LeftLion January 2026 Issue 191

Man dressed as a Christmas tree in the pub: "I go t stitched up. Th ey said it was fancy dress."

e the food "You could not se for the cheese"

“Never min la, just get d your Ooh la the table.” your feet off

hey use t beca r urge." s p o ity sh -gathere char er "I like my hunt fy satis

at a beer festival, "She turned up ink, BOOMF GONE! dr a ve ha didn't how much grief because she kneweryone." ev m fro t ge she'd

Do centaurs slap their own butts to go faster?

“That’s like saying you don’t fart, but you real ly do.” “…I do fart . But I don’t touch.”

"She's ALWAYS at the chiropodist..."

“Do you want to poke at the hot coals? Might make you feel better?”

Pick Six

To celebrate Veganuary, for this month’s Pick Six we reached out to Adrian Bhagat who looks after Sherwood vegan emporium The V Spot, and runs the successful Sherwood Vegan Market.

e size ad lif h y e "Th " tlers wres

sumo

words: Dani Bacon

Book: Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy Hardy’s novels depict rural communities at a time when traditional ways of life were threatened by modern developments such as industrialisation and the railways. His characters are brought down by their own flaws and by the restrictions of rigid Victorian morality. In Return of the Native, the beautiful Eustacia roams a gloomy heathland longing for a more exciting life, but her plan to escape her marriage and travel to Paris leads to her doom.

Notts spot: Mill Lakes Mill Lakes is a kind of offshoot of Bestwood Country Park. As the name suggests, it’s a lake that was created to power a water mill, but it’s now a haven for waterfowl and a tranquil little patch of countryside on the edge of the city. When I was training for my first marathon I used to trudge along the path that circles the lake, time after time. Nowadays, I run after my daughter as she squelches into the muddy puddles.

Song: Mine by Orla Gartland Sometimes a song just grabs you by the ears, the heart, the guts, everything. Mine is a short and stripped-back song about a woman finally able to enjoy intimacy after a history of sexual abuse. Gartland’s voice is beautifully expressive as she tells her lover about the profound joy of sex that is felt more powerfully because it is tinged with guilt and melancholy. Whenever it comes up on my playlist I just have to stop and listen.

Pub: Kean’s Head I love my ales and I love sitting in pubs. On a rare night off from work and childcare responsibilities you will find me here playing backgammon with my friend David. Kean’s Head has a huge range of interesting beers for such a small place – a lively variety of people come and go through the doors in an evening. The tables are so close together that you often find yourself chatting to strangers.

Personal hero: Patrick Smith from the Veggies Catering Campaign. This was an easy choice. Running a vegan business in 2025 is a challenge, but Veggies was started in Nottingham in the 1980s, catering at demonstrations and green gatherings. Pat is a workaholic who held the whole business together, a man of infinite patience, kindness, and optimism who has inspired so many people to put their ethics into practice. Although he has officially retired, he is still running stalls and flipping burgers from time to time.

Computer game: Age of Empires II I lost so many evenings to this game around the millennium, and then quite a bit more in 2019 when they re-released it as the Definitive Edition. Buy me a pint and I will bore you with the time I dispatched a small army as a diversion, secretly blasted a path through the Black Forest with a siege catapult, and emerged in my opponent’s village with dozens of trebuchets that finally destroyed his Wonder at the very moment the game ended.

