotous history of Nottingham’s first 1960s ‘Mod’ club

We talk breaking boundaries, art and environmental action with Notts based activist-musician collective Rights For Flies

14

Hare to Stay We step into the colourful world of Herbie Hare, gallery owner and artist in Sneinton Market to talk about mannequins, music and making a mess

35

If you go down to the woods today…

The founders of the Huldra Horror Shorts festival in Arnold share the origins of this unique event and their love of independent, DIY cinema

18

Emily Catherine Emily Catherine, the Notts artist behind our editorial illustrations, talks about the many creative projects of her career, music, people and justice in advance of her upcoming exhibition

36

Monster mash-up From Japanese pop art to consumer culture, Bruce Asbestos talks the inspiration behind his new exhibition of inflatable monsters at Lakeside Arts

24 33 30

Blooming Gorgeous We visit The Bath Inn in Sneinton to learn about its storied past, decadent decor and horticultural history from landlord Piers Baker Spilling the Beans Bristol musician Beans on Toast talks this year’s Foolhardy Folk Festival at the Arboretum and his strong personal connection to Nottingham He’s Coming Home Nottingham designers The Art of Football discuss their collaboration with musician Self-Esteem to raise social awareness of domestic abuse

38 41 43

Hop, ska and a jump We catch up with nine-piece reggae and ska band The Hoplites on their writing and performance process Playing for laughs The artistic co-director at the Robin Hood International Improv Festival talks the festival, the local scene and what people make of Nottingham The allure of Alora We give the lowdown on Mapperley’s brand new tapas restaurant Alora, where the food, service and vibe all score a perfect ten

Editorial Greetings all of you lovely LeftLion readers!

August is here and we’ve finally been graced with some balmy evenings and hot sunny days. In late July we saw the biggest ever Notts Pride take over Sneinton, Santorini has come to the Market Square, and there’s a few festivals to check out This month I very much enjoyed taking a trip back to the 1960s to The Dungeon Club (p. 26), Nottingham’s hangout for mods which saw artists from The Kinks to Screaming Lord Sutch take to the stage.

Alas, with time venues close and scenes move on, and it makes me wonder if patrons of places like The Chameleon or The Maze will be meeting up in a few decades' time, a little greyer, to reminisce about the good old days.

Luckily, the music never stops. If you need a new audio fix with a Notts twist, this month we’ve spoken to the mighty Girlband! (p.

13), the prolific Hoplites (p. 38) and the wonderfully weird Rights For Flies (p. 40).

I also very much enjoyed learning about geocaching (p. 17) which I think will become my new favourite hobby whilst out on walks through the city and beyond. Who knows what treasures the streets hold?

wheres this?

"Banana frieze"

A big thanks to this month’s writers, illustrators and photographers who have all played an important part bringing this issue to life. This month’s cover gives a glimpse inside the wonderful world of Herbie Hare, whose gallery and art space in Sneinton is well worth a visit to brighten up your day.

We talked to Herbie about life as an artist on page fourteen if you’d like to discover more.

Now, go find yourself a sunny spot, a cold beverage, and I hope you enjoy soaking up this hodgepodge of Nottingham spirit.

Sophie Gargett

Last Month’s answer: Western Street

LeftLion Ltd is a carbon neutral company, having reduced our direct emissions by 99% since 2018. We offset the rest via direct air capture from Climeworks. LeftLion Magazine is fully recyclable and compostable, made from recycled or FSC® certified (C015932) sources, and printed using renewable energy.

The emissions of this paper are offset via the World Land Trust.

CBP012610

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Pick Six

Event coordinator and ecoconscious fashion upcycler, Grace Reeves, shares her favourite things for this month’s Pick Six.

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words: Dani Bacon

Film Admittedly, I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies as I prefer to be socialising, being in nature or creating. My favourite film is Cloud Atlas, even though I’ve only seen it once. It intertwines many different plots and genres, it took my breath away. I love it when a film finishes, leaving me stunned and speechless.

That’s when I know it’s left a mark on me!

Notts food Nottingham is overflowing with pizza spots, however my heart will always resonate with a small business above any franchise. Pizzamisu is SO GOOD for Neapolitan pizza! This is complimented by the wonderful staff and restaurant’s atmosphere, which is the closest thing we’ll ever get to immediate teleportation to Italy! Even the little Italian beers have photographs showing the small business’ team behind the brand (awh!). TREAT YOURSELF AND DINE IN!

Book It’s either One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, or How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley.

Because it’s less well-known, I must mention How Fascism Works, it educated me on how fascism transpires in different countries, and within different political eras.

Certain features of fascism are scarily close to home; this book helps you identify it. I’m passionate that politics is about people, and should be accessible.

Notts Spot: Last year, I was introduced to Fishergate Point Studios when I was co-facilitating street decor workshops with Hockley Hustle.

This building is jam-packed with creatives and events, and even has artist studios and recording studios.

In FGP, I upcycle clothes, and also host my weekly event, Cherry On Top. Join us 3pm every Sunday for gigs, open mic and jamming - and it’s PAYF. Search EventBrite for Cherry On Top!

Song Aguarela do Brasil by João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil reminds me of one of the best days of 2020, which was in Bestwood Lodge’s Country Park with friends.

One of my friends was playing this song while we sunbathed. Our day consisted of flicking through a Victor Vasarely book, and enjoying nature. This song introduced me to Brazilian music, which emanates peace, come rain or shine!

Holiday Destination: My most recent trip was to Alpendorf, Austria, in February 2024, teaching children to ski with my twin, Alice. This photo shows the slope after it closes; the piste machines smooth the slopes for the next day into a crisp, corduroy stripe. We waited for the machines to drive away, so we could ski down the mountain on the perfect piste, while the sunset melted behind the horizon (*chef kiss*).

Q]@wearecherryontop_events leftlion.co.uk/issue174 7

Poets Corner

In association with

Anne Holloway

Oh How I Am Ageing on the beach a girl collects stones each one a treasure cradled in her hands it feels good to feel the weight of earth compacted and hurl it at the ocean they are not waves here, simply ripples the sea creeps in to take us by surprise like life has crept up on me last time I looked I was a girl now what I see is unexpected my hands full of other people’s treasures in my pocket my heart is pulsing I wonder if it would bounce if hurled across the water would it sink or would it skim nottinghampoetryfestival.com

UNDERCOVER ARTIST We chat to the photographer behind this month’s cover art, Dani Bacon…

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I’m a young 32-year-old working as a writer, photography studio owner and studying a Masters in Magazine Journalism. I have unlimited creative interests, each month I’m onto something new, currently its lino printing and puzzles! Photography has been a huge part of my life, I first picked up a film camera at twelve and I haven’t really put one down since. I studied the subject at college and university and I now have a slightly obsessive collection of film cameras.

What is the story behind the cover?

Our fab LeftLion editor Sophie tasked me with taking a photo of the Herbie Hare art studio at Sneinton Market. I’d walked past this place several times peering into the windows at the sheer volume of colour and bizarrely enticing art pieces and sculptures. I rocked up on the day of the shoot, met Adrian the owner whom I immediately vibed with, he’s such a nice chap! Then together we set about moving his heavy and delicate mannequins around to get the best shot that represents all that he does. It was such a fun shoot.

What inspires you as a photographer?

I’m inspired by moody and grainy street photography, expired rolls of film from eBay, rain-soaked streets, neon lights, friendly people, cinematic scenes, a good cup of tea, black and white movies, windy days, electro music with a hint of jazz, good looking film cameras, magazines, little trips abroad and to the Peaks, pets, street art, beaches, candid portraits and the golden hour.

Although I don’t often shoot moving image, as a huge movie fan I am often inspired by great cinematography, for example movies such as A Ghost Story, Poor Things, The Lighthouse, Melancholia and Psycho (plus more that I can’t think of right now).

Tell us about some things you have worked on in the past?

I’ve captured some exciting shoots for LeftLion before and since I became Photography Editor. I often focus on experimental style photography such as soaking 35mm film rolls in tea and using expired film. I assisted Lomography UK on a workshop in Derby recently and I’ve been working on a project titled ‘Mortar Memories’ featuring 35mm and medium format photographs of old buildings across Nottingham and Derby. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to be on the judging panel in the photography category for the Young Creative Awards which was so rewarding.

And in October 2023 I took over a photography studio in Beeston called The Pigeon Loft. It’s been so gratifying creating a quirky space for photographers to come and shoot in - we’ve seen some really innovative and exciting shoots already!

Nottingham’s most opinionated grocers on...

Mods and Rockers When we were children, we always holidayed in England and went to seaside towns where there would be mods and rockers. They’d always be fighting so you would always stay slightly out of the way.

They’d really kick the hell out of each other. People talk about knife crime now but it was just as bad then. 1967 was the best year for music though. Please Release Me by Engelbert Humperdink was at number one and in the charts for 54 weeks. It’s a fantastic song.

Beans on Toast Heinz beans are the best beans in the world, they're superb. We like them cold on toast. But you have to make sure the bread isn’t thin, or it gets soggy. Beans on one slice, an egg on the other. But it’s got to be Heinz, they have no preservatives, no colourings. So it’s you’ve got additive problems, just have Heinz. Do you know how many people work at the Heinz beans factory these days? Just one.

It’s incredible.

Escape Rooms They're terrifying. We’d hate to do it. Graham who comes in went to an escape room, and we thought he’d be stuck there forever but you’re not, you’re given a time slot. They sound like one of those James Bond sets. But we’d be there forever thinking ‘how do we get out?’ Awful. It’d put the fear of God into us.

Do you have any tricks for getting started and staying inspired as a creative?

Creativity is about fun, learning, experimenting and self-expression. I often hear people say, ‘I’m not creative at all’, but I think we all are, just in different ways. I do often get struck down with a nice slice of imposter syndrome, but it's important to remember that we all start somewhere. No one is amazing at something straight away, so give it a go and enjoy the process.

If you could sit down and chat with any artist in the field, who would it be and what would you talk about?

Lina Scheynius is one of my favourite photographers that I came across when I was sixteen. She predominantly shoots 35mm self-portraits, photographs of her friends and personal life in the style of a photographic diary, but her photos are always so ethereal and raw. I’d love to ask her what inspires her to take each photograph, if she takes each photo as and when something crops up or if they are planned, and how she collates these into her series of books.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the LeftLion readers?

I want to give a little shout out to the incredible LeftLion team that together produce a jolly fabulous, valuable and free read to Nottingham. It’s such a vital publication that highlights the creativity and diversity of our great city. It’s easy to forget the amount of work, effort and fresh ideas that go into every single page, but these guys do it with style! <3

Q]@danibacon_

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Nadia on... a new government words: Nadia Whittome photo: Fabrice Gagos

Here we go again. Thanks to the votes of 19,494 lovely people, I’ve been re-elected as the MP for Nottingham East. It remains my greatest honour to represent our city, which I love so much. I’d like to give my heartfelt thanks to all LeftLion readers who supported me and the Labour Party - and to those who didn’t, but keep reading my columns anyway. That’s also appreciated.

Things have changed here in Westminster. Two-thirds of Tory MPs are gone. More than half of the Commons is now made up of new faces, and I’ve got over 300 new names to learn. But most importantly, for the first time since my early teens, we have a Labour government.

Over the past fourteen years, we got used to every budget or major speech being full of bad news; the only question was what kind. Which of our public services will face cuts this time? Which of our fundamental rights are about to be eroded? In what ways will people’s lives become harder than they’d been already?

When we gathered to listen to Labour’s first King’s Speech, setting out the government’s plans for the coming years, the difference was apparent. I won’t pretend that I agreed with every announcement, or that there weren’t policies that I was disappointed not to hear. However, hearing the long list of bills that we can expect in the near future, it was hard not to feel a sense of relief, and hope for the opportunities which a more progressive government opens.

The Tories falsely claimed that we must choose between acting on the climate crisis and addressing the cost of living, and then did neither. That’s why I was pleased to hear a concrete, pragmatic plan to tackle both: with a publicly-owned energy company that will invest in homegrown renewables, which are not only the cleanest, but also the cheapest available form of power.

More of our transport network also will be taken into public ownership. Learning from the success of NCT’s publicly-run buses, local communities across the country will be enabled to take control of their bus networks. Rail services will be gradually renationalised as well, as private contracts expire. Hopefully this will end the absurdity of people often paying more for a

train to Edinburgh than they would for a flight to Barcelona.

We were also promised a significant uplift in workers’ rights: a ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts, an end to ‘fire and rehire’ practices; the right to parental leave, sick pay and flexible working from day one and reversing attacks on the right to strike. A new bill on race and disability equality will help address pay discrimination.

Under the last government, a lot of activists’ time and energy was, inevitably, spent firefighting: protesting against one bill or another, often to limited effect.

Now, with a government that might be more willing to listen, we have the opportunity to demand something better There are other areas where I’d like to see us go further. I’m glad that the government acknowledges the benefits of services run for the public good rather than private profit. I believe this should extend to other key utilities, such as water. Last year, the CEO of Severn Trent made more than £3,000,000, despite the company causing over 60,000 sewage spills.

Nationalisation could put an end to such scandals, while helping keep down our bills.

I’m also happy that a ban on no-fault evictions promised by the Tories but never delivered - is back on the agenda. However, this alone won’t stop tenants being pushed out of their homes by unaffordable rent hikes. That’s why we need measures to control rent increases, alongside a mass programme of building affordable homes, and council housing in particular.

Finally, we need to see decisive action to address the scandal of child poverty, which had reached record levels during the final months of Rishi Sunak’s

government. In Nottingham, 40% of children now live in poverty, a major driver of which are Tory welfare policies.

The two-child benefit limit (which prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children) affects one in six kids in our city. A damning recent report by the Child Poverty Action Group has found that 93% of impacted parents say it makes them less able to afford food. As I said in my first speech of this Parliament, his cruel policy belongs in the dustbin of history, and I’ll fight within the party to get it scrapped as an urgent priority.

These policies, of course, come with a price tag.

However, despite the economic mess that this government inherits, there’s still plenty of money in this country - just concentrated in the hands of the few. The richest 1% of Britons have more wealth than the bottom 70% combined. To address this injustice, and fund the anti-poverty measures we desperately need, we should be looking at taxing their enormous wealth. For example, taxing capital gains (profits derived from selling investments) at the same rate as income could raise more than £16 billion a year - 4 to 5 times more than the cost of ending the two-child limit.

That’s another argument I’ll keep making in Parliament.

However, what the next five years looks like won’t only be shaped by what happens in Westminster. There is only so much that an MP can achieve on their own. Real change happens when people organise for it, not only inside Parliament but outside of it too.

Under the last government, a lot of activists’ time and energy was, inevitably, spent firefighting: protesting against one bill or another, often to limited effect. Now, with a government that might be more willing to listen, we have the opportunity to demand something better.

Politics is far too important to be left to politicians.

If you want to see a future that’s fairer, greener and more equal, now is a great time to get organised and campaign for it.

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Maiden Nottingham

Redefining alternative music and inclusivity, GIRLBAND! are smashing preconceptions with every release and live performance. Michael Prince recently spoke to the band for LeftLion…

One of Nottingham’s newest and hottest bands, despite having only released one song on Bandcamp, GIRLBAND! sold out The Bodega in 2023, and went bigger this year with another sold out show at Rescue Rooms in May. The trio (Georgie, Kay and Jada) are signed to EMI North, and have caught the attention of Rolling Stone, NME and Dork. As they continue to blow up and quickly become Nottingham’s next big breakout stars, we were curious to find out more about what drives them.

For those new to GIRLBAND, how would you describe yourselves, your music and your general band ethos?

We are an alternative rock all female three piece from Nottinghamshire. We have a big sound and big tunes with all the things we love about music in there. We love having a good time - really that’s a big part of what we do, just enjoyment. Three mates doing some great shows that we never thought we’d be doing! We want our music to connect with everyone and we definitely have an inclusive fan base that we love so much!

You’ve obviously got devoted home support here in Nottingham, that Rescue Rooms show earlier this year being a huge moment - how was that show for you?

Yeah it was incredible, a night we’ll remember. To be able to play a show like that in your home town is really special and the response just blew us away. It was just one big party!

Do you feel your local communities support live music enough?

