10 Best Places to Go Shopping in Nottingham

Bridlesmith Gate runs right through the very heart of Nottingham city centre. Pedestrianized from tip to toe, it links bustling Victoria Street with the intu Broadmarsh complex. It's been a hotspot for trade and markets since the Middle Ages. Today, it hosts some of the town's chicest and most recognizable brand stores.

Hugo BOSS mingles with Joules to offer upscale fashion wear. There are designer shoe shops and handbag emporiums. You'll find glitzy jewelers and peaceful book outlets. All of that comes set behind handsome, half-timbered façades, which hearken back to the long history of the thoroughfare.

The sprawling intu Victoria Center is the most cutting-edge retail complex in the city. You'll find it stretching from Upper Parliament Street all the way to the A60, encompassing a whopping 91,000 square meters of space that contains over 115 individual shops and outlets. There are loads to get through.

The roster of places to browse is seemingly endless. From the cosmetics of Boots to the twinkling trinkets of Claire's Accessories to the fairy-tale cuddly toys of the Disney shop, you're not likely to get bored scouring the spacious arcades. You can also drop in for a bite to eat. Juice bars, Italian trattorias and pasty outlets abound.

The Victoria Center Market is a hubbub of life and energy in central Nottingham. For shoppers who like to keep it local, it's an excellent place for meeting, mingling, and perhaps even haggling with regional sellers.

They stock all sorts, but the real focus is on fresh fruit, meat and vegetables. The produce tends to follow the English seasons, so you'll get fresh asparagus in spring straight off the farm, haddock from the North Sea, English apples plucked from a nearby orchard – you get the idea. Victoria Center Market is also a cracking people-watching spot. A café inside offers a prime place to unwind.

The Lace Market was an engine room for textile production during the age of the British Empire. Its huge depots and redbrick warehouses – where lace merchants and manufacturers from all over the world plied their trade in the 1800s – can be found on the east side of the city centre, hemmed in by Bellar Gate.

Delve in and you'll discover what's now considered one of the hippest and most happening quarters of the city. The industrial complexes have been converted into huge vintage clothes emporiums. There are bustling student bars with happy-hour cocktail deals in the Victorian buildings. You can shop for skate gear and urban wear amid the winding alleys.

The area of Hockley is joined at the hip with the old Lace Market, filling the gap northwards to the A60 and Glasshouse Street. It's a part of the center that comes with plenty of moxie. Students have made it their home. Brewhouses adorn the sidewalks. Boho coffee outlets scent the blocks with their single-origin beans.

For shoppers, it's gotten a few off-beat surprises. Oriental food markets come stacked with Bombay mixes and zaatar spice straight out of the Middle East on 1 corner. Then, you can catch a curious haberdashery with second-hand typewriters or retro egg chairs from the 1960s.

The Old Market Square in Nottingham sits right in the beating epicenter of Nottingham. Also known as Slab Square, it’s the anchor for all of the town's major shopping boulevards. That means it's a great place to begin any retail jaunt through the city.

On the plazas itself, you can start spending in big department stores like Debenhams or fuel up with breakfast in a local gastropub. The nearby strip of Cheapside defies its name with a montage of cool coffee houses that sell roasted beans and brewing paraphernalia. Further north are King and Clumber Streets, both awash with chain stores and budget clothes shopping.

intu Broadmarsh is a major shopping complex located between Castle Gate and Collin Street in Nottingham. Straddling the bays of the big bus interchange, it's conveniently placed for a little retail enjoyment while waiting for your connection or just arriving in the city.

The focus is largely on affordable and convenient stores. There's a big leaning toward home furnishings and DIY, along with card shops, gift outlets, florists and money exchanges. The north side of the mall meets Low Sidewalk street, which has a couple of pubs serving real ale and hearty English lunches.

Flying Horse Walk bills itself as a 'boutique shopping arcade' of Nottingham. It's a covered thoroughfare dating back to the Georgian era. You can join it just off St Peter's Gate and follow the arcade all the way through to Cheapside on the central square.

Between the 2 entrances, you'll be treated to a brightly lit interior with Art Deco filigrees and paned windows fronting the shops. The real strength of the offering in Flying Horse is its array of independent sellers. These include hand-stitched garment makers, Nottingham-owned beer brewers, cheese delis showcasing the best of British dairy – the list goes on.

Beeston attracts those looking to escape the buzz of central Nottingham for something a little quieter. It sits to the southwest of the city, but can be reached after 10 minutes by automobile or 25 minutes by bus. The vibe is more local, with a touch of suburbia.

The main drag is High Road. It comes off Broadgate toward the edge of the large University of Nottingham campus, quickly turning into a reel of banks and building societies, pizza outlets and gold traders. The best shopping opportunities are probably the oriental cash-and-carries and the intriguing food spots, which range from Chinese cookhouses to East Coast lobster kitchens. 

The shopping in Nottingham hardly gets more exclusive than what's on offer at The Exchange. Placed smack bang in the heart of the city, just off Old Market Square and Cheapside, it's a well-to-do mix of haute couture and bespoke furnishing workshops where the prices can soar just as much as the class.

Well-known names like Harvey Jones, Jack Wolfskin, Oasis and Radley all occupy space within. Once you're done in those, be sure to check out the range of boutique Parisian-style pastry outlets and cafes. They offer a place to settle in for some people watching under the gorgeous vaulted glass ceilings of the elegant Neo-Baroque arcade.