leftlion.co.uk 7

Nadia on... Punch by James Graham words: Nadia Whittome photo: Lux Gagos

I recently saw Punch in the West End, a phenomenal play by Notts playwright James Graham about the real-life tragedy in which Jacob Dunne kills James Hodgkinson with a single blow, outside a bar in Nottingham, in 2011. In the years since, this incident and the remarkable story of its aftermath have sparked extensive discussion about male youth violence and restorative justice. Having grown up in the Meadows as a teenager, where Jacob is from, it was surreal to see a story that felt so close to home performed to sold-out audiences in London. But it shows that the themes it tackles and the questions it raises resonate deeply, far beyond our city. What the play captures so powerfully is the set of conditions that led to that life-shattering moment and the complex aftermath – the shock, the denial, and eventual acceptance of grief and responsibility. For those unfamiliar with the story, in 2011, nineteen-year-old Jacob Dunne was out drinking with his friends. At the same time, James Hodgkinson, a 28-yearold trainee paramedic, was on a pub crawl in town with his father and brother, after watching a cricket match at Trent Bridge. As the evening went on, a minor disagreement broke out between the two groups of men over a pair of sunglasses. James himself posed no threat, but as tensions rose between the groups Jacob, having been called over by his mates, ran over and threw a single punch. James fell backwards, hitting his head on the pavement, and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. He never regained consciousness and died nine days later in a hospital. For weeks, Jacob didn’t know that James had died. He only learned something was seriously wrong when friends told him the police were asking questions. When he voluntarily went to the station, it was there that he learned James had lost his life and was arrested on suspicion of murder. Jacob was ultimately convicted of manslaughter. As he admitted to the offence, and because the fatal injury resulted from James’s fall rather than the punch itself, he received a sentence of thirty months, of which he served fourteen. Jacob struggled to take responsibility at the time. He saw the incident as a moment of bad luck, but that changed when James’ parents reached out to him from a place of unimaginable grief to seek understanding of the night’s events. Confronted with their courage and compassion, Jacob began to grasp the true magnitude of what had happened. It was this moment that set him on a path towards accountability and transformed his life. These days, Jacob and James’ parents use their experiences to educate about the risks of one-punch killings and advocate for restorative justice. In 2020, Jacob presented The Punch, a BBC Radio 4 series exploring the impact of violent crime and the potential for redemption. His book, Right From Wrong, furthers his campaign against violence and promotes restorative practices as a solution to division, crime, and hate. We know that serious violence does not emerge in a vacuum, and the adverse experiences in Jacob’s childhood and teenage years, depicted in the play, demonstrate this. Research shows that people who live in more deprived areas

are more likely to live in neighbourhoods with higher crime rates. The impacts of poverty and deprivation are far-reaching and can create problems of social isolation, low educational attainment, unemployment, and impact mental and physical health, as well as social interactions. In Nottingham, we have some of the highest levels of deprivation in England and shocking child poverty rates in some of our most deprived areas. It’s why, among many other reasons, this government must confront the vast social and economic inequalities shaping young people’s lives in our city and across the country. Otherwise, our communities are being set up to fail.

Some people will dismiss restorative justice as a soft alternative to punishment, but that misunderstands its purpose, which is to understand why a crime has happened and its impact, and to reduce the chances of reoffending Jacob is also leading a campaign calling on the government to give all crime victims the legal right to pursue restorative justice. This is a voluntary process for the victim and the offender to share how the crime has affected them, which can be face-to-face, in writing, or through recorded interviews. However, fewer than one in twenty victims are ever informed about this option. Some people will dismiss restorative justice as a soft alternative to punishment, but that misunderstands its purpose, which is to understand why a crime has happened and its impact, and to reduce the chances of reoffending. It’s a process that requires accountability and emotional vulnerability. Given the evidence that it helps victims of crime feel heard – in a criminal justice system that often disempowers them – and reduces reoffending, it seems a no-brainer that victims should have a legal right to be told that restorative justice exists. I have already backed this campaign and hope that the government introduces this transformative legislation. Punch deserves the critical acclaim it has received since its launch. Due to popular demand and a remarkable run on Broadway and in the West End, the play will be returning to Nottingham Playhouse in March 2026, tickets to which you can book now. Both hilarious in some places, and gut-wrenching in others, Punch is a real testament to James Graham’s skill as a playwright and the commitment of all involved to advocate for a society which reduces violence, improves rehabilitation and refuses to write people off. It made me laugh and cry in almost equal measure – an absolute must-watch. nadiawhittome.org

leftlion.co.uk 11

Well Now... It’s a new year and inevitably many of our thoughts turn to lifestyle changes, getting fit, trying new things and increasing our physical and mental wellness. Aside from hitting the gym there are various other things you can try in Nottingham to get the endorphins going and make this January feel a little lighter. Here are a few of our recommendations, but make sure that you check out individual websites for special events and more info…

Saunahood

MinorOak Co-working

What is it? Saunahood offers wood-fired sauna and plunge pool contrast therapy. The sauna is a beautifully converted horse box seating up to ten people; handcrafted and fire-powered. You sit. You sweat. You melt. The Plunge is two state of the art steel stock baths powered by an industry-leading filtration and cooling system. Take the plunge under the canopy of trees and enjoy calm, clarity, and the kind of high you can’t bottle from contrast therapy.