Yeah it’s the community that’s keeping it going. Since Covid and financial difficulties in Nottinghamshire a lot of venues have closed down so it’s really been up to communities to keep those grassroot venues going. The turnout for things like Hockley Hustle, Beat The Streets and even Pride are great examples of the community rallying together for music and local bands.

How do you feel about the corporate streaming imbalance of financial reward for musicians, especially at the grassroots level?

I mean there’s a massive imbalance. It’s tough for musicians unless you’re in that magical 1%. We all have full time jobs and I can’t remember a time I haven’t had to hustle and work on the side to keep home fires burning. Which is wild. The hours that go into music, songwriting, social media, touring and all the rest really doesn’t account for the money made. And I guess your mindset is, ‘Well I just have to keep going until we hit that road where we can quit our jobs’. I always say to people you’ve got to love this to keep going…

If you have no love for music, have a rethink.

Who have you seen as newish bands that you think people should listen out for?

Well Nottingham is full of them! I was working at The Bodega for a bit so I saw so much new stuff that blew me away. Marvin’s Revenge are great and Bloodworm too; we’ve seen them a couple times! Wizards Can’t Be Lawyers are fun too. You’ve got exciting bands like Sex Toy Vending Machine and Soap Head. There’s a lot of great bands emerging. And young singer songwriters like Romy!

What do you think it is about Nottingham that has made it such a breeding ground for talented artists, particularly these last few years - is it partly that home support from music fans in the city?

Yeah the music fans have a big part to play here and all the local support from promoters, radio and press like yourselves. All you have to do is go to Dot To Dot or Hockley Hustle to see how incredible this music scene is and how people turn up to support, too.

With the potential for change in the country, what would you like to see personally, politically and socially?

Well where do we start?! Justice and peace for sure. I think that’s a priority. People with higher power actually doing something and speaking up against injustice and war and trying to make changes that don’t only benefit people socially but save lives. I mean the country is in a wild state. There has to be some change. Money put into places that need it, such as towns like Mansfield and cities like Nottingham, and the arts and culture. We need a lot of peace right now. I really think that’s a priority.

And for yourselves, now you have some serious momentum behind you, what are you aiming towards - a debut Album/EP release and a step up to Rock City?

We have an EP coming out at the end of this month that we are really excited to share.

The EP feels like a piece of work that sums up the past two years and really tells the story of what we are about as a band! We’d love to do Rock City one day so it’s something we’ll keep working hard towards!

All you have to do is go to Dot To Dot or Hockley Hustle to see how incredible this music scene is and how people turn up to support, too

You are also midway through a stacked summer festival season… You supported the legendary Sting at Forest Live and have Y Not Festival coming up in August that has a really strong local line-up this year. What’s been the standout moment so far and which ones are you looking forward to playing?

Sting was pretty mind blowing. It was 10,000 people and Sting watched the whole set side of stage. We are massive Police fans so that was an unreal moment for us. Glastonbury too was special, there’s no place like that on earth so that was a pinnacle moment of the year so far. We’ve done the Montreux Jazz Festival. We have loads of great stuff coming up like supporting James, and Y Not Festival, so they should all be really great. We really are having the best time this summer so we just hope that continues and we can play these songs in front of more people.

GIRLBAND! released their debut EP, Heartbreak Town on 30 July (via Soul Kitchen/EMI North). Turn to page 39 to read our review.

Q @girlbandh

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Hare to Stay Anyone who has taken a wander around the Sneinton Market Avenues recently is likely to have come across a giant rabbit or a mohawked mannequin lurking in one of the lanes. These are the punk-meets-pop-art creations of local artist and gallery owner Adrian ‘Herbie’ Hare, whose vibrant artworks bring a splash of humour and fun to the area.

Heading to Sneinton Market on a Thursday afternoon, I find Adrian ‘Herbie’ Hare adding the final touches to a lifesize rainbow-striped pug. The high ceilings, large windows and stark white walls of the gallery unit make for a wonderful blank canvas, with an array of multi-coloured artworks vividly popping out around the shop. “I work a lot on the floor and I leave the paint, because everything tells a story,” Adrian says, pointing out the colourful splashes of paint around his workspace. “It’s a picture in itself, isn't it? I think it looks cool. It's gone through the process to get there.”

all the time. I’m still going to Rock City now - I started going there when I was fourteen, and I’m 57 now,” he explains. Along with paintings of jazz musicians, a ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’ footstool and a ‘Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll’ mannequin (painted with white, gold and black piano keys), there’s a punk attitude visible throughout the pieces. “It's all about upcycling as well,” he explains. “I’m a bit of a skip jumper - all this lot would have been thrown away, these mannequins, chairs.”

Looking around, the eye is drawn to a multitude of details around the room. There’s brightly painted furniture, canvas paintings, and wonderfully decorated ornaments - but there’s also Adrian himself, sporting bright red hair and a jacket decorated with paint daubs from testing out colours. With The Beatles happily playing through the speakers and the conversation flowing, I’m already getting the urge to pick up a paintbrush myself.

I used to get the same tram every Saturday morning, and would be coming on with mannequins under my arm, or sets of legs

Adrian’s journey to becoming a full time artist didn’t begin in art school. Originally from East Bridgford, he first started painting at age five while attending an art club at the local Women’s Institute. Years later, after getting his O Levels he thought about going to art college. “My mum said, ‘I’m not having any of that, you get yourself a trade’. So I’ve been painting and decorating all my life,” he says, adding, “I used to do a lot of work in London, a lot of bars and restaurants doing paint effects, and it sort of crossed over.”

Whilst living in Cornwall Adrian found himself making art that was soon in demand. “There was a diner across from the beach but it had nothing on the walls, so I painted some pictures and suddenly people wanted to buy them. At first I said ‘they’re not for sale’, and then I thought… yeah, why not?”

Back in Notts, he made the move to turn his garage into an art studio, until it eventually became untenable. “We had mannequins all over the house it was doing my Mrs’ head in. I’d hear her screaming in the night ‘cos she thought she’d seen a ghost or something. But it looked like a party from the outside.”

To remedy this, he started selling at the Pete Spowage Art Gallery near Lace Market, before eventually moving to Sneinton Market in November 2023.

Adrian’s signature pieces - the aforementioned painted mannequins (and mannequin parts) are often turned into lamps. “I’ve got a shipping container full of mannequins and I’m always walking around with bits of body parts,” he laughs, before reeling off some amusing anecdotes about getting the figures to the studio on the bus or tram. “I used to get the same tram every Saturday morning, and would be coming on with mannequins under my arm, or sets of legs.”

When it comes to finding inspiration, it’s easy to see a musical influence in Adrian’s work. “I go and see gigs

While not everyone may be able to fit a lifesize mannequin in their home, it’s worth visiting Herbie’s studio just to say hello - it’s hard to not be cheered up by the creative atmosphere, good music and Adrian’s affable nature. “I like to interact with everybody, so I don't want to be stuck in a studio painting, I want people to see me painting,” Adrian explains. “It’s a different thing to selling online. I do sell stuff online, but it's weird - it’s like when you're working them home, people take you less seriously, but when you’ve got a place people like to see it.”

There’s a refreshing lack of snobbery or pretension permeating the space. He tells me how he let a child, in awe of the colourful artworks, add a little paint to one of the canvases (“I could always paint over if they ruined it”) and how late last year he painted two homeless men who were hanging around in Sneinton Market. “I don’t know who they were but they told me their stories and said they liked my work, so I did a painting” he explains. “I put it online and ended up raising a load of money. I ended up down at Emmanuel House saying ‘Excuse me I’ve got a couple of grand to give you.’”

“It’s nice that people feel comfy in here,” continues Adrian. “Everybody feels like they can just come in and have a natter. And I don’t shut up when I get going.”

As we slowly sleepwalk towards a world of automated checkouts and online services, we could do with being reminded of the value and joy of random chit chats with strangers and shopkeepers. Whether it’s a child learning that art can mean giant rabbits and rainbow pugs, or just seeing the messy, creative process of an artist, perhaps we’d all be better off if more art spilled onto our streets like at Herbie Hare.

Visit Herbie Hare Art and Furniture, open between Weds-Sun in Freckingham St, Sneinton Market

Q @hareherbie_art

words: Sophie Gargett photo: Fabrice Gagos

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interview: Beth Green illustration: Bryony Loveridge

Rock the Cache-bah If you’ve got a magpie eye for finding treasure and are looking for a fun low-cost activity this summer, perhaps you ought to go on a geocaching quest. This international treasure hunt transforms a regular walk by allowing the curious and intrepid to find beloved items hidden by fellow hikers, in remote and sometimes familiar places. Nott’m Lass Lucy acts as our tour guide on this outdoor adventure, relaying some of her rules and tips for keeping the game alive.

Geocaching is not a new phenomenon, in fact next year will mark 25 years of this international outdoor puzzle hunt. Its origins lie within the similar game of ‘Letterboxing,’ that started in Dartmoor, Devon in 1854. These were small boxes placed along country trails; walkers would follow clues leading them to a box. Once found, they leave letters and postcards addressed to loved ones (or even themselves). The next person to find the box would then post the letters, though some were so well hidden, in very remote locations, it could take months before it was next found.

When it comes to geocaching, an easy way to understand it, is to think of it as the modern day version, that utilises technology to locate a ‘cache.’ The first official logged cache to be hidden was on May 3 2000, by Dave Ulmer in Beavercreek, Oregan.

It wasn’t until later that year in September, that Jeremy Irish launched geocaching.com. Since then, it has spread all over the world, and beyond - yes really. The first geocache to leave Earth was in 2008, placed on the International Space Station; many more have since followed. Today there are over three million caches to find - and Nottingham is full of them!

Keen to know more, LeftLion HQ looked to the ‘experts,’ it only took a quick Google search to find one of the city’s big hunters, with over 400 logs to date.

If you’re from Nottingham, and enjoy a good hike, it’s likely you have come across The Nott’m Lass. Lucy started the travel vlogging and inspiration account in 2018. “It was a way to get people outdoors, and see new places. I’ve also got followers that aren’t able to get outdoors, so that’s why my videos are helpful.

They enjoy a virtual experience visiting new places, which was something I was very passionate about.” It’s understandable then, why geocaching goes hand in hand with her channel. So much so, her geocache walks are amongst the most popular of her YouTube videos.

Lucy’s journey into the world of geocaching began when she was still at school. “I remember hearing about it at school, I went around the block and found a few, but soon stopped. It wasn’t until years later, as lockdown was easing in 2021 that I started again.”

As a keen walker, Lucy said that geocaching added an extra layer of fun; “I’ll pick a walking route that has geocaches along it. It adds enjoyment, which means it’s really good for people

that don’t usually like walking, and families too.” The family aspect is a huge bonus, as so often going for a walk when you have children can be difficult. With this, it’s plausible to think many kids will forget about the actual walk, as they’ll be far too preoccupied with playing a real life puzzle hunt. It’s equally accessible to those on lower incomes; the app is free to download and will show a huge amount of caches to find, without spending a penny. Then, for those keen hunters, there is an option to buy a premium subscription; this opens up even more, often more complex and interesting caches, hidden in very unique places.

There is something really special and grounding about knowing all these people took the time to place an item. Which, when living in the scary world we do, offers a sense of comfort that not all community spirit is lost It was in 2023 when Geocaching HQ contacted The Nott’m Lass to do a collaboration. “They contacted me to do ten beginner based videos, explaining what it is, and hopefully get more people interested in doing it.” They are a great starting point for any newbies to the game, and should answer any questions circling around your brain. For now, they have finished, though she does drop a few hints that future videos are likely, featuring new locations and finds.

It is the simplicity of the game what makes it fun. Let’s face it, arguing with your family over rule intricacies is an easy way to turn your ‘Sunday fun day’ into the Sunday scaries. All you need is the app downloaded, a pen to sign the log sheet, some spare paper (in case the sheet is damaged, or full), and a few miscellaneous items. Lucy explains that this is for the “SWAG” rule; it stands for ‘stuff we all get.’

Seasoned hunters will know that what the actual cache is can vary; many will be a simple small tube container, with only a folded piece of paper inside. However, as the size grows, you will find many have little additions. It could be a motivational quote, or even a miniature (very on point for Notts) duck.

From there come the boxes, which whether you’re a newbie or a veteran are a great little dopamine booster. The boxes are where the SWAG rule comes into play. Inside you will find a collection of unique items, with no relation to one another.

“The purpose is to add to the collection,” Lucy explained. “That can be anything from cute trinkets, magnets, pictures and lots more. Once you’ve done that you sign the paper, log the find in the app, and then it’s onto the next!” The beauty of the SWAG rule means that you see items that for whatever reason meant something to that person. There is something really special and grounding about knowing all these people took the time to place an item. Which, when living in the scary world we do, offers a sense of comfort that not all community spirit is lost.

Connectivity is something that The Nott’m Lass really values, and has opened her walking trips up to followers, by organising group expenditures around Nottinghamshire and the Peak District. Previous events have proven to be a hit, with some having over 35 fellow hikers, however she has plans to incorporate future events with geocaching. “I’d really love to do a group geocaching walk, it would be really interesting, and great for those that are new to it. We can all help each other find them.” Officially, there are events throughout the year, all over the world organised by Geocaching, both group walks and hunts, and ‘clean up’ events. This is where volunteers come together and ensure the caches in that area aren’t damaged, and overgrown natural barriers are maintained.

I’m sure you’re all desperate to know which caches have been Lucy’s favourites; fear not, LeftLion HQ have got you. She said, “There is one in Wilford called ‘KNOCK,’ which has a knocking sequence, it’s really good. Then there is one in Cotgrave that is in an old bunker. It is a little bit sketchy, so I’d advise you to take a friend, and a pair of hiking boots, but it is super fun!”

Additionally, Clumber Park is a well-known hot spot, in fact, it has previously been selected as one of the National Trust’s favourite geocaching locations.

If you’re still not sold, LeftLion HQ have given their offering to the game, and planted six caches across the city for you to find. Oh you want a clue? It’s probably a good idea to grab the latest copy of the mag, you won’t find anything without a map, will you?

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Portrait of an artist Nottingham illustrator and Hip Hop enthusiast Emily Catherine is a busy woman. Along with being one of the artists behind Beermat Doodles and the creator of LeftLion’s wonderful editorial illustrations, she has a plethora of her own creative projects under her belt, from album covers to hand painted portraits. Ahead of her upcoming exhibition I Can Heal and Give You Art later this month, we asked Emily to give us a bit of insight into her creative process and the stories behind her artworks…

Libianca (2024) Bleach and ink on 350gsm smooth paper This series was born out of a year of listening, discovering and enjoying new music in 2023. I had spent a year creating the Here With You series, and I needed to paint something fluid and responsive in contrast to the huge photoreal charcoal drawings. Fellow artist and friend, Laura Decorum said 'I really like your older series you used to do with monotone faces and splashes of colour, why don't you revisit that style but use a different medium. Have you tried painting with ink and bleach?' I then did and I loved it. I had also heard People by Libianca, and immediately fell in love with the strangeness and humanity of the story.

Using bleach and ink forces you to throw away control.

You cannot have any expectations of how the materials will behave. As Bob Ross would say 'happy little accidents' and I really enjoyed how this married up with the joy of discovering new music. Discovering and having music in my life has been my longest, most romantic relationship.

Being part of the global Hip Hop community, music is a huge part of that and falling in love with a song is an indescribable comfort and pleasure. It is one you often can't express gratitude for in any other way than homage.

Obviously, painting is my way of thanking musical artists and sharing them with everyone else, so that people might get to experience that same joy of discovery that I do.

The Iceberg Theory (2022), album cover for CLBRKS and Vagrant Real Estate Acrylic on hand stretched 220gsm smooth paper.

My work with musicians is always very intimate and it is different with each of them. When I was asked to work for CLBRKS and Vagrant Real Estate for their album The Iceberg Theory, I was very excited.

Aside from the sampling and musical tonality being cinematic and sprawling, the themes within the lyrics were metatextual and juicy. Based on themes throughout the writings of Hemingway, there was also a feeling of surreality and ambiguity. Both musicians had cited their love of my use of detail and storytelling in the work I'd done previously for Your Old Droog, a New York rapper I work with frequently.

