The Malt Cross is located on James Street and has a long history, originally being built in 1877 and remains one of the few Victorian music halls still standing. As a result, it is a grand old venue and in November 2008 become my 100th different venue.
It has an unusual layout with bands playing on a split-level stage. The Shakes were a Nottingham based covers band playing a suite of soul tracks.
Based in the centre of Hockley is the Jam Café, which is a 100% independent bar with craft beer on tap. I first visited in 2009 and first on the bill on a little stage in the corner was Burly Nagasaki, a local rock and roll duo comprising of Joey Chickesnkin and Theresa Wrigley. They played quirky diverse stuff and they were very humorous and hugely enjoyable.
Theresa then joined her other band Fists on stage where the five-piece brewed up an entertaining scuzzy grunge sound. The headliners were a folk combo called Bonsai Projects.
My other attendance there was four years later to see a local singer Alex Taylor, not unfortunately the former lead singer of the fabulous shoegazing C86 legends Shop Assistants, whose ‘Safety Net’ single remains one of the loudest recorded singles I have ever heard!
One of our regular watering holes was the Golden Fleece down on Mansfield Road. An old-fashioned boozer with some fine ales on draught and we have frequented a couple of Thursday night quizzes there. I recall they also had a glass walkway in the main bar which provides a peering point down to the beer cellar far below, in the same style as the one viewing the old well in the Plau pub in Preston.
We saw a couple of acoustic events there in 2011, the first being Kurt Martinez and the second being a band called the Seas of Mark.
On Goldsmith St was Spanky Van Dykes which loosely badged itself as an eatery and a funhouse. There was a gig venue upstairs and on our one visit in 2011 I thought instantly the place had a good vibe about it. The venue subsequently closed in 2017.
We saw a band called the Velotones who created a superb swirly guitar sound and I thought they had potential, however I have just undertaken a search for them and cannot find any recorded material by them, so I would have to place them in the lost gem category.
Nottingham Castle situated on Castle Rock (there is a fine local brewery of that name!) was built in 1068, commissioned by William the Conqueror a couple of years after the Battle of Hastings. It was largely demolished in 1651 and only partial elements remain.
On 14/10/11 we decided to attend a huge beer festival on the site where they had over 1000 beers on tap. We really couldn’t drink them all, so we undertook a small sample size on them a rather cold Friday afternoon.
Whilst we in attendance there were a couple of bands called Booba Dust and Toe Tappers tinkling away in the background. It turned out to be my 350th gig.