I have lived in the Nottinghamshire town of Hucknall (now counted as just another suburb of Nottingham itself) for six years. It’s roughly 8 miles north of Nottingham itself and very close to the M1 Motorway (Junction 26 and 27). The population is somewhere around 30,000, but as this is an ex-mining community it’s a drab little place really. This is a great shame as it has a lot of potential, as I will explain later. The main thing Hucknall has going for it is its History and I think I’ll start with that stuff first in this review.

The poet Lord Byron (who was incidentally the 5th Lord to hold the title) is interred in St Mary’s church in the town centre. There is a debate that still goes on to this date about whether his heart, supposedly buried in Greece where he died) is actually in Greece at all or if it’s here in Hucknall. Numerous openings of the Byron vault in the church have so far neither proved nor dis-proved this one way or another. His daughter, Ada, the Lady Lovelace is also buried in the family vault. She helped Babage create the world’s very first computer; and it was her who wrote the first computer programme. So without this little known lady (she WAS a touch over-shadowed by her father!) we all wouldn’t be sat here now facing our little screens.

Staying on an historical note, but moving on from people, here in Hucknall we have a Rolls Royce test bed centre. But what the heck is that I hear you all cry? Well to put in as shorter manner as possible, it’s where Rolls Royce tests their aircraft engines. I’m putting this here in the historical part because this place does date back quite a number of years, in fact during WWII it was an important RAF training centre and testing place for all improvements made to important military aircraft. The only WW11 German internee, who successfully escaped, tried to flee the country by stealing an aircraft from the airfield! The world’s first vertical take off and landing aircraft was built and tested here, then it became the Harrier Jump jet…

I suppose at this point I should back track a little and tell you all about St Mary’s church itself. The main part of this building, half of the tower and the porch all date back to the 12th century. The tower was added to around 200 years later, with the clock and stained glass windows, as well as more ‘building’ additions were made in the 19th century. The church today is very well preserved although due to crime has to be kept locked somewhat more than it should be. The surrounding churchyard/graveyard is a lovely place to just sit and relax and around 3 years ago a ‘sensory’ garden area was opened for people who are blind. This was a ‘community’ project, with all Hucknall primary schools contributing tactile wall plaques. A couple of my kids were involved so I’m one proud mum!

SHOPPING sounds like a good enough place for me to start this section, not that there’s a grand deal I can write here! There are 2 main supermarkets here, Safeway in the Town centre and Aldi’s on Nottingham Road. Now Aldi’s is crappy, Safeway I’ve already covered in another op (shameless plug there), but as it’s so bad it barely counts as a supermarket. There’s also a couple of Co-ops, but your average corner shop would be better stocked/run. The town centre boasts an extraordinary number of Charity shops and woman’s clothes stores and not a lot else strangely. We do have a small branch of Boots, a bakery and a couple of greengrocers. If this lot hasn’t put you off, the market (in surprise, surprise the Market place) on a Friday is actually rather good, there’s also a Flea fair held there every Thursday evening.

Onto LEISURE now, and sorry, again nothing spectacular. We do have a cinema; well if a building with only one screen (the other screen is now used for Bingo), can be called a movie-theatre! The library is housed in a 19th century building on the Market place, which has recently been re-furbished, and had a computer suite installed. On the out-skirts of the centre is the town’s swimming pool and Leisure Centre. They also run a youth club each week. The Town Park has a good kids play area, with lots of equipment and even a paddling pool for the summer. There are also Tennis courts and a huge grassed area for ball games. We also have our own football team, Hucknall Town, who currently play in the Unibond Premier League.

Hucknall will soon be the final station for the first line to be opened in Nottingham’s new NET transport system (that’s trams to you and me). We’re already on the Robin Hood train line, operated by Central trains, which runs between Nottingham and Worksop and well served by Trent Buses (the UK’s bus operator of the year dontcha know!!) so quite why the powers that be decided that we get trams too is beyond me (can you tell I’m not keen…?)

As for what this resident would like to see for the future of this much maligned place? Well decent lights at Christmas down the High Street would be a start; I guess a serious push for all things Touristy would be too much to ask from the council L This place has serious potential and so much history that its criminal it’s not a thriving place to live. I've sat here debating whether or not to recommend this place to you guys. I'm settling on a 'yes' but simply because of the place's historical value. Just remember, if you do come for a visit, wear rose-tinted glasses!!!