I use allegory a lot in my work, which is a term used to describe storytelling (typically in Renaissance paintings). I used both Heironymous Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights and Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors but altered, added and removed elements, similar to sampling in Hip Hop. On top of that, I listen to each lyric, loop, and beat and replicate that visually for people, so that you hopefully really can judge an album by its cover. I love to platform and honour fringe, emerging musicians. Especially since I myself am a fringe visual artist, I know I appreciate it when I am afforded the same.

artworks: Emily Catherine photo: Dan Lord

Warren (2023). From the Here With You series Charcoal and pencil on paper.

In 2016 I asked ten people to sit for a portrait series about the idea of divorce. Having gone through a marital divorce myself, I wanted to try and build a series of works about the act of looking, which best reflected our wider problem with being removed or divorced from each other. However, it's taken eight years for me to finish this series. When I returned to work on it, I realised that the message about divorce felt hollow, flat and frankly outdated. We have had such a tumultuous time societally that divorce, and feeling removed from each other, was not enough, so I changed the entire concept and used alternative posing from each photo sitting session for Here With You. The series then became about unity, togetherness and connection.

Deciding how we ourselves choose to relate to each other, judge, and converse in a slower, luxuriating way in the moment. The sitter here is Warren, one of the first people I met who celebrated and supported me as an artist in the grime community. After meeting for the first time professionally, we are now long term friends and I would consider him family. We've been through illness, broken heartedness, work, children but most importantly, we've laughed together. Warren is the perfect sitter to convey this unique and special relationship that people have as a muse to an artist, and the importance of people and their unknown influence on the success of an artist's work. Initially a grime artist wanting to commission me, to a friend, to an inspiration, but always a catalyst for my creativity. There is a unique and special story behind every sitting relationship in this series. This is no less true with the musicians that commission me to paint their covers for albums or singles.

I Can Heal and Give You Art, an exhibition by Emily Catherine, takes place between Sun 25 - Sat 31 August at Richmond House, 1-3 Canal Street. There will also be a private view on Saturday 24 August and a series of talks about artmaking throughout the week. Tickets are available via ticketsource.co.uk/artultra

emilycatherineillustration.com

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NOTTS SHOTS Want to have your work featured in Notts Shots?

Send your high-res photos from around the city (including your full name and best web link) to photography@leftlion.co.uk or tag #nottsshots on Instagram .

t Where We Mee n so lin m Harvey To

Among the Green Pillars Tony Shelley

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Jubilee Campus Graham Stamper

Sunday Best Simona Peneva

Sunny Sunflower Bethan Rosson

Acoustickle Nigel King

NottsStalgia Nigel King

leftlion.co.uk/issue174 21

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The Petebox: listen to the podcast now Emily Catherine: Friday 2 August

LIVE AT THE LIBRARY A new series of events at Nottingham Central Library 6-8pm on the rst Friday of each month

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Live interviews and performances from some of the city’s best-loved creatives, going into depth about their work and practice Missed one? Listen back! Search “The LeftLion Podcast” on your podcast app 22 leftlion.co.uk/issue174

Under the Rainbow With the colour and joyfulness of Pride celebrations now a key part of our calendar, it’s easy to forget that not too long ago the LGBTQ+ community had to carefully hide their identities. The history books may skirt around it, but Queer people have existed forever - in Notts and beyond - and gradually their stories are coming out. Historian and journalist (and LeftLion’s newly appointed History Editor), CJ DeBarra has been researching Nottingham’s Queer history ahead of the upcoming release of their LGBTQ+ History Project. LeftLion HQ caught up with them to hear more about Nottingham’s Queer history…

CJ has been a journalist for nearly twenty years, and in 2017 they ventured into local news. It was during this time that ideas for the LGBTQ+ History Project began to emerge. “I started to realise we had so many wonderful stories, about the queer past that we were rapidly losing.”

CJ confessed that they didn’t know where this would take them. “I started interviewing people, not knowing where it would go; the next interview I do will be number 150.”

The project has understandably been quite the undertaking for CJ, who has spent two years collecting materials from the Queer community. “I’ve spoken to so many different people; gay men, transgender women in the 1970s, lesbian activists of the 1980s, and such a broad age range too. The youngest is eighteen, and the oldest is 93.” CJ purposely kept the interviewee ‘criteria’ very broad, as to not exclude anyone that could have amazing stories to share. “Often people say they don’t have anything interesting to say, then when you interview them, you quickly realise they have loads. They could have owned something, or ran an event, or even attended a nightclub in 2000. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. As long as you’ve set foot in Nottingham, you can take part.”

The interviewees are what make it so compelling, from reading their stories and learning their experiences first hand. They were what fed that initial drive for CJ, to preserve history.

“There were so many powerful conversations, though one that always springs to mind is a gentleman I spoke to about their experience with being diagnosed with HIV and AIDS. He was such a wonderful speaker, I ended up staying with him for hours.” With such sensitive topics, the priority is to ensure that the whole story is told, from diagnosis, to treatment and beyond. “Younger generations need to understand what the older generations went through in terms of the AIDS crisis. I’m so incredibly grateful that he shared that with me. It isn’t easy to speak about; many people have developed PTSD and other conditions from their experience.”

Other interviews explore the positive milestone moments in Nottingham’s Queer history, such as the woman who set up the first transgender meetup group in the 1970s. A huge feat for the time, but beautiful to learn such a thing existed around fifty years ago. From speaking to CJ, it became apparent that the relationships formed from these conversations have made a big impact. “I’ve had so many great conversations, sometimes

multiple with one person. It means I’ve developed friendships, which is truly wonderful.”

It’s not only the interviews in Nottingham CJ has collected, they have become somewhat of a regular in many archives across the country. “I’ve been running in and out of about eight or nine different archives. It’s taken me to London, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, and of course Nottingham.” Their commitment to the cause is clear as day, and from one Queer to another, both very much needed, and appreciated.

Interviews explore the positive milestone moments in Nottingham’s Queer history, such as the woman who set up the first transgender meetup group in the 1970s. A huge feat for the time It could be easy to believe that the depth of Nottingham’s Queer history is fairly shallow. However, upon CJ’s research, they spoke of how this was in fact the complete opposite. The project does have a set date range, from 1960 to 2019, though it wasn’t easy for them to pin this down. “It’s astounding how much you find. I spent last weekend chasing the story of a transgender woman from the 1910s in Nottingham. Her story was unfortunate, as were many back then; she ended up in court. Though, I was able to trace her through the workhouses, and see where she had been admitted. Then again into the 1930s, it was incredible to see Queer life that far back.”

It is worth noting that interviews for the book are now closed. Although people can still be interviewed for archival purposes. CJ explains, “You can come and talk any time you want to. The transcripts will be placed in The Sparrow’s Nest, as part of the Nottingham Queer History Archive.”

Additionally, transcripts will be held in Bishopsgate, London, alongside any items donated to CJ and the project.

“I will happily take anything; I had a donation of some badges from the 1980s, they’ve got a ‘fight Section 28’ badge in there, I saw it and said, ‘This is incredible!’”

In the midst of all this, CJ is currently on tour with their book Neuroqueer: A Neuro-Divergent Guide to Sex,

and Everything In Between. CJ, who was in Leeds at the time of speaking shared, “It’s been incredible, I’m here now, Sheffield last week, London the week after the next, then I’ve got the Shambala Festival - it’s non-stop, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”

The book explores the differences of navigating sex as a person who is both neurodiverse and queer. It is a topic that is often overlooked, or shoved to the back of the book, and not given the detail it needs. CJ shared the frustration, “Nobody was writing about it, and that annoyed me. As a queer, non-binary person, I could not see any representation at the time. I never meant to be the person to change that, or write a book, but somehow I have.” Side note - for those of you who are interested (you should be), Notts’ favourite independent book store Five Leaves has it in stock.

Over the space of two years, they have extensively researched, collated and produced the works, all funded entirely on their own. Nor have any major institutions backed the project.

Once a working day has finished, a new one commences. “Interviews after work, running to archives on my break, taking holidays in a place where there’s an archive - it all adds up.” It’s all been done by one person, which is a huge testament to how dedicated CJ is.

Along with helping to organise the Under the Rainbow exhibition at Broadway, which documented Nottingham’s Queer history, during early August CJ also arranged for the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to be on display in Nottingham Central library.

The piece tells the stories of many of those affected by the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, with each panel commemorating a lost loved one. As it will be the first time it’s been back in since 1997, CJ was keen to share the importance of the artwork with us. “It may be the last time that it’s ever exhibited, because unfortunately over time some parts have become damaged. The wonderful people who look after the quilt, have been so amazing, even restoring parts of it. We have it for two weeks, and I can’t thank them enough for that.”

Pick up a copy of ‘Neuroqueer: A NeuroDivergent Guide to Sex, and Everything In Between’ from Five Leaves Bookshop or the website below. If you’d like to contact CJ to be interviewed for the Queer History Archive and book, head to their website below. carobarry.com

words: Beth Green photos: Sparrows’ Nest leftlion.co.uk/issue174 23

photos: Fabrice Gagos

Blooming Gorgeous

words: Sophie Gargett

Among Nottingham’s huge array of historical pubs, The Bath Inn, near the LeftLion offices in Sneinton Market, is one of our favourites, distinctive for its quasi-Egyptian decor, beautiful flower arrangements and the rich sense of history that hits you from the first step you take through the door. We visited for a chat with the Nottingham-born landlord Piers Baker, previously a rose grower by trade, to find out how the 19th century bar became the unique spot that it is today.

When we think of history, the first things that come to mind are often the grandest.

Inventors and innovators, momentous events, monuments and monarchy. Sometimes however, history is more modest; right there on your doorstep, in your marketplace, or at your local pub.

Nottingham is lucky to have a brilliant selection of well known historical pubs scattered throughout the city; The Angel in Hockley with its 17th century chapel, the cosy cave nooks of Derby Road’s Hand in Heart, and of course The Trip to Jerusalem, sitting under the shadow of Castle Rock - there’s many more to mention too. Each with their own character, peculiarities, and tales to tell, I love to sit and muse over the pints, fights, merriment and general misadventures that may have happened in these community dens.

Dependable and welcoming, pubs define a district and bring our history to life.

Last year however, I found a new favourite drinking hole in Sneinton Market, one which is doing just that to make the area beautiful, inviting and treasured.

Admittedly, I was a little late to the game when I visited The Bath Inn, it having reopened under new management in 2021. On my first visit I felt like Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris, unknowingly stepping into a different era; the sultry lighting and sumptuous decor, the jazz musician figurines, the Tamara de Lempicka artwork, and the fact someone hopped onto the piano to start a singsong. It's the kind of pub you want to sit and drink red wine in all night. If I was a pub, this is the pub I’d like to be.

On subsequent visits, I began to notice and admire the attention to detail - in the original features brought to life with fresh decor, the ornate, carefully chosen knick knacks, the dozens of old Sneinton photos framed on the walls, the fresh flowers, and the chalk illustrations of local flower merchants above the bar. Deciding I needed to know more I struck up a conversation with the landlord Piers Baker to find out what inspired such a unique pub.

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Not always a publican by trade, Nottingham born-and-bred Piers came from a family of rose growers who had lived in Nottingham for generations. Naturally he gathered a penchant for cultivating flowers during long summer holidays when he was a child. “If I wanted pocket money, the answer was no, but I was thrown out into the rose fields to earn my own money,” he explains. This skill would guide the next 35 years of his life.

With a pub you are creating a community. If I drop off the planet tomorrow and I've improved this area, then that is far more important than what's in the bank With an itch to travel the world, at age seventeen Piers applied for a job growing roses in New Zealand. He wouldn’t hear back for a year, until an unexpected phone call. “I was in Foreman's Pub, and the landlord said ‘Piers, a phone call for you’. I was expecting a girlfriend or whatever, but it was a guy called Laurie Bell in New Zealand. He conducted the interview with me over the phone on that Tuesday evening in the pub, and on the Thursday I was on the plane to New Zealand. I worked for him for twenty years growing roses over there,” he explains.

The next few decades saw Piers move around, following the rose growing season, first in European countries such as Denmark, Belgium and Germany, before heading to New Zealand and Australia and then over to America. When covid hit, and travel was curtailed, he found himself stuck in the UK. “I was ageing and the work was physical, so it was either spend my whole life in rose fields and pubs elsewhere, or spend my whole life in my own pub.”

By chance, a friend owned the recently unoccupied Bath Inn, just off Sneinton marketplace and Victoria Park. Piers snapped it up, and a new chapter in the story of Sneinton pubs began.

“Nobody wanted to take it, because it had a rough reputation,” he explains. “But everyone needs a bit of luck in life and my luck with this place was the timing of it. There’s been a lot of investment in this area, and it’s ready for a pub like this. It probably wouldn’t have been five or six years ago even.”

Piers got to work renovating the bar from top to bottom, preserving and restoring original features, whilst adding a plethora of details. “I knew nothing about running a pub, had never pulled a pint before, but I was a massively experienced customer,” he explains. “I was lucky enough to go to lovely bars and restaurants all over the world. Little did I know that years later it would turn out to be a great advantage because I ended up being a publican.”

The Bath was built in the early-mid 19th century and became a bar around 1852. Its ornate facade of patterned tiles was added in 1926 in the Egyptian revival style that had become all the rage during the Roaring Twenties after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The building is now Grade II listed. Piers immediately saw the potential.

“This is one of the great examples in the country of an Egyptian facade, so that makes it even more special,” he explains. “When we took it over it looked dreary, even the tiles. All it took was a bit of cleaning up and it came to life. It just needed a bit of TLC.” Today the exterior of the pub is certainly a sight to behold. Merging his passion for flowers, Piers maintains over eighty hanging flower baskets which decorate the building in the summer, along with small evergreen trees that hang in the winter. The spectacle is a hit with both patrons and passers-by: “When I'm out there, doing some gardening, people always stop and compliment the pub. They get enjoyment from the flowers and that also gives me more drive to continue to do it.”

Inside however, the detail is equally exquisite; glass chandeliers, an open fire, carved brass coat hooks shaped like elephant heads, and a replica Tutankhamun sarcophagus are just a few of the features. “I thought there should be an acknowledgement to the Egyptian style, but it's just a nod to the facade. I didn't want some daft Egyptian themed pub. Everything in here has relevance to it.”

Many of the most unique pieces are specially commissioned, including the 1920s diver, a mascot painted on the exterior of the building which also appears throughout, from the

lifesize mannequin swimming over the bar to subtly etched on door push plates. The original artwork by artist Julia Whitehead is also framed inside.

Another significant facet which gives a fascinating glimpse into the history of the area is the plethora of old photographs of Sneinton Market, from traders selling their wares on market days, with familiar buildings in the background, to a visit by Steptoe and Son’s Wilfred Brambell in the 1960s (surrounded by some very happy looking women I might add). “Sometimes people come in and look at the pictures and they say ‘Christ, I think that’s my granny or grandad’,” Piers tells me.

Another nod to local roots is the aforementioned flower merchants, painted above the bar, which Piers reveals are his grandfather Alfred Wheatcroft and Alfred’s brother Harry, both prestigious rose growers. “Harry was very famous in Nottingham, because he was a brilliant salesman,” Piers explains. “He was always at the Chelsea Flower Show, giving roses to the Queen. He was a celebrity in his day, really.” Even the roses depicted in the illustration have significance; the Anna Wheatcroft Rose, named after Piers’ mother, is a delicately orange-pink variety, while the Harry Wheatcroft Rose shares similar hues but with a rare striped pattern.

The sense of history and care that has been put into the building, both inside and out, shows a respect for the locality that is to be admired. While ordinarily this could lead to worried whispers about gentrification, the progress blossoming in Sneinton Market, particularly due to independent businesses like The Bath, is surely a positive. The area’s once rough reputation has died away; a more creative and cultural character is blooming.

“We have people who are so pleased that it's still a pub and has been done up. Even if it's not their style of pub, they really appreciate the fact that it's stayed open,” Piers explained. “I think there's something nice about not basing everything on money. These days, everyone is just trying to make money, which is paralyzingly dull,” Piers explains. “With a pub you are creating a community. If I drop off the planet tomorrow and I've improved this area, then that is far more important than what's in the bank.”

Nip into The Bath Inn for a tipple at 1 Handel St, Sneinton, Nottingham NG3 1JE.

