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NOTTINGHAM | Robin Hood Attractions

27K views 175 replies 38 participants last post by  Karate_Kev 
#1 ·
I felt this deserved a dedicated thread.

Some latest news on the proposed visitor centre/theme park for Sherwood Forest. Yet more delays, sadly.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Robin-Hood-planning-lost-woods/story-19987508-detail/story.html

In addition to the centre at Sherwood Forest, there is the proposed Robin Hood themed revamp at the castle.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-20558606

I despair that for years Nottingham hasn't been able to get it's act together. It's good that we've got these two proposals in the pipeline, but predictably they're struggling to gather pace. When Tales of Robin Hood was operational, at least we had something to celebrate the legend, but it was so tired towards the end it's little wonder it collapsed.

Anyway, I still think both ideas lack ambition. Robin Hood is such an iconic and popular legend that it's a travesty we don't have a world class attraction to tempt visitors to the city and equally for ourselves in the county to enjoy. I look to the Titanic museum at Belfast or the Guinness brewery in Dublin and find myself at a loss as to why we don't have a similarly iconic attraction here because guess what; our hero is a damn sight more exciting than hops and I would have thought could even trump the famous sunken ship, if done correctly.

Why is there no concerted effort to attract investors to a world class attraction right in the city, maybe even right where the Tales used to be? How could it not be a success? We've got the castle, the caves, the Trip - everything is in place to make the most of the medieval history of our city but instead we've got a frigging Tesco express at the old site.

I know some are wary of becoming a 'tourist' city, but I can't see a downside personally. Rock City wouldn't disappear just because we'd also started looking like an appealing place to tourists. Nor would the Lace Market or the NIC. But we could certainly use a bit of diversification away from the reliance on throngs of stag nights and student revelers. More balance, if you like.

How can we be missing this opportunity?
 
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#63 ·
I wonder if it would be possible to crowdfund a Robin Hood Attraction? Traditional leadership has failed us for the last 7 years. Off the top of my head I'd imagine it would be impossible to crowd fund the entire project, but it might be possible to crowd fund an exploratory committee with the goal of then using the funds to go out and seek investment. Who's up for it?
 
#67 ·
Opportunities are endless....

Big Nottingham based companies like Experian, Boots, Cap 1 etc could be approached for both their sponsorship and expertise.

Attractions like the York dungeons / jorvic centre thrive with decent advertising a clear vision, and the use of a history as a form of entertainment!
 
#72 ·
Update on the movie situation, if anyone else other than me is interested!

http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/16/bonos-daughter-cast-as-maid-marian-in-new-robin-hood-movie-5443400/

First of all, interesting casting. I'm not entirely convinced, they seem too young. Second, and most relevant of all according to Metro there are ten yes TEN movies penned about our Robin.

I was aware there was a bit of an arms race going on between Lionsgate, Disney and possibly Warner Brothers, but ten films? Presumably that includes the mooted sequels, which will almost certainly never get made by all three different studios, but still. That's easily over £1bn of investment and FREE advertising for Nottingham.

If the council don't get their act together and attract an investor to bring back a proper tales of Robin Hood then they never will. They should be well on the way already, in time for the releases. It's well documented how New Zealand tourism soared on the back of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, thanks to shots of lush greenery and misty mountains. They can't be incompetent enough to let us lose the same, can they?
 
#73 ·
I though the Council line was always "Sod Robin Hood, we've got world class shopping!"

We're going to be seeing a lot of confused American tourists wandering around the Nottingham in the years to come.

Still, give me Broadmarsh over anything say Stratford-upon-Avon has to offer any day...
 
#74 ·
Incredible isn't it, 1bn of free advertising (world wide).. There's a business case there for a sizeable loan if you came up with a good idea... On top of a decent Robin Hood attraction i'd like to see a website charting all known Nottingham caves and the Nottingham castle redev to include a hologram/ light show feature that could be turned on after dark to show what the castle would have looked like back in the day..
 
#76 ·
From an outsider's (westcountryman's) perspective:

It seems as though the city council are almost ashamed of the Robin Hood associations that Nottingham has. I.e their reluctance to open up a proper Robin Hood themed attraction in the city centre, or even in the nearby Sherwood forest. For Christ sake. It's as if they don't understand how positive this could be for the city. If they could create an attractive Boulevard with a mix of traditional and contemporary architecture along Maid Marion Way to open up a stunning view to the Castle and finally sort out Broadmarsh, that would be a good start. Then, in my opinion, two Robin Hood attractions should be created in the city centre. One should be a family based York-Jorvik style attraction, featuring waxworks models, how the legend of him originated, as well as the stories. Maybe called "The Legend of Robin Hood". The other should be a more serious Museum, showcasing documents, and discussing how such an important legend came to exist. Maybe called "Nottingham: a city of Legend?"

But out of town, there should definitely also be a theme park of some kind. Maybe a mixture of rides, as well as Puy Du Fou/ Warwick castle-style historical spectacles. I.e Jousting, Racing, Archery, Falconry, Sword-play etc.