What is it? MinorOak is an independent 22-seat coworking space located in Sneinton Market, in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter. It includes a social workspace downstairs, a quiet workspace upstairs, a meeting room, two phone rooms, and is open from 8.30am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday. Need to be in a Zoom meeting? Want a snack or a warm drink? Prefer to use a monitor with your laptop? Loaner monitors, refreshments, and phone rooms are included.

Where is it? Nestled away in a quiet corner in the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham's Holme Pierrepont Country Park. Adbolton Ln, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 5AX.

Where is it? Situated amongst the creative businesses of Sneinton Market, MinorOak is on Gedling Street and Avenue A at Unit 6 Sneinton Market, Nottingham NG1 1DS.

How much? £15 per person for a public session. Or if you can book the whole place for up to ten of you for £100. Sessions last fifty minutes.

How much? Specialising in flexible, part-time memberships; you never pay more than £2.50/hour and yes, you can just walk in and work.

What the experts say… "At our wood-fired sauna you will find deep relaxation, improved circulation, and a calmer mind, while the contrast of cold water boosts resilience, recovery, and mental clarity. For me the combination of hot/cold therapy combined with time in nature significantly lifts the mood, and creates a powerful sense of balance, leaving you feeling refreshed, focused, and fully restored." Ellen Tobin saunahood.co.uk

What the experts say… “Many people are working from home these days, but it can be both isolating and distracting! Get out of the house, get your daily walk in and get more done while immersing yourself in the creative community of Sneinton Market Avenues. Work alongside friendly, interesting people and be part of a community of independent workers.” Dee Miller

Studio Dreamland

Deep Yoga

What is it? Studio Dreamland is a radical wellbeing studio, and a creative community space rooted in inclusivity, connection, and dreaming new worlds into being. At heart it’s a wellness space, though their idea of ‘well’ is expansive. They have a one-to-one treatment room, a collective of wellness practitioners, and a group space with regularly curated events, from breathwork and sound baths to full moon gatherings.

What is it? Deep Yoga School & Studio was founded by Dr Gurdeep Singh Athwal in early 2018, after many years of training in India with the aim of spreading the philosophy of yoga and respecting ancient yoga traditions, while embracing evolution. Classes range from inclusive introductory and all-level yoga sessions, to specific skills’ workshops, such as inversions, backbends, and breath work. The studio also runs specialised sessions such as floating sound baths, ‘scared’ sleep sessions and more.

Where is it? It’s in Cobden Chambers, a lovely little hub for creative and indie businesses found down the alleyway next to The Bodega. 4d Cobden Chambers, NG1 2ED.

minoroak.com

Where is it? Just off Mansfield Road – halfway between Vic Centre and the Forest Rec. Unit 2A, The Old Knows Factory, St. Ann’s Hill Road, Nottingham, NG3 4GN.

How much? Workshops are priced between £20-30 each. Contact them directly for one-to-one session prices. What the experts say… “We’re here for the queers and the weirdos. For the dreamers and creatives, the folks who stand a little (or a lot) left of centre. Our aim is to support folks to move into a deeper relationship with themselves, community, and the world.” Elle Bower Johnson studiodream.land

How much? Their intro offer is £25 for fourteen days of unlimited classes. After that it’s £15 per class (£7.50 for over 8 community classes weekly) or or £50 per month for up to ten classes. What the experts say… “At Deep Yoga, every class is designed to help build strength, improve flexibility, and calm the mind. From energising flows to grounding restorative sessions, everyone can find practices that suit their body and lifestyle. The Shala is a welcoming space to recharge, connect with others, and leave feeling balanced and empowered - whether they are beginners or advanced practitioners.” Dr Hind Elhinnawy deepyoga.co.uk leftlion.co.uk 15

Capoeira na Comunidade

Guidance and Growth

What is it? Capoeira na Comunidade Nottingham is a small, friendly group exploring Capoeira Angola – an AfroBrazilian martial art – blending movement, dance, and music at a comfortable pace. Attendees learn from each other in relaxed rodas featuring rhythmic movements, songs, and basic techniques that build confidence and body awareness. It’s a supportive space to stay active, reduce stress, encourage personal growth, and connect through shared culture and respect.