@thebathinn

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Going Underground While many nightclubs have transformed over the decades, it’s rare to find one that has inspired long-standing reunion groups over the years. The Dungeon Club on Stanford Street is one such club that welcomed a generation of Nottingham mods. This year, ‘Nottingham’s own Cavern Club,’ will celebrate sixty years since it first opened on July 10 1964. We delve into its history and speak to some of the regulars…

If you were a mod in the 1960s then chances are you twisted the night away at The Dungeon Club. The venue was opened by Mick Parker who had been running The Beat Club at Rainbow Rooms on Broad Street, which was the first space frequented by Nottingham’s mods.

By the time the Dungeon opened, England was experiencing the start of the mods and rockers era, which had roots in the 1950s beatnik coffee bar culture. Known for their calamitous clashes, the two groups represented the opposites of a burgeoning alternative youth culture; rockers were biker-types who wore black leather jackets and other motorcycle-related items, while the mods often rode scooters and dressed in smart tailored suits, macs and mini skirts.

The mods flocked to The Dungeon as it became known for cutting-edge live music and all-nighter sessions. This was a different club for the time - much of the music played was the new American sounds that couldn’t be heard elsewhere. A mix of Motown, rhythm and blues with some jazz, legendary acts such as The Small Faces, The Drifters, The Kinks, Little Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart all played at the Dungeon.

My most memorable night was Screaming Lord Sutch. He was downstairs inThe Dungeon which was dark and he started his act by coming out of a coffin and charging around the stage For club regular Maurice Moore, it was the music that got him into the club. “I was in a band with some lads from school called The Salty Dogs. We did this gig and there were some girls there who said, ‘We’re going down to this new club in Nottingham called The Dungeon. They play all the music, you’d like it’. At the time we were listening to The Animals, Spencer Davis and all that, so off we went.

That was it - we never looked back after that,” he said.

Kate Holmes, another regular, recalled the bands she loved.

“I don’t know how Mick Parker booked the bands. He got the ones that were flying high in the charts like The Small Faces or The Kinks. He was really clever with his bookings, because it was a relatively small place to put on such major acts, like Charlie and Inez Fox from America,” she explained. “My most memorable night was Screaming Lord Sutch. He was downstairs in The Dungeon and started his act by coming out of a coffin and charging around the stage. It’s one of those acts I will never forget.”

The decor of the Dungeon was a tad eclectic, with dark walls and glass cases that contained stuffed animals, fish

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and birds. The overall feel of the club was a sort of dive bar meets DIY space - so much so that Stevie Wonder was rumoured to have hit his head on one of the glass cases containing a stuffed fish while performing.

The unrefined, DIY nature of the club added to the performances, making them even more memorable. This included a set from Screaming Jay Hawkins that saw the electrics blow as he launched into I put a spell on you.

When the musician jumped forward, there should have been a flash, but all anyone could hear was the horn section.

The walls often dripped with condensation when the nights really got going. At a gig by The Who drummer Keith Moon graduated from playing drums to playing the wall, across the floor, on the fire extinguisher and the glass animal cases. (It was rumoured he broke two or three much to Parker’s annoyance.)

Unlike today in an era of stadium tours, barriers and bouncers, there was little separation between artists and audiences. “It’s different to now because there was the stage to the side which was a couple of feet off the ground.

We were so close to the acts. There was one instance where I was listening to some band and Keith Moon was beside me,” Maurice said.

“The cloakroom was an interesting place because the artist’s dressing room was through there,” Kate said.

“The artists would pass by the hatch to get to the stage and would be milling around there. Charlie and Inez Fox of Mockingbird fame appeared in 1965. Charlie saw me waiting to collect my coat so he took my cloak ticket and found it for me. That was typical of the way the bands used to mix with us. There were no pretences. There was a very low stage, which I think was just a couple of railway sleepers, so you were more or less on the same level as the artist.”

As for DJs, Peter Stringfellow, who ran the Mojo Club in Sheffield, was a close friend of the owner. On invitation from Parker, he began DJing the club often, towards the later flower power years, with armfuls of flowers he would throw into the audience.

"Kids used to come from all over the country to the all-nighters at the Mojo, always a big following from Nottingham," Stringfellow once recalled. “Mick said they would come back to the Dungeon and talk about me, so he asked me to come down. I think, looking back, those days were the pinnacle for me. You would get these big American stars playing on small stages in little clubs like the Dungeon and the Mojo. It didn't get better than that.”

Incredibly, the club was unlicensed so there was no alcohol. As new coffee machines made their way from America, there was coffee served in glass or Pyrex cups with saucers and classic red Coke machines. If you put a

glass bottle in, another would pop out already cold.

“It was just a coffee bar with soft drinks - no alcohol,” Kate explained. “The majority of people weren’t bothered about it. There were people that went to the Royal Children pub, but my crowd were happy to be dancing and enjoying themselves.”

The word mod originated from ‘modern jazz’, which was one of the first types of music the subculture listened to, and being a mod was all about the look. For the men, it was tailored suits or jeans and rain macs. Leather coats were in different colours and worn longer than today. A trip to the tailors was a necessity to make sure an outfit fit properly or to find items they couldn’t buy easily.

For women, the mod look meant mini dresses, suits with jackets ending above the hemline and a line drawn above the eyeliner - which was an innovative look and a tricky style to recreate. Many made their own dresses or bought things they could sew onto existing outfits.

When miniskirts took off, many found them scandalous, but at The Dungeon they were encouraged and there was even ‘shortest mini skirt competition’ held in 1966. Before tights became widely available, it had been hard to wear a miniskirt as stocking tops would appear just below.

Looking and acting cool was another key part of the mod culture: “I would get to the top of Stanford Street, hear the music and want to run,” said Linda Lowe, another regular at the club. “I used to have to tell myself - you’re a mod, you don’t run.”

Newspapers were delighted with the raids as it promised salacious headlines or an insight into the dreaded new ‘youth culture.’

For anyone looking to hear about what was up and coming, checking out Friday night music show Ready Steady Go! was imperative. Kate would watch it religiously looking for the latest styles to emulate: “It would give you an indication of what the latest fashions were because things changed week to week. We had a look at the television to see what the styles were or the latest dance because you needed to keep up,” she explained. “I used to wear dolly rocker dresses which I bought at Paraphanelia in Nottingham. I’ve still got one.”

When it came to hairstyles, the new Vidal Sassoon fivepoint cut (think British supermodel Twiggy) was all the range. However, the make-it-yourself culture meant that often, haircuts were courtesy of your mates in the bathroom. “We used to cut our own hair and I used to cut my friend’s hair,” said Linda. “We used to go down the toilets in Market Square. If you went to the Dungeon for the first part of Sunday afternoon then they would chuck you out for a bit so you would hang around the square.”

The club became known for its legendary ‘all-nighters’ opening for business on a Saturday, then closing for an hour at midnight before reopening to let guests back in.

The police began to get nervous about large groups of teenagers heading to these all-nighters, and rumours were abound that there was more than coffee on sale to help people stay awake.

In 1967, a decision was made to raid the club with busloads of police descending on Stanford Street ahead of a performance by The Drifters. The club was packed. It had been closed for renovations for a while so excitement for its reopening had hit fever pitch. Those inside had no idea

the police were en route and their arrival caused a wave of panic where people tried to get out or to the toilets to flush their stash.

“I was there when it was raided,” Maurice remembered. “I went outside and looked up the road to see police marching down in twos and a bus. I went back inside and a bit later, the lights came on and police were everywhere. They interviewed people then threw them outside unless they were too young and they had to get them home.

I was there with my friend and we were just hanging around waiting to be searched. He sat down on the floor next to a jumper and moved it accidentally. There was a massive pile of pills underneath. He actually went and told a policeman who searched him then we went out.”

Undeterred Maurice and his friend headed to another all-nighter at the Beachcomber before returning to the Dungeon when the coast was clear.

Linda, whose dad was a city councillor at the time, added another perspective on the event: “He was on the watch committee which policed things like that. He actually had to go to the Dungeon and walk around. He had a word with Mick Parker, came home and said, ‘Don’t you ever stop going there’. He thought he was a lovely man who only had our interests at heart. ‘He only wants you to have a nice place to go’ - I thought, yeah right!”

The police found about sixty people under the age of seventeen who were taken to city police headquarters so that phone calls could be made to get them home.

It is estimated that over a hundred police questioned six hundred people that night, although only five were prosecuted in the end.

Newspapers were delighted with the raids as it promised salacious headlines or an insight into the dreaded new ‘youth culture.’ One read: “Teenagers fainted because of deplorable ventilation it was said and police found there were 710 young people there when they visited the club in the early hours of Sunday, March 16. The club was licensed for 400.”

The club never really recovered from the raid, with many regulars beginning to drift away to other clubs such as The Boatclub in West Bridgford. Mick Parker later became the manager of Club Pigalle on Heathcoat Street before moving to London. He then later opened Camden Place, a home for punk acts and Steve Strange. The scene began to move on as the mod scene gave way to the flower power years. The Dungeon was closed in 1968 but would reopen later that year as the Eight Till Late.

A reunion club still meets regularly to discuss and relive the Dungeon years, which has included raising a glass to its sixtieth anniversary this year. Founder of the reunion group, Ann Barry would like to see something done about the lack of a marker on the building.

“We would like to see a permanent marker, such as a plaque recognising the Dungeon Club and its importance in the musical heritage of Nottingham. There are such tributes in other cities acknowledging their similar sixties clubs, such as Newcastle, Cheltenham and Liverpool.”

A big thank you to Maurice Moore, Linda Lowe, Kath Shaw, Kate Holmes, Paul Clay, Ann Barry and Mick Crossland for sharing their memories, information and photographs.

You can read more about The Dungeon Club days at dungeonmods.wordpress.com

words: CJ DeBarra

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interview: Talia Robinson photos: Sophie Taylor and Emma Gibbon

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Spilling the Beans Honorary Nottingham lad Beans on Toast is back in town! The trees have been telling tales of yolkish yonder and folkish fun, and that August bank holiday has never looked more inviting. We caught up with Jay as he gears up for this year’s Foolhardy Folk Festival.

Beans On Toast: a renowned delicacy at our dinner tables and our festival circuits! We just can’t get enough of you.

Aye! I'll always pop up somewhere to play. Being on stage will always be my favourite part, as egotistical as it sounds. I'll always want it to be a Beans on Toast gig. That's my favourite viewpoint, and I haven’t been to a festival where I haven’t actively got something to do for a long time.

I used to be very committed when I had a gig at a festival – I would generally be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, just to absorb it all … I would be there for the entirety of the festival, and that led me to getting a slot the following year because people could see I was there for more than my half-hour in the spotlight. Now I can do up to 30 festivals each summer, but that also means waking up, high-fiving everyone I meet, a couple of beers before getting on stage, and then in the van off to the next one. Some of them you have to really peel me away from because when it comes to me leaving, I'm not an easy person to find.

Well, we suppose that won’t be a problem when you’re hosting your own festival. The Foolhardy Folk Festival is coming up to its fourth year running - how did it all start in the first place?

The whole thing fell into my lap really. I've been working with DHP for years – I just love their attitude and their venues, and I’ve now got a personal relationship with them which is nice. I got booked for a gig at the Arboretum during a run of lockdown shows when the venues were shut. They’d said I could choose my own support but with my second book just about to come out, I asked if I could spend all my fee on booking other bands. Could we stretch it out and make it into a day thing? Call it a festival rather than a gig? They thought it was a great idea because they’re getting more bang for their buck, and I could also use it as a book launch.

Once the venues all reopened, the Arboretum was relegated to opening just one weekend a year, and DHP were kind enough to ask if I’d like to host the event again!

How on earth do you fit the festival within your calendar?

As much as on paper it’s my festival (you know, that’s how I sell it to everybody!), the truth is I don’t have to deal with the toilets, the ticketing, or the fencing. Last year I was coming from elsewhere and I actually arrived an hour before the doors opened to my own festival! I was walking around the site going: “Looks great! Quick soundcheck boys and let ‘em in!” I spent the whole day with people telling me: “You’ve done great, Beans! It's brilliant!” when I actually do very little.

But I'm only happy to turn up late because I know that DHP knows how to run everything well.

On the flip side, I curate it and I'm not just searching for the next hip thing or cold-calling people. All the acts I've either seen and loved live or they are actually friends of mine, and I think that’s what gives Foolhardy that special edge. One thing you can’t buy is a festival crowd full of fun-loving, peaceful and generous human beings, who will clean up after themselves. It’s impossible to curate that, but one thing with Foolhardy that we’ve found is that the crowd is just all smiles.

Among all the smiles and the songs, have you got anything different planned for this year?

This year we have our first ever poet in residence: Bassey Gracie! Gracie is in the Beans on Toast band, and she supported me on the last two tours that I did. People like familiarity, but I want to get Foolhardy to a place where I can book acts we’ve never heard of before and know that people would come down.

There's a simplicity to Foolhardy where there aren’t a million things to do. At some festivals, they have secret underground DJ sets, or they’ll drop people in with helicopters — all this wacky stuff which is brilliant and there’s definitely a place for it! — but at Foolhardy, it's just good people. Good music in a really beautiful setting. Don’t overthink it, grab a beer, and let’s just have a nice day.

We’ve also got a tentative plan for next year. There's a new song that I have about a Nottingham hero which I'll be debuting at Foolhardy, and hopefully the idea around that song will extend into next year's festival. You’ll have to come on down for the full surprise…

At Foolhardy, it's just good people.

Good music in a really beautiful setting. Don’t overthink it, grab a beer, and let’s just have a nice day Sounds exciting! Now that you’ve been settled into the trees and toast bonanza for a few years, have you got a favourite memory of Foolhardy?

I like the bits when I get up at other people's gigs if I'm being honest! One memory that I do hold dearly to my heart is when Dizraeli (who is truly an amazing guy, he’s got this rapper poet thing going, really cool stuff!) played the first year of the festival. Now, we have a tune together… about trees. Again, everything sort of fell into place perfectly: We have this song inspired by The Overstory, performing in this museum of trees. It was written in the stars — the leaves, perhaps!

Bluntly, why Nottingham? What does the city mean to you?

I genuinely have such a spiritual connection to Nottingham.

There’s a loose family connection, and then there’s also Major Oak which I wrote about the potential fracking of Sherwood Forest. Through that, I worked with Frack Free Nottingham.

Again, that’s Nottingham and trees-centric, so when this opportunity came up with trees again it felt spiritually right.

Generally, I love Nottingham and have some very fond memories of playing here! When I first started out, I’d be in the small acoustic bar of Rescue Rooms. I played there with Sleaford Mods once before they were a duo, with just an iPod playing. That shows you how long I’ve been in the game!

I also played with Frank Turner on his 2000th show. This particular show, I joined him on stage during a song to play the harmonica and did this crackin’ crowd surf all the way to the bar, had a cheeky shot, and surfed back to the stage all without touching the floor… Good fun!

There are not many musicians who are as consistently ardent about songwriting as you. You must really love music!

To me, it feels like a natural outlet. This is what I do. I've always found writing songs… not easy, but enjoyable. I love writing songs! It’s not like I wake up every morning and pick up my guitar, I don’t get a night to sit and write for a long time. For a good few months, the ideas will just build up and then I’ll have a night by myself, and I'll write three or four songs right there. There will be a few weeks where I'm ironing them out but once the idea and the body is there, then it’s done.

We were just about to ask you about the new album! Is it all ready and recorded?

My next album is recorded, yes! I recorded it on the full moon last month, which is apt as it’s a collection of pagan hymns. It’s just Matt and I on the piano, there’s no other instrumentation. Just a voice and piano album about nature and the moon.

Working on pagan hymns under a full moon, are you suggesting you’re quite superstitious? Have you got any pre-show rituals you do?

I don’t necessarily have a ritual before I go on stage except to get drunk! Kidding… You could say I have spells in the writing process? I’ve only ever written songs in these blue notebooks. The first album was written in this book and I thought, ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!’ I use the same pens alongside them and it’s actually really hard to get the exact same book over the twenty years I’ve been doing it. They’ve changed shape and shade a little, which could be a metaphor in itself, but there’s that element to it, I suppose.

Say you were starting from scratch again and the Beans on Toast moniker has been taken, what other food related title would you claim?

Spoiler here, I don’t really like beans on toast! I’m more of a spaghetti hoops guy but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.

When I first went to America, I did have to change my name because they don’t have beans on toast over there. The name was really confusing people, so I called myself Hotdog for a few weeks.