As has been said, it just seems as though they want to create an entirely "contemporary shopping city", and trying to avoid any of the obvious associations with Mr Hood...

These are just my ideas btw!
 
#77 ·
I've recently been to Sherwood Forest and to say it was a disappointment, is an understatement. A rubbish visitor centre and in the forest itself; loads of information about flora and fauna - but nothing about the mystery, excitement and fame of Robin Hood. Quite liked the Major Oak, but the novelty quickly wore off.

The problem seems to me to be that you have the Sherwood element of Robin Hood and the Nottingham part. How do you fund attractions at two sites which are a fair distance apart?

Far more can be gained by driving all the funding for Robin Hood into Nottingham. It is the location with hotels, restaurants, bars etc...The castle is also a big part of the story and far more interesting than a pine tree woodland.

The city needs to re-open its network of caves, build a proper Robin Hood Museum (the castle should be for this purpose only) and build an observation tower, from which you can see Sherwood Forest and Robin's hometown in Leicestershire.
 
#95 ·
Oh dear, oh dear. Is it the council's role to try and exploit the city's full commercial, tourist and economic potential. Yes, of course it bloody is.

It doesn't really matter that it's a legend does it? 200,000 people visit Loch Ness every year, which to be fair must be a ballache to get to in comparison.
 
#82 ·
Not convinced there's enough money in Robin Hood attractions- many have tried and failed. There's scope for improvement, but who should take it on and finance it? There would be inevitable subsidy. The importance of Robin Hood may be understated, but are we overstating him? The forest is next to an ex-pit, we've got a castle that isn't a castle- doesn't scream "potential goldmine". There's room for a decent Nottingham attraction and an improved offer at Sherwood Forest, but I'm not sure it would make millions.
 
#89 ·
That would depend on the attraction and how well it was marketed.

It would also depend on how well it linked in with a wider tourist strategy for the county.

It would also help if we were able to project a positive identity of our city, so that people would want to come here, rather than the often negative, poor, crime ridden one that we are often portrayed as.

It's joined up thinking. It's belief, passion, vision, leadership that unfortunately we just don't seem to have at the moment.
 
#85 ·
There's plenty of cities in the world with reconstructed structures as part of their historic tourist areas. However building any additional structures takes money, and the UK and especially outside of the London area, this is not the option that it seems to be in other countries. The main reason I assume being a mix of economic (the lack of high spending visitors to provincial cities) and the fact that the UK is incredibly London-centric.
Hoever I do think if Nottingham had a more defined "historic" area, with some Robin Hood links it would make money. The story is more important than the reality. There's plenty of pretty cities and old buildings in the world with no visitors, but it only takes a movie to make an attraction.
 
#88 ·
601 Lexington avenue :" nothing real to see in Nottingham concerning Robin hood "

a lot of the robin hood ballads directly connect to real places in Nottingham and Sherwood forest.

For example the refuge of robin hood and others in st marys church ( lace market ) to escape the sheriffs men,
another example: the capture of robin hood and imprisonment in Shire Hall jail, (lace market ) ..and rescue from there by little john and other outlaws
Associations with Nottingham Castle.
connections to st annes area and Sherwood forest.

Many tourist attractions have been built with much less.
 
#92 ·
Many new businesses have opened up in the area around the museum. Greyfriar's, The Lanes, Leicester Market, High Street and the Highcross are all on the doorstep of the Cathedral, Guildhall and Visitor Centre. DMU are investing over £4m to renovate the Great Hall and hopefully the Castle Cottages will see a revival of the Castle Precinct. DMU also has the Church of the Annunciation in the basement of the Hawthorne Building, with more Richard III stuff. The visitors are still arriving...

We also have the Battle of Bosworth attractions just down the road...
 
#94 ·
I've often thought of visiting Bosworth Field seems like an interesting place. Apparently Richard (or was it the other one) had an army of over 10000 men. When you think the population of England was less than 3 or 4 million at the time its an absolute monster of an army really...all cut and chopped to oblivion
 
#96 ·
There were roughly 21,000 at the battle. 10,000 to 15,000 on Richard III's side - many of which spent the night in Leicester before the battle. Bet that was an interesting night, in a town with 3,000 to 4,000 residents - though not much different to a usual Saturday night.

Henry Tudor picked up thousands of recruits as he passed through Wales. Bosworth was a Welsh victory...from a very small population at the time.
 
#98 ·
I'm well aware of that it would be unrealistic to expect this scale of development, but I'm just saying it's desirable. I happen to think that if such a thing happened most interest would come from the private sector, who were eying potential returns.

If you look down the road at Leicester, they've managed to rustle up a modest museum about Dicky III. We've surely got the ability to provide at LEAST something of this scale.
 
#99 ·
I'm just saying it's desirable.
Oh, I agree. I'd love to be proved wrong and for a large, successful venture to materialise.

I'm not against state funding either, I'm happy for it to come out of general taxation (public-private would be the best compromise I think).

Culture is vital, not everything can thrive on favourable cost benefit ratios. I'm a big believer in good libraries and would love to make certain museums/attractions cheaper or free, like many museums/galleries in London.
 
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