What is it? A space aimed at supporting men’s mental health through gardening, growing vegetables, woodworking, and peer-to-peer support, while also offering inclusive community sessions that bring people together to learn new skills, build confidence, and transform neglected spaces into vibrant, welcoming green areas that strengthen wellbeing across the whole community. They even go litterpicking together.

Where is it? Over at creative hub Fisher Gate Point, 1 Fisher Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1GD, a minute’s walk away from Nottingham Arena. How much? A £5 minimum donation per class. Free taster sessions are available as are monthly members rates. What the experts say… “Capoeira Angola builds foundational strength, muscular endurance and flexibility through low stances, evasions and rhythmic movements. It also improves cardiovascular health, balance and coordination while reducing body fat and increasing bone density. Mentally, it promotes stress reduction, emotional regulation, discipline and strategic thinking through communal rodas and music.” Jonn Whaley Q @cnc.notts

Major Oak Chorus

Where is it? The workshop is based at The Lenton Centre, Willoughby Street, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 1RQ. How much? Many of their activities are free – contact them to find out more. What the experts say… “Growing vegetables or building something from wood isn’t just productive – it’s grounding. Our sessions give you the chance to clear your mind, learn new skills, and feel the satisfaction of creating something real with your own hands. But the biggest benefit is the community around you: friendly faces, shared conversations, and people who understand what you’re going through. Here, you’re part of a supportive group that celebrates your progress, listens without judgment, and makes sure you never have to face things alone.” Ben Rawson guidanceandgrowth.org

Creative Courses at Nottingham College

What is it? The Major Oak Chorus are male voice acapella harmony singers. Recently starting a new chapter under Angela Sanchez as their new musical director, they welcome men who would like to try singing, with no requirement to read music or audition, and ages ranging between 26 and 95 years old. For an inclusive women’s choir, check out Lace City Chorus, who practice at Bluecoat Aspley Academy Sixth Form Centre on Wednesday nights.

What is it? If you’ve been hankering to get more creative in 2026, over at Nottingham College there is an excellent range of part-time creative courses, where you can work and learn alongside professional artists and designers. Check out topics like creative beadwork, drawing and painting, interior design, stained glass, and lots more. We like the sound of the beginners’ ceramics course, which covers hand-building with clay, decorative processes and glazing techniques.

Where is it? Carlton Junior School, Foxhill Rd, Carlton, NG4 1QS. Rehearsals are every Tuesday evening from 7.15-9.30pm.

Where is it? Courses take place on various Nottingham College campuses, including Beeston, Strelley and the city centre.

How much? Free taster sessions are available, and the membership is £15 per month from then on. What the experts say… “Singing together is a joyful social hobby which we often see reflected back in the faces of an audience. It can often be life changing. Personally I find singing a cathartic experience – reducing stress, helping to clear the mind and an aid to concentration. Being naturally quite introverted, it provides an opportunity to feel I am in a safe environment to be more expressive emotionally. The camaraderie and shared sense of achievement is a great bonus when we get it right.” Ian Summerscales majoroakchorus.com

How much? Prices vary depending on the course. The introduction to ceramics starts at £114, which gets you 24+ hours of teaching over nine weeks. What the experts say… “Part-time creative courses at Nottingham College offer adults a valuable space to unwind, explore new techniques and boost wellbeing. Our courses help build new skills at a comfortable pace while adding enjoyment, inspiration, and a sense of personal achievement as you create and produce work in a supportive and industry standard workshop and studio space.” Alexandra Rayner nottinghamcollege.ac.uk

Nottingham Padel Centre

Writing Courses at Inspire

What is it? A mix of tennis and squash, padel is the fastest growing sport in the world. Played on a smaller court in doubles, it is a highly social and addictive sport which is seen as relatively easier than other racket sports. The all-weather, four-court facility at Meadow Lane is the most affordable destination to play in the city, and available to book until 10pm at night.

What is it? These days libraries offer much more than books – did you know you can book onto a range of adult learning courses at your local Inspire library? Dabble in arts and crafts, brush up on your work and employment skills, or, if you fancy letting your imagination run wild and getting the words flowing in 2026, check out their creative writing and poetry courses, which include short stories, crime fiction, or springtime poetry.