You’ve got the albums, the book series, and the festival. Is there any other project you’d like to add the Beans on Toast branding onto?

By saying it out loud, I have to commit to it now: I’ve got a long tour in the States in September and we’re travelling in the back of the van. Sitting in the same seat for several hours a day might be a good time for a book to come out.

Otherwise, I might become an art curator for a week. Loro Verz is staying with me for a week — he’s an old friend of mine, he does all the artwork for Foolhardy, and he’s even painted the front of my house — and I promised him I’d do some project with him. Apart from that and the pagan hymns, never say never to anything!

The Foolhardy Folk Festival takes place on Sunday 25 August at The Arboretum. Head to our Best of the Month listings on page 46 for more information.

@beans.on.toast

leftlion.co.uk/issue174 29

HE'S COMING HOME In a recent campaign with Rebecca Lucy Taylor - AKA musician Self Esteem - Nottingham based designers The Art of Football have designed a football shirt to open up a conversation about domestic abuse. Head of Brand Kelvyn Quagraine and designer Nicole Kaminska spoke with LeftLion to reflect on the collaboration and football’s light and dark side.

Last month the Euros saw the power of football bring the nation together, its highs and lows rippling throughout the country after each game. But win or lose, for some partners and families the results mean much more. Statistics show a worrying correlation between the game and reports of domestic abuse: a 26% increase when England play, 38% if England lose and 11% the next day, win or lose. To raise awareness around this issue, Nottingham’s The Art of Football partnered with Self Esteem to bridge the cultural crossover between music, football and fashion with a limited edition football shirt.

If you’ve not yet come across The Art of Football and you like sportswear with a twist, it’s worth checking them out. Having now opened their doors at a Sneinton Market unit, they are an independent Notts company which prides itself on capturing the spirit of football through bold and distinctive design.

Football apparel is known for its vibrant colour palettes, branded logos, distinctive signage and its place as a badge of honour for fans to indicate what club they support, but AOF take football fashion one step further.

Their quirky garments are inspired by sports, music and vintage football shirt archives archives, and as well as producing hoodies, trousers and t-shirts, their clothing often features collabs with brands from Puma to Pukka, along with musicians such as Rolling Stones, Caity Baser and Mumford & Sons.

Their partnership with Self Esteem however brings a message deeper than just a branding collab. Through her vibrant symphonies and poppy hits, Sheffield born artist Self Esteem has become synonymous with witty feminism, messages

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of empowerment and wry reflections on life as a woman - her recent singles Big Man and True Colours are case in point and are fitting for the AOF collaboration.

Kelvyn recalls the singer arriving to their meetings “incredibly passionate” about her plans for the brief, and the overall messaging around the

When anybody walks into a room wearing it, people will see the 38% on the back and will ask questions. Then the conversation begins and we can help spread awareness about the issue campaign. “We felt like she wasn't a character who was a loud leader, but somebody who led by example,” he explains.

Making sure Self Esteem’s subtle but direct nature was present within both the shirt’s silhouette and subject matter was important to designer Nicole. “It’s all about the energy and messaging,” she explains. “Finding the right typeface and getting the contrast in the colour and print.”

Comfortable and loose, the inky blue-black shirt features batwing sleeves and a knitted soft-edge collar, with a subtle pinstripe fabric button up within the v-neck, which allows the shirt to be worn in alternative ways. Printed on the back of the shirt in bright white are the words ‘thirty eight percent’, while the front features a crest with Self-Esteem’s logo and the statement ‘reported incidents of domestic

abuse rose by 38% when England lost’ written in small print below.

Domestic abuse is an uncomfortable topic to talk about, but sharing these simple statistics has impact, as does pairing the issue with football. A campaign video published on Self Esteem’s Instagram during the Euros gives a glimpse of the musician behind the scenes at the AOF studio. In it she discusses why she got involved: “Part of me was like, ‘I’m a real vibe kill’, [but] unfortunately these statistics are a vibe kill, and it needs to change,” she explains. “I’m excited for it to exist. It feels like a piece of art to me.”

The video also features an England flag painted with the slogan ‘He’s Coming Home’ made by Sheffield based artist Corbin Shaw.

Known for his short highimpact slogans painted on flags, in 2022 he partnered with Women’s Aid on a powerful campaign by the same name, which showed the slogan painted on England flags hung on windows of everyday British homes, indicating the domestic violence that occurs behind closed doors during football season.

“It's a great talking point when anybody wears it. It feels subtle but still makes a statement,” says Kelvyn.

“When anybody walks into a room wearing it, people will see the 38% on the back and will ask questions.

Then the conversation begins and we can help spread awareness about the issue.”

On the Art of Football website the limited edition design retails for £60 with £5 of the profits going to Women’s Aid. Due to high demand the shirt is currently sold out.

Q @art_of_football words: Rachel Enemua photo: Sam Nicklin

A gamemaster in Notts interview: Sophie Gargett illustration: Marcus Gilmore

Escape rooms have become quite a craze in recent years - so much so that Nottingham is lucky to boast almost fifty different rooms in and around the city. Ranging from the family-friendly and fun to the downright creepy and challenging, the premise is simple - your team is locked in a space for typically one hour and must solve a series of puzzles in order to escape - and with intricate sets, curious props and clever narratives, they make for an immersive and unique experience.

We decided to chat to one gamemaster in Notts to see what goes on behind the scenes, learn how the stories are created, and hear some of the strange observations they get on human relationships Can you guess which escape room we spoke to?

Escape rooms combine detailed aesthetics with a plethora of intricate puzzles. What is the process like for building the narratives and sets for each game?

The thought process starts with our mysterious leader, The Key-Master, who hides himself away in his ‘mind palace’ only to return with the theme, story and most importantly the puzzles. We tend to leave him to it as creating rooms can be an exhausting task, especially when it comes to themes such as serial killers that include a live actor intent on butchering their victims..

However our design and build team are the real heroes in the process. Tasked with the impossible task of making the Key-Masters vision a reality, they truly capture the feeling of immersion with their set designing skills. The biggest achievement was building a room on a revolving platform!

Puzzles will always be the hardest element, as we pride ourselves on our ability to provide players with a true sense of immersion, therefore any puzzle created must have relevance to the rooms theme and story. Furthermore, we attempt to create puzzles that go beyond the traditional puzzles methods used in the industry, which therefore means a lot of testing within our workforce until it’s perfect.

I’m sure you have some interesting stories from watching over teams. What’s the weirdest thing that has happened - any particular stand out memories? Have you overheard anything strange? Seen some bizarre tactics?

Our serial killer's lair tends to be where most of the ‘magic’ happens, groups have literally hid in the room for their full sixty minutes, out of sheer terror they might get caught by our live actor!

Furthermore, the serial killer's lair tends to attract teams on a first date, some haven't gone as well however, and true colours show as people leave their date to fend for

themselves... So much so, our butchering serial killer has felt sorry for the isolated date and teamed up with them!

Our bank heist room features an actual getaway car (engine removed of course) inside the room… Some groups have tried to drive it after completing their mission.

The serial killer's lair tends to attract teams on a first date, some haven't gone as well however, and true colours show as they leave their date to fend for themselves...

Other moments can be quite adorable, our Robin Hood themed room features a slide which channels every adult player's inner child as they express true joy sliding down it.

You must get a unique perspective on human behaviour whilst watching teams solve the puzzles. Do people’s personalities change a lot through competitiveness and battling time restraints? Arguments, mishaps, break-ups?

Our bank heist room causes a few couples to cause a few fall outs... But I would probably be just as stressed if I was tasked to set off an EMP device to wipe all the data of my group’s thievery!

Our haunted toy shop room requires a volunteer to sit on a toilet alone, in the dark and wait (no spoilers why) ...it's always interesting to see who's no longer the brave one of the group when it comes to this part.

Currently we have eleven rooms so we get a large number of team building days with big companies around the UK, which means the reception area can be a wild place to be in terms of banter from one team to another.

What is the formula for a winning team? Do friend groups work together better than couples or families?

Every team is different, we find the best advice is to communicate and not overrule someone's idea. Normally, experience helps in regards to our harder rooms, however we do offer rooms that cater to beginners.

There are some absolute fanatics out there that ‘collect’ escape rooms. Do you get many visits like this and what are they like?

Absolutely, we read a lot of feedback online that some enthusiasts save their ‘100th room to play’ for our hardest room that quite literally moves on a spinning platform.

Has anyone ever been ridiculously quick to solve the puzzles? Anyone who has outsmarted the game in some way? Weird tactics? Cheats?

The only time we consider cheating is using your phone as a torch - our serial killer room is an experience, so using your torch ruins the fun, just ride the wave... and don't get butchered!

Have you ever realised a clue was missing or part of the game didn’t work as well as you’d hoped?

Some clues don't land as well depending on the group, so in desperate times our room runner will voice a clue (as a very last resort). However our Robin Hood themed room features the ghost of Maid Marian as a clue system... It's pretty funny hearing our male staff trying to do their best Lady Marian impressions to confused groups. leftlion.co.uk/issue174 31

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If you go down to the woods today... words: CJ DeBarra photos: Dan Lord

It’s still August, but if you are one of those people who hankers for Halloween, the Huldra Horror Shorts Festival might be for you. Taking place in the woodland near Notts Maize Maze this September, we meet the makers Dan and Kym Lord to ask what horrors await this year…

There are so many things that mark the official start of the spooky season from pumpkins appearing in Tesco to the leaves turning orange-y brown. In Nottingham, it can only mean one thing: Huldra time.

Huldra is an annual horror film festival situated in the middle of a haunted forest in Arnold. Visitors to the festival will have to walk through the suitably spooky woods to get to the outdoor screening. Also, there are horror-adjacent local vendors on site offering everything from gorgeous jewellery to cult classic clothing. All while a faux campfire flickers in the darkness.

The festival is the creation of lifelong horror fans, Dan and Kym Lord. “Huldra was the one good thing to come out of lockdown,” Dan said. “Being stuck in watching late-night horror films every night after getting our three and six-year-old kids to bed, we felt there must be a way to make something out of our new pandemic routine, so we decided to bring our skills and passion for all things macabre together to create a horror shorts festival.”

“We called on our contacts and decided a festival in a forest could be created. In year one, we got 9000 submissions and the first night of horror short films went ahead under the canopy of trees and stars at Notts Maze site. The idea escalated quickly with a fully licensed bar, stonebaked pizza, multiple clothing, jewellery and curio stalls followed and a surprisingly large turnout of horror fans descended on the woods.

Each film selection is meticulously chosen with something for everyone, from ghosts to blood, guts and gore galore. The result has been a cult following of Huldra heads who couldn’t wait for the next instalment. Attendance has tripled since the first year as word of mouth spread.

“The first Huldra night exceeded expectations in turnout and feedback was phenomenal with a definite thirst for another year,” Dan explained. “Many messages were received asking if they would be another Huldra and filmmakers began submitting to our social media long before planning for the second year. A community was forming with a shared passion for all things dark, mysterious and horrifying.”

Dan and Kym do vet each submission which means incredible movie nights and the occasional battle over which to include.

“The film selection process runs mainly through our film freeway channels, we keep the submission fee low as we want to keep the festival accessible to filmmakers of all levels of experience and open to all budgets. We see value in all creativity and Huldra is about reflecting the weird, the wild and the wonderful from around the world,” Dan said.

“We rarely conflict with each other in selections, as we have remarkably similar taste in what we are looking for in a Huldra submission, but if we do, we fight it out over a bottle of wine first. We passionately support the films we choose and look forward to showcasing them to a forest of film lovers. We have had standout

favourites and have found that films with next-to-no budget can be just as creative, unusual, and fantastic as those with funding.”

While many are firm favourites, some should require a warning. “In our first year, we decided to keep film submissions free as we were unsure as we were new to the whole process, this opened us up to a world of unfiltered homegrown horror, questionably some of the greatest submissions. We certainly received more than a fair share of films we weren’t sure should actually be viewed. One film, in particular, took taboo a little too far and would have required counselling afterwards if we were to have screened it! (Think A Serbian film!)”

Huldra isn’t a jump scare attraction, more a representation of the myth and lore of all cultures… a safe space for all things creepy Last year saw a temporary move to a barn but thankfully Huldra 2024 is being restored to its original location - Lime Lane Woods near Notts Maze.

“The forest in which Huldra is set means a lot to us and we visit regularly throughout the year,” Dan said. “We always wish to keep the night in the woods as we always want to keep a festival feel. Last year due to circumstances and higher powers we had to open the barn for one year which came with its challenges but was well received. This year, we will be back in the original site this year which we can’t wait for. Huldra will always have a place in the woods.”

“We are proud of everything the festival has to offer and how quickly it is expanding. Attendees are now travelling from across the country to attend and last year filmmakers from Sweden travelled all the way for the festival. But without doubt, our proudest moment of running the Huldra Festival was becoming what attendees dub Huldra as: ‘the official start of the spooky season” Dan added: “We are very lucky to work with Notts Maze and Owen productions as they have made it very easy for us to achieve our vision in the festival from giant sacrificial fires to film installations among the trees, we are striving to keep the festival much more than just a cinematic experience.”

“We have a deep passion for myth and folklore traditions and the forest is the perfect setting to accomplish that. Huldra isn’t a jump scare attraction, more a representation of the myth and lore of all cultures… a safe space for all things creepy.”

Huldra Horror Shorts Festival takes place from 4pm on Saturday 7 September. You can book tickets via the Notts Maze website maize-maze.co.uk/huldra

Q @huldrafest leftlion.co.uk/issue174 33

screen

a House in Jerusalem words: Autumn Parker

For twenty four years Al Clark and Rachel Robey have produced independent films, from all around the world, through their Nottingham based company Wellington Films. They’ve just wrapped up their tenth feature film, Sister Midnight, which saw the pair travel to Mumbai to shoot on location, aired at Cannes recently and is set to be released early next year. Their most recent film, A House in Jerusalem, saw them travel to Palestine – the film is the first ever UK/Palestine co-production – for several months. Last month it screened at Broadway, which is where the company is based, but it is returning for two more screenings due to popular demand.

Al and Rachel met on a training course that used to run in Broadway's third and fourth screen. Through the course both learnt the practical side of filmmaking such as lighting, editing and sound recording. At first Al wanted to be an editor and Rachel a sound recordist, with both working on amateur films to build up their portfolio, however they both quickly realised that few people were willing to take up the role of producing, which led them to picking up the task. Eventually they realised they much preferred the act of producing a film than that of actively making it. These beginnings give them both an acute sense of how films are made by crews and has no doubt helped them work with a variety of people all across the world.

Some leave the room affirming their own political beliefs, but others come away with visible signs that their perceived view on the situation might have not been entirely accurate Due to being in the industry for so long the pair have seen incredible changes taking place to the way in which films are produced and distributed. They spoke a lot about how the economic issues facing cinemas today causes difficulties in getting films booked for long amounts of time – getting a full week is something of a lucky win currently. However, streaming plays a big role in their distribution model with A House in Jerusalem already streaming in the Middle East and North Africa. This film now gives them an entry point to discuss other ventures with Netflix, including the potentiality for an entirely Netflix funded film, something which both seemed to be interested in.

Most of A House in Jerusalem was shot in East Jerusalem, the often forgotten third territory of Palestine alongside Gaza and the West Bank, but parts were also shot in Bethlehem. This involved the crew to travel around the various parts of Palestine

frequently, most of which is guarded by strict Israeli checkpoints, restricting the freedom of movement for Palestinians living on their own land. Rachel even shot one scene which involved the characters going through a checkpoint, but the scene is not acted and the actor was actually forced to travel through it – capturing the event in real time. Giving an eerie dose of realism to the film.

Through the film we follow a Jewish girl from the UK who, after the death of her mother, moves to Jerusalem with her father to live in an old family home. However, within the walls of the home they are not alone and the spirit of a young Palestinian girl is haunting them. Director Muayad Alayan based the film on his own personal history: the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, through a campaign of ethnic cleansing known as the Nakba, caused his entire family to become refugees in their own country. The Nakba, which is perpetual in how many Palestinians still suffer these exact same crimes, saw Israeli forces violently displace and suppress Palestinians, forcing them to flee their homes, businesses and land in fear of death.

Despite the film not explicitly being labelled a ‘political’ film, Al talks to me about the impossibilities of making an apolitical film in a landscape that has been at the mercy of geopolitical ambitions for decades. He also highlighted how despite being filmed during the COVID pandemic in 2021, which posed all sorts of other obstacles to overcome, it feels even more poignant given Israel’s current assault on Gaza – something which he highlights started long before the events in October 2023.

Towards the end of the interview, Al and Rachel talk about people’s reactions to the film: some leave the room affirming their own political beliefs, but others come away with visible signs that their perceived view on the situation might have not been entirely accurate. The latter reaction, the one that forces people to ask questions based on the images and sounds they have taken in, are the ones that they believe make this film truly powerful. A sharp reminder that film is in itself powerful enough to make us reconsider the world around us.

A House in Jerusalem will be screening at Broadway on 18/19 of August. See their website for ticket information. leftlion.co.uk/issue174 35

art

Monster Mash-up interview: George Dunbar photos: Brian Roberts

Whether it’s creating giant monsters, quirky fashion or video games, one thing that is always integral to the work of Bruce Asbestos is playfulness. With an immersive exhibition of abstract inflatable monsters currently showing at Lakeside Arts throughout August we sat down with Bruce to talk about art, AI, and being a creative in Notts.

Can you tell us about your background in art and your studio at Primary?

Feels like I’m talking ancient history now. I came to Nottingham to study at Trent in the early 2000s, and thoroughly enjoyed how dynamic Nottingham was.

There seemed to be lots of new projects and galleries opening all the time. I got a scholarship from NTU to Musashino University in Tokyo, for five months and it was an utterly life changing experience. I got to experience both the super pop Hello Kitty sanrio-kawaii type of Japan and the super extreme, noise music and digital arts there. It taught me that pop art should both be radical and embrace new technology.

Nottingham has always been a great place for artists, and has definitely punched above its weight in terms of contemporary art, it’s great to see both Primary and Backlit own their buildings now, that’s great for art in Nottingham in the long term.

Could you tell me about your art practice?

I’ve always enjoyed that super broad approach to art, sort of Bauhaus approach where everything can be utilised. I curated Trade, an artist-run gallery at One Thoresby Street and Primary from 2008 - 2018, and now make giant inflatables, video games, catwalks and socks. I’m always wondering what would make good Pop Art today? What would it look like if you updated it?

Could you tell me about your exhibition at Lakeside Arts?

I heard that Hello Kitty was one of over a hundred different characters, and it was the one that ‘worked’. With each exhibition I try to make a new character, or try to develop the story of an existing one - many of the shows this year are of a new family of monsters called the Hooboos. After the physical work, I often get an unexpected feeling from making an exhibition - I’ve started to think they look a little frightened, so that informs a story. I’m basically testing the waters to produce my own TV animation in the future; I need enough characters to fill that world.

How do you make the inflatable monsters?

I work with a company called Glow Inflatables in Lincolnshire, it’s a great relationship, they understand what I’m trying to do as an artist, and how best to make the work really look excellent.

What are your thoughts on consumer culture and how it relates to art?

I remember an artist saying to me once that he was both a cog and a spanner in the machine; I think making art feels like that, sometimes you’re oiling that capitalist machine and making it run better, and other times you’re refusing or undoing. I’ve been thinking recently about the Luddites and what they’d make of A.I..

How do you envision artists utilising and responding to AI technology in the future? Should we embrace it or protect traditional methods of creation?

In my most recent collection, I used AI to generate designs for the catwalk, then attempted to execute those looks as closely as possible. I was intrigued by the idea of outsourcing design to AI and grappling with the results, especially since AI lacks understanding of physical construction, budgets, fabrics, the human body, history and so forth. The AI actually masks months of hard work.

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I wanted to approach AI not as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but a tool in a larger framework. I often think about knock off fashion bags - people who buy the fakes are quite a different audience from the people who want a real Louis Vuitton, I think the same

is true for art - if you want a picture of a bear holding a fish, AI will easily replicate that. But if you pair art down to just ‘image making’, you lose the wider context of social connections, ideas, history, and an individual's career. It’s never going to replace an artist with a bizarre imagination and desire to create something new and weird. For me AI is cutting chunks of work out of dull un-artistic processes, like writing funding bids or doing your accounts. That potentially frees up artists to do more creative work.

I'm also fascinated by how quickly technology becomes dated. Eventually, we might seek out specific ‘eras’ of AI art, much like we now appreciate the aesthetics of early websites or vintage Instagram filters. Websites from the 90s, which at the time were the most futuristic thing, now feel kind of kitsch and clunky. We’ve already seen that leap in AI images - which have a kind of ‘sheen’ - you can feel that they are AI without specifically being able to point out why.

You can also tell that someone has used ChatGPT to write something. For instance, the tone is formal and a bit off for a human to write, but we have to be realistic, most writing is like the boring uncreative type anyway - it’s forms and facts, not like incredible poetry! Let AI replace the boring.

Nottingham has always been a great place for artists, and has definitely punched above its weight in terms of contemporary art Your fashion work is very fun and fantastical - can you tell us more about it? Do you think there should be more fun in fashion?

I was always interested in textiles, and was the only boy who wanted to do GCSE textiles at my school. My mum was always super supportive of anything to do with sewing or making, so that gave me confidence to start. But I’ve also always been a big guy, so fashion was really never for me, nothing fits my shape and I didn’t have mega bucks to participate, so I directly or indirectly understood that it was only for other people, and not for big silly lads like me.

I think there isn’t necessarily space for my work in the fashion world, I just have to force it when I see an opportunity. I like that fashion also is a way to connect art to a larger world of pop culture. There’s definitely a playfulness in fashion which is exciting, and great fashion is indistinguishable from contemporary art.

What other things do you have planned for this year?

I’ve just come back from my show at Factory International in Manchester, and opened my A/W 2024 exhibition at Leicester Gallery. I’m going to Ah Haa in Colorado, then Rosehill Theatre, Cumbria and then I’ve got an exhibition in Bangkok later this year. It’s my busiest year so far, but it feels great to play a home game at Lakeside!

Bruce Asbestos brings his colourful inflatable monsters to Lakeside Arts from 1 August to 8 September 2024 in a free family-friendly exhibition.

Q]@bruceasbestos

literature

Pleasantly Disturbed

interview: Andrew Tucker photo: Art Lewy

It is the Year of Our Lord 2002. Your mum has ironed your T-shirt that has flames coming up from the hem.

Your light-up trainers patter across a wooden floor through a lacquer of congealing Robinson’s squash. The DJ Cha Cha Slides through a midlife crisis, his hairline receding in real time. But this is not a school disco yet - not until you slide on your knees.

Slide to the left, criss cross.

Knees have had a moment recently. Colin Kaepernick rested on his to protest police brutality, and Daenarys asked Jon to bend them, showing Westeros’ solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Just fell to my knees in a Walmart parking lot, so the meme goes. Our country has even been on them for a few years. Knees, for now, are the bee’s knees.

What links them to the human spirit? In ProtoIndo-European language, the word for knee was ǵónwih - and it was vital to a person’s being, one place where their soul could be found. Gónwih has several cognates - the Proto-IndoEuropean words meaning to know, to birth, genius, race and species all sound suspiciously similar.

These joints have had a sacred aspect throughout history, the part of us that we can flex to show the ultimate respect - as Robin Williams’ genie once sang of Aladdin in his guise as Prince Ali: genuflect, show some respect, prove your submission to gods or masters.

As for my knees, they need a rest after taking a beating on my bike during stormy weather. They are just about, and I’m sorry to do this, Gónwih the Wind.

Q]@andrewtucker.uk

illustration: Jim Brown

Pleasantly Disturbed interview: Andrew Tucker photo: Art Lewy

Notts writer L. S. Evans was the late great Sean Lock’s staff writer for fifteen years, racking up credits on shows like 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and gaining acclaim from names like Harry Hill. Now he’s back with a comic coming-of-age story…

Lee! What’s one moment you’ll always remember from your (sterling) small-screen career?

I worked with Sean Lock more than any other comedian. He was hilarious and loved to share his success with his friends.

I’ll never forget - or fully recover - from the time he took a few of us to a comedy and skiing festival where he was performing in Austria. Being from Warsop, I’d never seen skis before, but Sean booked me lessons on the kiddie slopes then, after three days, decided I was ready to tackle a ‘blue run’, which turned out to be a vertical mountainside. I bulldozed through a dozen angry Italians before reaching the bottom inside a snowball, to which Sean deadpanned: ‘Maybe work on your turns a bit, Lee.’ A TV moment? Sean doing ‘The Tiger Who Came For A Pint’ on 8 Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown. It’s a genius performance.

I can’t watch it without crying with laughter, as well as wishing he was still around.

Nottinghamshire folk often have a brilliant turn of phrase, very witty, very dry, sometimes without even realising it, so I hope I’ve inherited a bit of that and managed to get some of it into my writing Lately you’ve pivoted from the box to the world of books how much of your TV skills transferred over, and how much did you need to learn?

I can’t pivot like I used to, not since that skiing trip. Years of losing myself in books is probably where I unconsciously learned what it takes to make a novel, how they’re put together, and I love reading about how great writers work, their rituals and methods – or lack of them - so I picked up a lot that way. As for transferable skills, having written jokes for years was definitely a big advantage when it came to dialogue.

In both cases you need to be clear what you want to say and to make every word count.

Your brand new novel is Pleasantly Disturbed - a feel-good coming-of-age story set in the heady shoulder-padded 80s.

Who do we follow in the book, and what are they after?

Robin and Fliss are a misfit first love couple in a Nottinghamshire mining town, who dream of becoming their idols Kate Bush and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. But despite their enthusiasm, two things stand in their way, at least to begin with: Fliss lacks the confidence to perform in public, whereas Robin, while apparently bursting with confidence, has no talent whatsoever. Just when it looks as if these problems might be overcome, somebody gets killed and the couple find

themselves entangled in a police investigation. It’s a comic coming-of-age story with a crime twist about how really great music has the power to totally transform people’s lives. It certainly did mine.

With that musical premise, how did you approach the book’s ‘soundtrack’? Did you do studious research, or is 80s music already the topic you’d be hoping to come up in the last round of Pointless?

It would definitely be one of my stronger subjects. Pleasantly Disturbed begins in 1986, when Robin is sixteen and obsessed with music, just as I was, so most of the songs and artists mentioned in the book I pretty much took from memories of the under-18s discos I went to in Warsop and Mansfield Woodhouse. That said, I still had a lot of fun digging out old Simple Minds tour programmes to look up specific concert dates, to double-check a Kate Bush or Prince lyric, or the price of a ticket to the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert at Wembley. If anyone discovered the number of hours I spent on YouTube, ‘researching’ Jim Kerr leaping about on stages all over the world, they could probably have me sectioned.

And what’s one 80s record everyone should listen to immediately?

I think if you started taping the Top 40 off the radio in 1980/81, as I did, aged 10, you really hit the jackpot in terms of the music you grew up with. I still love discovering new music and also like a lot of stuff from before I was born, but most of my all-time favourite records were probably released between 1978-88. But one ‘80s record everyone should listen to? Promised You a Miracle from Simple Minds’ Live In The City of Light. Aged sixteen, I worshipped this song and its video. It’s probably the song that most inspired me to write Pleasantly Disturbed.

As you say, Pleasantly Disturbed is set in North Notts, where you grew up as a lad. Do you think there are aspects to your writing voice particular to the city you’re from?

Writing jokes for well-known comedians, your job is always to write in their voice; if you don’t, they’re never going to use them. So with the books, it’s been really nice to write something as me for a change. When I worked in garages, lots of men and women I knew were smart and really funny. But you rarely ever see those people in books. Nottinghamshire folk often have a brilliant turn of phrase, very witty, very dry, sometimes without even realising it, so I hope I’ve inherited a bit of that and managed to get some of it into my writing.

Pleasantly Disturbed by L.S. Evans is out now in all good bookshops.

Q @tismeleese leftlion.co.uk/issue174 37

Music

Hop, ska and a jump interview: Trev Bassey photo: Fabrice Gagos

There's a reason to get excited again about the reggae and ska scene in Nottingham and it's time to start talking about The Hoplites. A nine-piece band of experienced musicians from Nottingham, with a deep love of reggae and ska and a maxi single just released, we were eager to know more about their writing and performance process. Kane, Raph, Big Ben, Mikey, Mike, Amy, Little Ben, Sylvain and Lee took some time out to speak to LeftLion on just that.

What influenced you to play this style of music and how do you write your songs?

Kane (vocals, rhythm guitar): I really wanted to create a more authentic and traditional ska/reggae sound, so I got to writing a collection of tunes. Raph and I were in Unknown Era together and we have always connected creatively, so working with him again was a no-brainer. Myself and Ben (Big Ben) had been saying that we should work together on something like this for many years.

We finally made it happen. Everyone else was pulled in and it’s just worked out perfectly, all the members are super talented and the creation process is so smooth! So expect some bloody great music!

Raph (keys, backing vocals): We’re really passionate about the more traditional side of ska music and it’s been great to explore that world. It’s been a lot of fun figuring out how the team works best. Generally the process tends to go like this, Kane comes up with some chords and lyrics for the foundation of a song. I take that and add a few fancy bits, rearrange the structure and suggest a few options to inspire the brass section. Mikey organises the brass parts into a sensible language and everyone just throws in their own bit of magic. So far the whole experience has been really fluid and fun! I don’t know if we always had planned for it to be a nine piece, but as the numbers grew and the rehearsals started sounding so epic we were really happy with the lineup. I think it gives us the power to really pursue that original sound, of course giving it a bit of a modern twist and adding our own flavours.

The amount of raw talent in this band is outrageous and you won't want to miss it. Plus it'll be the party that we have all needed, time to let ya hair down and grab ya dancing shoes and bring all your friends I know you've just released the three track maxi single River of Change. What else are you guys up to?

Raph: Back in 2021 I contributed to an international project called the Housebound Ska Collective, where I met Piper Dawes. These days, she operates

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from Vibrations Studios in Huddersfield, I just knew I had to get her involved in the production. We recorded most of the music at my home studio in Netherfield and sent everything to Piper to be mixed. Along with some vocal recordings at Deeper than Roots mastering, Trekkah at Phlexx Records (Notts) and Natt from RatCat in Sandiacre. The project has included contributions from some of our most talented friends in the industry and we feel very lucky to know them.

Kane: After many years of touring and gigging (which was very fun!), I’d like to focus more on the creative process. I’d like us to be recording artists as well as performance artists! We will be working very hard in the studio and delivering some sweet records! River of Change is a release that we’re really proud of. It showcases three different sounds of the band! You’ve got rocksteady, ska and roots reggae all on one record!

What can folks expect at one of your shows and when can we expect to see you live?

Raph: Well we only have one show booked this year. So all our eggs are going into preparing that musical omelette. What we can tell you is, after almost a year in the making, it will be the best possible show we can put on for you. You can expect a full set of original tunes, some grooves to dance to, the occasional guest appearance and (judging by how much support we’ve received so far) a room filled with a bunch of lovely, lovely people.

Mikey (bass trombone): Some very attractive trombonists!

Kane: Oh man. It’s gonna be a show not to be missed! I’ve always loved performing and I love delivering a night that the audience will never forget! September 6 at Metronome, be there!

Ben (drums, backing vocals): Expect big sounds added to a big show! This will be the show of the year. The amount of raw talent in this band is outrageous and you won't want to miss it. Plus it'll be the party that we have all needed, time to let ya hair down and grab ya dancing shoes and bring all your friends... I guarantee it will go OFF! The Hoplites debut “Maxi Single” River of Change is out now and available to purchase on bandcamp and stream on all major platforms. You can purchase tickets for their debut show on Friday 6 September at Metronome with Jeremiah Ferarri at thehoplites.co.uk @the_hoplites_band

After winning the Ultimate Battle of The Bands at Metronome last year, earning them a slot on the Confetti stage at Splendour, Luna and the Lime Slices have wasted no time making an impression on Nottingham's music scene.