Where is it? By Meadow Lane Stadium, Iremonger Rd, Nottingham NG2 3HJ How much? No memberships, no hassle – just padel when it suits you. Prices start from £20 per hour for four people and rackets are free to use on all the courts! What the experts say… “Padel is fun and easy to learn, plus smaller court sizes and slower ball speeds make it less intimidating than traditional racket sports like tennis and squash. Usually played in doubles, padel offers the perfect way to get a full‑body, low‑impact workout while socialising with others.” Joe Palmer, CEO Notts County FC and Nottingham Padel Centre nottinghampadelcentre.com

16 leftlion.co.uk

Where is it? Available at a range of Inspire libraries throughout Nottingham – visit the Inspire website or pick up a copy of the course guide for the full list of courses and locations. How much? Prices start at £35 per course, but if you receive certain benefits you will be offered the course for free. What the experts say… “Whatever stage of your writing journey you’re on, gain confidence in your writing, find inspiration, and meet like-minded people to discuss your ideas with. You’ll not just develop your skills as a writer, but also improve your self-esteem, find a great outlet for stress, and give your brain a boost!” Sophie Reynolds inspireculture.org.uk/skills-learning

Seeing the Wood for the Trees With the recent success of urban greening projects, like the Green Heart Park, Nottingham is starting 2026 with lots of love for spots of nature in-and-around its city centre. Caradoc Gayer looks at what makes Nottingham a particularly ‘green’ city, and how in 2026 we can continue to ensure that it stays that way. In October 2020 I was about a month into studying at the University of Nottingham. One Saturday morning I ran to Wollaton Park, with a fellow first year and a second year student who was showing us the way there. A misty haze covered the road and the smell of wet leaves was everywhere. We crossed Derby Road, jogged down a boulevard, and reached the lake’s south east corner. At the top of a nearby slope, Wollaton Hall looked pretty magnificent – shadowy and wreathed in mist – so I stopped and took a photo of it. Starting uni fresh from lockdown, I was finding it hard to get rid of the ‘fish out of water’ feeling, but I knew then that I’d always feel at home in Wollaton Park. By April 2021 I was running there pretty much every single day. In recent years, Nottingham's been paying a lot of attention to how it treats green spaces like Wollaton Park. In 2024 Nottingham City Council reported that public green and blue space covers 38.1% of Notts, as part of their then-recently-announced ‘Greenspace Strategy’ intended to grow public physical and mental health in Notts via closer contact with nature. At the same time the, now well-loved, ‘Green Heart’ park opened on what was formerly a derelict part of Broadmarsh shopping centre. This quick succession of events confirmed that we’re a motivated city when it comes to taking care of our green spaces. But this isn’t just recent sentiment – Nottingham’s love for green spaces goes back to the 70s and 80s, according to Peter Shepherd – director of ecological consultancy group BSG Ecology. After studying botany, then completing a PhD in urban ecology, at the University of Nottingham, Peter became Nottingham Conservation Officer at the Notts Wildlife Trust. From 1989 to 1993 he managed nature reserves in the city and supported the council in preparing the first ‘Nottingham Nature Conservation Strategy’. “The first ‘Urban Wildlife Group’ was set up in 1980 in Birmingham and the Black Country in response to an application to build on Moseley Bog,” says Peter, adding, “so Nottingham was hard on the heels in 1985. But of course, long before then, the City Group of the Wildlife Trust, and in particular Miss E.M Palmer, had been campaigning for important green spaces, like Martin’s Pond.” “Nottingham was at the forefront of urban nature conservation,” he continues. “We were one of the few cities early on to undertake habitat inventories and the production of a nature conservation strategy.” Back when the Green Heart park was announced in December 2020, Peter wrote in support of the idea on the BSG Ecology website. For Peter, its success since opening in October 2024 indicates how green spaces are interwoven with local life. “In my experience of working on a wide range of parks, nature reserves, the key test always

is how much local people value and appreciate the space, as they are the ones who will protect it, fight proposals to build on it and look after it,” he says. “A space that provides access to trees, shrubs and flowers that people like to spend time in is often more valuable in terms of protecting such spaces than, say, a rare, lesser type of beetle that no one knows what it looks like.”