If you've managed to catch them live, you will surely have been captivated by their harmonies, which have always been top notch from the start of their career, as well as their ability to go from soft and dreamy to loud and in your face in the matter of moments. Red Room falls into the latter of this spectrum of their sound, capturing a darker side of the band than their debut single Back To You. Keep an eye out for their five-track EP, coming soon. Gemma Cockrell

The Blooms Entwined (Single) Entwined by The Blooms, the indie rock band hailing from Derby, presents a tune that is similar to Catfish and the Bottlemen blended with Wunderhorse. The acoustic guitar and percussion in the intro, followed by a robust drum kickstart, establishes a dynamic foundation. However, the frequent stop-start nature creates an intriguing rhythmic pattern, contributing to the song's unique character.The singer's distinctive voice, drawing comparisons to Yard Acts' vocalist, adds a layer of individuality to Entwined. The track's emphasis on buildups keeps the listener on edge, making it an engaging experience. While the stop-start elements may add complexity, they contribute to the overall dynamic nature of the song, showcasing The Bloom's impact within the indie rock genre. Entwined is a notable addition to The Blooms' fast growing catalogue. Conall Stacey

Music Reviews

Luna and the Lime Slices Red Room (Single)

KAP The Pieces (EP) Crafted as part of her participation in the Youth Music Charity Incubator Programme, generously sponsored by the People's Postcode Lottery, KAP's debut EP The Pieces spans genres from RnB to UK Garage, each track serving as a testament to her talents as both an artist and producer, since she co-produced the project. Taste, the second track, showcases her talents as the sole producer, while you'll see other familiar Notts names such as 80p&Chewsday elsewhere on tracks such as One in a Million. Smooth and soulful, while simultaneously uplifting and upbeat, The Pieces is a remarkable debut EP from one of Nottingham's most talented artists.

Gemma Cockrell

Soul Infinity Orchestra ft Nãnci Correia Impossible (Single) Impossible is the first release from Nottingham-based collective Soul Infinity Orchestra. This ambient electro track features Nãnci Correia's evocative vocals, blending future garage sounds with synthetic bass and organic orchestral elements. Think 808 State meets N-Trance... in a good way. Keep an eye out for more releases, coming soon.

Rachel Imms

Ardency The Crystal EP (EP) Nottingham based four piece Ardency are back with a new four track EP. Its slim sixteen minute run time is packed with emotive songs, featuring lush organ refrains, glittering synths, melancholy strings and screaming guitar. Nick Edgar's haunting vocals weave their way throughout the record evoking a sense of wistful nostalgia.

The band brings their own personal growth to the record, which comes to us now, fifteen years on from their outstanding debut album 'Dear Human'. However this could just be a fleeting reunion with Ardency, as they have no plans to perform live or to produce more music as a band, but as the band say “We said that back in 2007." We can only hope that they start making those plans soon. Rich Higton

GIRLBAND! Heartbreak Town (EP) Sometimes a band appears fully-formed and ready to conquer: GIRLBAND! are the next. They’ve made fans of police officers while practising in a living room and now bring The Heartbreak Town EP, music that is bold and confident.

The tracks here are lyrically weighty and unafraid of embracing melody. The expansive, Americana infused title track leads beautifully to rebellious feminist anthem 21st Century Suffragette, before snarling live recordings conclude. The songwriting is vulnerable yet defiant, personal yet universal, world-weary yet wide-eyed. You can hear the influence of Joan Jett in the grit-flecked vocals; echoes of The Strokes and Springsteen in the perfectly judged guitar work, with the songs tied together by metronomic drumming. Expect big things. Kieran Lister

If you’re from Nottingham and want to get added to our list of music writers, or get your tunes reviewed, hit us up at music@ leftlion.co.uk

39 39

environment Rights For Flies interview: Eleanor Flowerday photo: Tom Morley

It’s summer. The wasps are coming for your ice cream, the flies for your park-bench picnic… but before you start swatting, have a listen to Rights For Flies. We spoke with Tobi from the Nottingham based band and activist collective to hear about hoverflies, breaking boundaries, and how art gives us the chance to champion environmental action.

Who are Rights For Flies? How did you guys come about?

Rights For Flies is an alternative Rock band consisting of myself (Tobi), Kaito, Stan Charles, Grace Reeves, Chlöe Smith, Elyiz, Georgia Corbett, Joao Estorninho, Jas Underhill and Cam Baxter-Allen.

We were brought together by a shared understanding that people should be kinder to flies. It’s more than just a band, it feels like a movement or idea. We roll our sleeves up to do art projects and community events, frequently collaborating with our friends Hugh Jart, D4LT, HOTMESS, Zofia, Jodie Pengelly, Blu, Acid BBQ, Oskar Golunski and SCAM to make our events the best they can be.

Can you give a bit of an explanation behind your name? Why flies?

My grandma was appalled when I told her about Rights For Flies, she said, ”Why do you like flies Tobi?

No one likes flies. Why don’t you do dolphins?”

It all started with a hoverfly… which landed on my finger and watched the sea with me.

I was writing my lyrics out of anger and emotional confusion, until I had this encounter with a fly that just made me think differently. I grew to feel a huge guilt around how I had treated insects and when I started to explore this, my music changed and became about something really different. When I listened back I realised that my phrases were double edged and described not just the hoverfly but about how complex we are as humans.

(Eleanor here - you can read these lyrics on Instagram, @rightsforflies. You’re welcome).

How would you describe Rights For Flies? A collective/band/project/eco-artists?

It’s a computer jam packed with some organic virus and we love it. It’s a rebellion of love. An uproar for all things unloved. A celebration of love for the dispossessed and outcasted. We often use cheap, off-kilter setup techniques with projectors, screens,

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silhouettes and handmade structures to allow us to transform the venue and disorientate the audience.

What does your creative work typically focus on?

How do you use your collective creativity to produce work with an environmentalist message?

Meeting new people, bonding with the group and sharing skills with one another is our typical focus, the best ideas come over time so we keep talking and encouraging. Meetings are scheduled for once a week where we discuss new ideas and refine old ones.

Our song lyrics contain loads of messages and I think it’s now really a matter of who is going to champion the rights for flies? And making sure people see and interact with these messages.

Break the boundary, humanise the non-humans, let them have rights Bit of a big question here... How do you guys feel art/music/poetry may be used to explore or expose environmentalist topics? Would you say it's a tool or a means of communication, or is there an interconnectedness?

I’d say art/music/poetry may definitely be used as an outlet, or relaxation tool to explore ourselves and therefore the environment around us. When I was working on some music a couple years ago I remember getting so hyper-focused that afterwards it felt almost like something else had been working through me. I think entering a creative flow can bring out parts of us that we never knew were there.

We’ve built boxes that are secure, clean and lifeproof and we live inside them. It’s time to form a peaceful campaign for the unheard, against modern developments that look to divide humans from nature.

Do you have any recent projects you'd like to highlight?

We held a market at Green Hustle festival back in

June, where Bo and Dalt provided a free Rights For Flies clothing customisation service for the attendees, while Georgia and Kate sold RFF merch!

We’ve been a supporting act for the amazing Wizards can’t be Lawyers and Marvin’s Revenge, where we played our songs Fly Love, Out of Space, Biodiversity, Soft Flesh, and Hanging out the towels. It’s our third time so far. Back in April we held a big Rights For Flies event at Billy Bootleggers with Djs, bands and alternative performers.

And is there anything in the works we should look out for?

RFF music releases on Spotify, live gig footage releases, RFF outdoor gig at the Hopkinson Hop Garden on Saturday 24 August, Halloween at Billy Bootleggers on 26 October, RFF handmade costumes, music videos, sculptures and props, public stunts, frequent collaborations, RFF DJ livestreams at Swingdash and in public, RFF decoration workshops, RFF public protests with free placard sign making workshops and merch markets!

Finally, can you give us a bit of a Rights For Flies playlist? How can we take our first steps into eco-art?

Watch: The Fly by David Cronenberg and the music video Love is the drug by Grace Jones. Read: The Book of Lilith by Robert G. Brown. Listen to: Rights For Flies Radio on Swingdash radio - monthly. Listen to our favourite club selections, local productions and look out for up and coming dates, event teasers, competitions and hidden codes… Broadcasted live via Mixcloud every last Friday of the month 8 - 9pm. Also listen to the RFF original Fly Love production via our media player.

Break the boundary, humanise the non-humans, let them have rights.

You can find Rights for Flies music, events and videos over on their Instagram - @rightsforflies. Listen to their music on their media player at rightsforflies.com.

community

Playing for Laughs interview: Richard Minkley illustrations: Robin Hood Improv Festival

Hundreds of comedians and improvisers are descending on Notts, and not one has learnt their lines! The Robin Hood International Improv Festival is returning to Nottingham for the third time in September. We sat down with artistic co-director and improviser James “Lloydie” Lloyd to talk about the festival, the local scene and what people make of Nottingham.

What kind of thing can Notts expect from the Robin Hood International Improv Festival [RHIIF] this year?

The great thing with improv is, because you get to see the process of creation as well as what we create, you get something unique on the night. We’ve got shows like ‘An Imam, A Priest, and an Atheist Walk into a Bar’. A Muslim, a Christian and an atheist, quite deliberately playing together with their three different belief systems.

We’ve got ‘Living. Dying. Dead.’ Owen [Scrivens], one of the people who created it, works as an intensive care consultant. It’s a very powerful show about how we live and how we die. We've also got a huge show that is massively popular at the Edinburgh Fringe, ‘Shamilton!’. It's an improvised Hamilton musical, with rapping.

It's a juggernaut of a show.

We’ve also got some really good shows from the East Midlands, like ‘Date Night’, an improvised history of nearly everything. And also a new group who are hilarious called ‘Sexy Yoga Improv Boys’. They’ve made me hyperventilate with laughter before. It is just such a wonderful mix of shows. And this year we've even got a Robin Hood themed show. It took us until year three. Can you believe it? No one had ever pitched one before.

Go support these local festivals because at the moment you are living in a city where there is real thriving culture You’ve said the aim of the RHIIF is “to showcase the best of the world's improv to Nottingham and the best of Nottingham's improv to the world”. How big is that improv world out there?

We're bringing nearly 150 improvisers into Nottingham and we could only take about the top ten or fifteen percent of applications. So that gives you an idea on numbers. We watch a video of every single act that applies. We’ve spent hours of our life watching improv from places as far-flung as Australia, Pakistan, Nordic countries, mainland Europe, right across North America. I mean, there's a lot of improv out there.

This is a bit of a gossipy question, but, with all these performers coming from around the world… What do they think of us here in Nottingham?

If you go around the world, people now know Nottingham as a place for improv.

Some high-level improvisers, who also have very big jobs in the entertainment industry, they go and apply to be at RHIIF because they've heard what a good time it is and what a lovely community they get to be part of. All these people want to come to our city, which is fantastic, and it contributes tens of thousands of pounds into Nottingham's economy every single year.

The most peculiar, brilliant, hilarious, but also lovely comment that we had from my dear friend Jorin [Garguilo] was that Nottingham was just like New York City but without the rubbish bits, which I really loved. The great thing is we always give them a tour from Robin Hood and he explains loads about the city. So they become mini fans of Nottingham.

To get local again, Nottingham has quite the heritage for improvised comedy.

We’ve got 26 years of improv happening in the city. One of the longest running communities in the country. How has all that time affected the local scene and, by extension, the festival?

Well, it allowed the scene to blossom and flourish in lots of very different ways.

There's improv happening in this city pretty much every night of the week. The brilliant Geoff Monk set up a Monday group, which came out of the group that meets on Thursday. The classes I teach at the Nottingham Playhouse sell out within 24 hours. You've got people who are setting up their own teams, some of whom are performing at the festival. One of the reasons for setting RHIIF up was to allow the community here to grow even further. So we’ve got local people performing, watching, taking workshops and bursary places for local improvisers to allow the upskilling of our local community.

There are brilliant people in Nottingham doing things, not just at the big venues but in fringe venues. I think it's really important that festivals are supported within the local community. I don't just mean money, although frankly, money would be great.

But you know, what is more important is people coming along, watching a show, even taking part. Not just for our festival. You’ve got the Poetry Festival, you’ve got NCF. Go support these local festivals because at the moment you are living in a city where there is real, thriving culture. We lost Nonsuch Studios last year and Nottingham needs another fringe theatre space. We’ve got brilliant people doing brilliant stuff. There is so much talent here and there just aren't the places to put on enough shows.

So, as one of the directors, what would you recommend? [noises of anguish] Ha! I love the way you crumpled a little bit when I asked that question.

It's so hard. I can't recommend it enough for people to go see at least one show because if you are in Nottingham and you haven't seen one of these shows you’ve definitely missed out.

So, what are you looking forward to seeing?

This is such a labour of love for me and Liam [Webber] and for this year our guest curator Tanine [Dunais]. More than anything else I'm looking forward to seeing all the people. When we talk about this as a big community, it really is. Now don't get me wrong it is a stressful thing to run a festival like this. It is a very, very, very stressful thing. But we do it because we love it and we love the people that we get to bring together. I am so emotionally connected to this festival. Talking about it, away from just organising it, I still don't know how we do it.

The Third Robin Hood International Improv Festival runs from Weds 4 - Sun 8 Sept 2024. Tickets available at: robinhoodimprov.co.uk/shows

Q]@robinhoodimprov

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food

Cleaver and wake words and photos: Lucy Campion

A new fixed evening menu has launched at Cleaver & Wake, offering you a taste of fine dining at a more affordable price. The canalside restaurant also welcomes guests to its new champagne terrace, just in time to enjoy the lighter summer evenings.

If you haven’t heard of Cleaver & Wake before, this upmarket restaurant first opened in 2022 and has been attracting fine dining enthusiasts from across Nottingham and the UK since. It’s the jewel of the Island Quarter, a burgeoning development project on the outskirts of the city centre, just off London Road, with ambitious regeneration plans ahead for its 36acre site. Housed in an industrial-style, three-storey building, Cleaver & Wake strikes a dramatic figure against the skyline – a suitably impressive venue for a dining experience intended to wow.

As a local food blogger, I’ve had Cleaver & Wake on my list of places to visit since it opened but, just like many foodies in this city, my monthly budget doesn’t stretch far enough to justify the costs of fine dining.

While ‘you get what you pay for’ is a mantra I swear by when it comes to eating out, the truth is fine dining has simply become unaffordable for many people in the current economic climate. So, it’s great to see highend establishments like Cleaver & Wake recognising the need to present lower cost options without compromising on the luxurious experience fans of fine dining are accustomed to.

With the restaurant’s new fixed evening offer, you can choose between two courses for £42 and three courses for £50. The menu incorporates some of the finest produce and ingredients, sourced from across the British Isles; from dry-aged steaks to freshly caught fish of the day, there’s a strong selection of dishes to suit a range of palates.

I walked into Cleaver & Wake’s grand, open plan dining room with my expectations high. Large windows lined the walls, flooding the space with natural light and, later that evening, providing an atmospheric backdrop of the night sky. Simplicity and sophistication are at the heart of the restaurant’s decor, with nods to art deco in the royal blue velvet furnishings and symmetrical details. The focal point of the room is the open kitchen, which adds a theatrical flair to your meal, giving you a glimpse of the culinary magic happening behind the scenes as the talented chef team – led by Head Chef

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Hira Thakur – conjures up course after course of showstopping food.

Our meal began with complimentary snacks: dijon gougères (a cheesy choux pastry) with black olive emulsion. This was followed by bread rolls, warm from the oven, with miso & gochujang butter. We polished off these pre-starter bites quickly, as appetising aromas from the kitchen lingered in the air, teasing us of the courses still to come.

The arrival of our starters brought a burst of colour to the table. My ‘Isle of Wight Tomatoes’ was a vibrant mixture of yellow, green and red tomatoes, perched atop a delicate whirl of whipped goat’s cheese in a pool of basil pesto. My feelings towards tomatoes are lukewarm at best usually but the whipped cheese won me over when ordering and I’m so glad it did because this was a highlight of our meal. A quick Google search revealed that the Isle of Wight is famed for its tomatoes, which explains why they were extra juicy and far sweeter than those found in supermarkets.

The focal point of the room is the open kitchen, which adds a theatrical flair to your meal, giving you a glimpse of the culinary magic happening behind the scenes My boyfriend’s courgette & leek soup was served with a flourish, our waitress pouring the soup around an island of cracked pepper croutons and crème fraiche. I snuck a taste (food blogger perks!) and was impressed by the depth of flavour achieved in a vegetable soup.

For the main event, I chose the slow-cooked Cornish lamb shoulder with potato & seaweed terrine and feta-topped gem lettuce. The dish was finished with a tapenade jus. The flavours worked well together and the lamb fell apart at the lightest touch of a knife.

My boyfriend’s fillet medallions were crafted from dryaged British beef. Like all three of the steak options, the

medallions came with a supplement charge. Personally I’ve never understood the fuss over steak, but my boyfriend really enjoyed this one and another stolen taste from me confirmed it was extremely tender. The horseradish gel also gave this dish a satisfying kick.

Dessert was my favourite course, as it provided us with the most interesting flavour combinations of the whole meal. After struggling to pick a dessert, we decided to share two and end the evening in decadent style. The first was a white chocolate cannoli crema encased in a pistachio crumb, alongside a perfectly tart raspberry & lime sorbet. The second (and another for the chocoholics) was a dark chocolate delice, served with the added crunch of honeycomb – the addition of tonka bean cream, rather than a more typical flavour like vanilla, was a genius touch.

With Cleaver & Wake finally ticked off my list of local places to visit, I can confirm this Island Quarter restaurant is worth the hype. Whether you’re a seasoned foodie or completely new to fine dining, the new evening menu has made this dinner destination more accessible and it’s a must-visit for your next special occasion.

The Veuve Clicquot Champagne Terrace Cleaver & Wake has recently opened a brand new champagne terrace in collaboration with prestigious champagne house Veuve Clicquot.

Situated at the front of the restaurant, the area is a real sun trap on a summer’s day. We timed our visit with one of the hottest days of the year and enjoyed a chilled glass of bubbly in the shade of a parasol.

If you’re looking for a stylish spot to make the most of the rare British sunshine, Cleaver & Wake’s champagne terrace is an ideal place to toast the weekend.

Follow Lucy on Instagram at @luceinnotts for regular reviews on where to eat, drink and have fun in Nottingham.

It’s a great thing for us herbivores that almost all restaurants cater for vegetarians and vegans these days. Whilst this is a positive cultural change, the number of purely plant-based establishments seems to have somewhat dwindled. Luckily for Notts, Cafe Roya offers creative and delicious vegetarian and vegan cuisine in an intimate setting, which is definitely worth the tram ride out to Beeston.

Walking into Cafe Roya, I was immediately struck by the beautiful decor; the walls are dotted with artwork, the counter is adorned with a handcrafted mosaic, and upstairs the rustic bare brick walls and cute tables offer an intimate setting for their dinner service.

Roya herself worked at Michelin starred Restaurant Sat Bains before opening her own place fifteen years ago. She was not in that day, but chatting with her partner it was revealed that the decor, menu and all round vibe are inspired

by Roya’s travels and tastes. This is something I love about independent eateries - the character and warmth that come from personal penchants, stories and experiences, rather than a faceless business serving quick food for money. There were details dotted around - like a Benjamin Zephaniah poem on the loo door, or colourful clipboards (very artfully) painted by customers which all added to the character of the restaurant.

On this visit I came for the lunch menu, where for £14.95 you can choose from three ‘hot bakes’; a Spanish med veg casserole with basil oil, Cambodian tempeh stuffed aubergine, or a roasted red pepper and goats cheese tart. Being an absolute tart for all things pastry myself, I went for the latter and I wasn’t disappointed - the base was perfectly crumbly, the goats cheese brought warmth and softness, and the roasted pepper a little tasty zing. I could eat this for days.

Along with the hot bake came five different salad medleys. Initially this was a bit confusing as to whether I was to choose one of the five, or pick

Alora

five separate salad ingredients - but I was quite delighted that all five were actually included. If you enjoy eating healthy and fresh - this is the nonpareil of salads: you get the expected leaves, carrot, shallots, cucumber and tomatoes etc, but sprinkled in is avocado, poppy slaw, olives, fennel, green beans and more. I particularly adored the tempeh ‘bacon’ pieces which added a richness, and the sprinklings of fresh herbs and tahini. All salads will be pale in comparison from now on, and I’m very much inspired to up my salad game at home.

I’m not usually a dessert person, but I was too tempted by the salted miso chocolate brownie, which was served with ice cream, fresh strawberries, raspberries and physalis.

This was an absolute melt-in-your-mouth dreamcake, perfectly balancing salty and sweet, with subtle hints of miso which weren’t out of place or overpowering in any way. In contrast, my companion chose the peach and mango oaty bake, which gave warm, comforting country cooking vibes - something I’d definitely want to order on a cold day. I should add that these are available as vegan or gluten free options too!

Cafe Roya is open Tuesday - Saturday, with lunch served between midday and 2pm. I’m told the atmosphere becomes cosier and more intimate for the dinner service (5-11pm), which offers a separate menu that changes monthly, and I will definitely be visiting again to try that. They offer options to suit any dietary requirements, so if you’re gluten free or celiac, just give them a ring to discuss how they can adapt their dishes. They have previously put on events, such as film and music nights, plus I spotted a Spanish inspired bottomless brunch which looked very tempting.

Delicious, healthy, good value and packed with character - I think I’ve found my new favourite restaurant in Notts.

words & photos: Sophie Gargett

Q]@caferoya130

Our trusty food editor Julia Head took a jaunt just ten minutes out of the city centre to Mapperley Top’s new tapas restaurant Alora, where the food, service and vibe all scored a perfect ten.

When I heard that there was a brand-new tapas restaurant in Nottingham, I wasted no time booking a table to try it for myself. Food is life, and my life revolves around eating – such are the perks of being a food blogger and editor.

Now, at the risk of starting a debate about what is considered Nottingham and what isn't, for clarity, we're talking about Mapperley Top – a mere ten-minute drive from the city centre.

Alora Restaurant opened its doors in June in the former bank on bustling Plains Road, adjacent to many other popular eateries on the strip. It’s co-owned by Callum Wightman, also known for Mapperley’s beloved The Old Flower Shop.

The restaurant is the creation of Nottingham Chef Kieran Haugh, who began his career at just sixteen years old as a trainee Master Chef of Great Britain for three years before cooking at several prestigious eateries, including Maze by Gordon Ramsay and Tom Kerridge’s two Michelin-starred Hand and Flowers in Marlow. He then enjoyed five years as Executive Head Chef at the award-winning World Service in Nottingham.

Now, I’ll be honest. I was a bit sceptical about Alora at first. We have some of the best small plates restaurants in the city centre, and I wasn’t sure how a neighbourhood bar would compare. My scepticism was unfounded, because from the food to the service and vibe, everything scored a perfect ten.

The menu is divided into tapas, including pintxos, and more elegant small plates. We ordered six dishes between the two of us, which turned out to be the perfect amount for sharing.

words & photos: Julia Head

food reviews

Cafe Roya

On a beautiful summer’s day in July we took a jaunt to Beeston to visit vegetarian restaurant Cafe Roya, which brought fresh, healthy holiday vibes and warm service.

I don’t usually order flatbread at tapas restaurants, but I went out on a limb and decided to try the butternut squash and feta flatbread – a combo very popular in my home country of South Africa. The added smoky BBQ

flavour to the veg was spot on and made the dish more interesting than your usual flatbread. I hope it remains on the menu because I would definitely order it again.

The crispy Korean fried chicken was a generous portion served with fermented pineapple hot sauce (four words that excite me greatly). Although, I will add, it isn’t anywhere near the intense jerez sauce that a certain cherished tapas bar in Hockley serves. It’s still worth ordering and is a clear winner of a dish.

The tempura enoki mushrooms, with their somewhat futuristic appearance, were unbelievably good and accompanied by a homemade aioli. I loved this dish so much I barely shared it with my partner.

We ordered just one dish from the small plates menu - the tuna sashimi. It was a beautiful, light, zesty dish perfect for the summer (if it ever arrives). However, I must admit that for £13, I was expecting a bit more sashimi. Nevertheless, the quality was superb.

Of course, no tapas order is complete without traditional Spanish dishes like the mini spicy chorizo (deliciously juicy and smoky) and triple cooked patatas bravas (three times the fun). These are a must-add to any tapas order, so I highly recommend them.

Our bill, minus drinks, came to £60 for the six dishes, averaging £10 a dish. I felt it was maybe a little pricey considering it wasn't in the city, but I don't mind paying good money for good food – and there is no denying that the food is fantastic, and that Alora is worth a visit.

Alora are open Wednesday - Sunday and you can find them at 31 Plains Rd, Mapperley, Nottingham NG3 5JU. For more food reviews follow Julia @TheNottinghamFoodGuide on Instagram.

alorarestaurant.com

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Reasons to be Cheerful News is normally negative, but here’s a short round up of nice things that have happened in Notts in the last month.

Savoy Joy For nearly 100 years, the Savoy Cinema has been a beloved Notts spot to catch a movie.

They’ve now added deluxe seating in screens two, three and four. The rooms now boast some funky new additions like faux leather rocker seats, electric recliners and reclining double seats, The movie-going experience is sure to be enhanced and the cinema will feel all-the-more authentic. If you visit, be sure to give the seating a try, but try not to kick back too much so that you don’t doze off halfway through the film!

Roots of Boots Finally, July also saw Nottingham celebrate other aspects of its history, marking 175 years since Boots pharmacy was first opened at Goose Gate. To commemorate this, Boots partnered with the University of Nottingham to open a design exhibition called Counter Culture in Djanogly Gallery at Lakeside Arts . The exhibition focuses on how Boots provided ‘healthcare for all’ while massively influencing how we shop today. It was an important and positive moment in Nottingham history, which we should no doubt remember from here on out.

Palais Yay Since it was announced in February this year that Pryzm nightclub on Upper Parliament Street was to close, there’s been much speculation over what may happen to the building. The iconic club, known for its signature globe over the entrance, was built in 1925 and has been hosting nighttime revellers ever since as the Palais de Danse, Ritzy, and Oceana. You can dust those dancing shoes off however - in July it was announced that Rock City owners DHP have acquired the building to reopen soon as a new music and evening venue.

H T U TR OR

LEG END? TH E CA S E OF TH E Barbeque-Death-Ray Nottingham has enjoyed some idyllic sunny weather as of late.

It’s not, however, been quite so pleasant for pigeons near the Nottingham Playhouse, if a certain urban legend is to be believed.

If you visit Nottingham Playhouse to see one of their infinitelyimaginative, grassroots productions, the first thing you’ll probably notice is the Sky Mirror sculpture, grandly positioned outside the entryway. The artwork was made by Turner Prize winning sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor and first installed in 2001.

It’s the last thing people would imagine to be a health and safety hazard, but back in 2001 a worried Nottingham University consultant raised concerns about a ‘magnifying glass’ effect, which around midsummer could start frying local birdlife or even blinding people via a reflected beam.

r Toliet Humou

On the verge of the mirror’s installation, The Guardian reported that construction workers were making sure that this wouldn’t happen, setting up a sunscreen and taking further measures, but still the legend endured to this day. Find any travel blog, tourist guide or what’s-on article about Nottingham, most will mention that no, the mirror does not pose any threat to birds in the form of a ‘barbequedeath-ray’. It’s funny reflecting that even after twenty years, we have to specify this for visitors to the city.

Obviously, the idea behind the mirror is not to fry local wildlife, but instead to change with time and the surrounding environment. As the seasons change, so too do the images and shapes projected onto the mirror.

Sir Anish Kapoor himself has had a long and distinguished career as an artist, making rural, naturally built installations like ‘Earth Cinema’ in south Italy, as well as urban constructions like the famous ‘Cloud Gate’ in Chicago, or as Chicagoans like to call it: ‘The Bean’.

lavs? you laugh in the Something made quips to editorial@leftlion.co.uk t ies Send your funn Full of good sense Just like the owl They avoided the king His highway too fowl Though equally in turn They were deemed silly The name of their town?

Like a buck or a billy Now they’re prolific Famed in DC And too in Notts folklore For mad men they be

Riddle me this...

Check in next month for the answer.

Did you solve last month’s riddle?

The answer was… Lady Chatterley’s Lover

He has also produced similar versions of the Nottingham Sky Mirror for locations around the world, including the Rockefeller Plaza in New York, Kensington Gardens in London and the Palace of Versailles near Paris. As far as we can tell, however, people in New York and Paris have never gotten worried about birds being lasered out of the air near these sculptures.

The myth therefore could be a badge of honour for Nottingham, the city’s own interpretation of the artwork, so-to-speak. It’s often the small things, the details, myths and inside-jokes about a city which get people visiting and enjoying it, after all, so in LeftLion’s opinion, long may these imaginary pigeons continue to be fried!

words: Caradoc Gayer

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BEST OF THE MONTH Arboretum Beer Festival When: Sat 24 August Where: Arboretum How much: £16.50

Foolhardy Folk Festival When: Sun 25 August Where: Arboretum Bandstand How much: From £34.75

Live at the Hall When: Fri 30 August Where: Wollaton Hall How much: From £62.70

Soak up the summery atmosphere of the Arboretum’s fourth annual beer festival.

This month the festival will showcase an array of real ales and craft beers produced by local breweries, including Nottingham’s own awardwinning Castle Rock, and those further afield. With the addition of live music, DJs and street food curated by Bustler Market the beer festival promises to be as relaxing and social as ever.

If you fancy an extra dose of music after the beer festival, then you should revisit the Arboretum for the Foolhardy Folk Festival the next day.

Curated by local folk legend Beans on Toast, this year’s lineup is stacked full of exciting and energetic folk artists, including Will Varley, Black Water Country, Pet Needs and Dan Ottewell. Food and drink will continue to be available throughout the family friendly festival, now one of the most beloved fixtures in Nottingham’s summer calendar.

On 30 August Live at the Hall will bring together a standout line-up of indie rockers, seeing performances from The Sherlocks, The Pigeon Detectives and Feeder, with Razorlight headlining - a band who this year will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album. As seasoned performers, known for hits like America and In The Morning, Razorlight are sure to enthral the audience, and with the addition of Wollaton Park as a backdrop, all four performances are set to provide an unrivalled atmosphere for music lovers.

Gloworm Festival When: Fri 16 August - Sun 18 August Where: Holme Pierrepont Country Park How much: From £55

Nottingham Carnival When: Sun 18 August Where: Victoria Embankment How much: £5.50

Hannah Wants When: Sat 17 August Where: Bink’s Yard How much: £30.25

Carnival troupes from Nottingham and beyond will visit Victoria Embankment for a afternoon-and-eveninglong parade, before visiting the carnival park, which will feature live bands, over 20 DJs, a variety of genres from Afrobeat to dancehall and a variety of world food stalls.

Free-to-watch at any point on its route from Embankment to Wilford Grove, the carnival will be a joyful and colourful occasion without a single dull moment to be had through the day.

For the second instalment of the Groovebox summer terrace parties, Midlands DJ Hannah Wants will play at Binks Yard, accompanied by others including Arielle Free. With tickets on their final release, the event is sure to be a highlight of the Notts summer calendar, where attendees can expect 8 hours of raving, food vans and glitter. If in August you feel the need to let loose under the sunshine and cut a rug to some soul-shaking house beats, then this could well be the party for you.

Gloworm Festival, which this month will happen at Holme Country Park, provides three fun-filled days of familyfriendly entertainment, from music, to character shows, to circus acts to fairground rides.

Now in its 8th year, the festival aims to provide a welcoming and all-ages-inclusive environment, a perfect portof-call for parents looking to make fun memories with their children this summer.

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Emily Catherine Exhibition When: Sun 25 August - Sat 31 August Where: Richmond House How much: Free Renowned Notts artist and the talent behind LeftLion's editorial illustrations, Emily Catherine will open a solo exhibition later this month, displaying a variety of her work, from conceptual charcoal pieces to her portfolio of album cover illustrations.

The co-founder of local artist initiative Beermat Doodles, Emily has lived and worked in Nottingham for most of her life, her art foregrounding ideas about people, justice and music. The exhibition will take place at Richmond House, in the Signature Dance Studio.

Nottingham Shakespeare Company, Henry V When: Wed 7 August - Sat 17 August Where: Various venues How much: Free The Nottingham Shakespeare Company (NSC) will showcase their production of Henry V in eleven different locations through August, between Nottingham, Castle Donnington and Leicester. The play follows the famous historical figure’s journey from reckless youth to warrior king. Having performed Shakespeare for free since 2019, the NSC is excited to introduce this open-air performance, which will have a contemporary and fast-paced edge, sure to grip audiences of all ages and backgrounds.