We were one of the few cities early on to undertake habitat inventories and the production of a nature conservation There’s something in that – if we want people to love their city, to stay in it, commit to it, and feel responsible for it, then it’s certainly very important to care for local parks. In my own case, discovering Wollaton Park at eighteen was a catalyst for growing to love Nottingham as a whole, and hoping to better it as a place. In 2026 there’s also lots of opportunities for us to get involved in caring for our urban greenery. The Friends of Wollaton Park, for instance, continue to look for volunteers to help with conservation tasks – like restoring the walled garden, fencing maintenance, pathway clearing, and lakework – it costs just £5 a year to join them. Just a stone’s throw away, in Wollaton itself, the Friends of Wollaton Nature Reserves take care of Martin’s Pond, Harrison’s Plantation, and Raleigh Pond. In 1976, they were jointly recognised as Nottingham’s first local nature reserve. It’s a beautiful location, with rich, earthy scents, sprawling pathways, thick stretches of trees, and peaceful bodies of water – if you visit and think the same, why not help keep it as nice as it is? Both of these groups are part of the Nottingham Green Guardians: a city council-run volunteer program that looks after many other city centre adjacent spaces – like St Anne’s Allotments and Colwick Woods. There are however lots of independent initiatives looking after spaces that are further afield too. In Strelley, locals Rachel Gravett and Keith Harrison are facilitating community planting at beloved local space ‘The Field’. They will restart their weekly volunteer rewilding sessions when the weather gets warmer. Also in 2025 the Sherwood People’s Forest, run by locals Sarah Manton and Ezekiel Bone, and assisted by LeftLion environment editor and sustainability polymath Adam Pickering, were hard at work with community planting, and likely have more (as of yet unannounced) plans for 2026. But aside from volunteering, we can also just spread love and appreciation for green space in Nottingham, and campaign to keep it as free as possible for public enjoyment. As plans slowly materialize for possible further ‘re-greening’ in parts of Broad Marsh surrounding the Green Heart, it’s definitely worth keeping love for our local parks high, and rejecting attempts to use them in less than ideal ways.

words: Caradoc Gayer illustration: Veronica Nilsson

18 leftlion.co.uk

Shop online at stewartscoffeeroasters.com

@stewartscoffeeroasters

FINE FAT FUNK

interview: Thomas Gensler illustration: Catherine O'Connor

fat

Not many Nottingham-based bands and acts can boast a thirty-year longevity, but Fat Digester certainly can. The eclectic, cool and funky collective have been making audiences move and groove in awe since the 90s, and have no intention of stopping or slowing anytime soon. We had a chat with frontman Paul 'Ned' Needham all about the band’s approaches, stage shows and very exciting future plans! So, could you tell us a bit about Fat Digester? We are a collective of musicians and artists that like to entertain, through a mix of funk, soul, Hip-Hop, dub, jazz, Latin and almost anything else that makes you want to get up and move. We have three front people, up to six horns, keys, percussion, funky guitar, crazy drumming and the whole thing being driven by the bass. We don't really do subtle, we just want people to dance. You’ve been active for thirty years now, with 2026 being the 25th anniversary of your debut EP, Adios?. How do you feel about your journey? Well, we’ve never made it in commercial terms, but we have strength in our own convictions and abilities to bring people together, break down barriers and give people a good time. We’ve always got the job done no matter what the audience, and we have played dance tents, rock venues, indie clubs, dub all-nighters; it cuts through all genres. It certainly isn’t about the money, but more about the joy of performing our songs, and seeing the audience reaction. We have successfully filled venues and entertained audiences up and down the country, and further afield, playing our own music, with no record label support, for all this time. It’s now become an extended family, that, like other families, goes through upheavals, fall-outs and periods of absolute bliss. We are now all friends for life, and this band remains strong because people want to come back and help when needed and care for each other, beyond the confines of the music. And you're celebrating the birthday in style – could you tell us a bit about that please? Along our journey, we’ve made many friends. Revolution Sounds and Castle Rock Brewery being just two that have stepped up and offered their support to build us a 30th Anniversary Yard Party, along with numerous bands from around the country, that have offered to play, as part of the celebrations. Please everyone hold the date, Saturday 13 June 2026, at Castle Rock Brewery, line up to be confirmed. There will be lots of surprises, such as previous band members, bringing back the sights and sounds of the 90s, a

specially commissioned beer for the event and hopefully lots of silliness. Your unique funky brand is a crowd favourite, with slots at festivals like Splendour and Beat The Streets, of which you're playing again in January! How are you feeling about Beat the Streets, as a band? The event is unique and the crowds are always amazing, with students standing shoulder-to-shoulder with middle aged bikers and everyone in between. It's for an amazing cause and it's always fantastic to appear, as Nottingham people, at the great Rock City. We love the energy that surrounds the event and it remains a band favourite, so expect everyone to be on their A game.

It’s now become an extended family, that, like other families, goes through upheavals, fall-outs and periods of absolute bliss Who are you excited to see play at Beat the Streets? We love Sun & Moon – Chai's dad was in the Fats many years ago and she remains family – Archy & the Astronauts and White Town, but we also encourage you to please go and see as many artists as you can, make up your own mind as this year's event has an amazing line up overall and it's so hard to pick just a few. I know Jo is looking forward to seeing Sean Dyche interview Stuart Pearce, and may well be wearing her Forest t-shirt as a result. What’s your favourite Nottingham venue to play? We always love playing to huge crowds at the Riverside Festival, which is always a joy – filling The Maze on many occasions, with many more people queuing down Mansfield Road, hoping to get in – our residency at Dubble Bubble in the early naughties – closing the Rock and Reggae Festivals in mid-noughties, with people climbing the marquee poles, sweaty nights in the back room of The Bell – Castle Rock

Yard Parties, we've played them all; more recently, our gigs at Peggy's Skylight, which are way more sophisticated, but equally silly. So many gigs, but obviously filling Rock City at Beat The Streets is up there. What are your musical influences? Well, when people join the band, I always ask them to contribute to the band's shared Spotify Playlist, which includes such artists as Donald Byrd, The Specials, Weather Report, Tower of Power, Snarky Puppy, Nina Simone, Cymande, James Brown, Talking Heads, Defunkt, and Art Blakey. What are your non-musical influences? Comedy is a good parallel, we love the stream of consciousness comedy of Python, the Young Ones, and people like Stewart Lee, as it verges on jazz, but the one thing that really inspires us is 'us', our family, the fact that we all have an equal share in the creative department, and are all different as people, but can all make each other laugh. All of that is ultra important to understanding how this has worked for so long. What are your plans for the future? It has been a difficult year for the band, as we have lost a founder member in Tim Bullock, a great loss to the Nottingham scene and music in general, and at these times it's often hard to imagine continuing, yet his recent memorial concert, which reunited some of the old band with the new, highlighted why this band is so unique! So, for the future, we are already underway with recording a new album at JT Soar, with Phil Booth, and we are still working to the notion that we haven't yet played the perfect gig, though several must have been very close. Catch Fat Digester play at Beat the Streets on Sunday 25 January 2026. Q @fatdigester

leftlion.co.uk 23

words: Chris Breese photos: Cycling Legends Media

Riding high: the triumph and tragedy of Tom Simpson Six thousand feet up a mountain in southern France, surrounded by a pitiless landscape of sun-bleached rocks, stands a stone memorial to a Nottinghamshire man. Professional cyclist Tom Simpson collapsed and died there in 1967, creating a sporting legend still being kept alive by his family back home. As an annual festival in his memory grows into a week of Simpson-mania, Chris Breese pedals off in search of how a skinny miner's son from Bassetlaw created a legacy still being lauded from Lowdham to Leuven. When asked how he remembers his legendary uncle, Chris Sidwells immediately cracks into a wide grin. "As a broad Geordie", he says, with a fond tingle in his eyes. Chris has agreed to talk at Harworth Sports Pavilion. The venue is like many you can find in former colliery towns across north Nottinghamshire. Football pitch. Astro turf. Bar. Function room. Warm and unassuming welcome. But not much time for nonsense. The link with international sporting history is an immaculate display cabinet between the two main rooms. It acts as both a museum and a piece of cycling archaeology. Programmes, jerseys, bike parts, photographs and trophies carefully arranged capture what one local lad meant to the world before he was snatched away aged just 29. Tom Simpson arrived in Nottinghamshire as a boy in 1950 after his father, also called Tom, and mother Alice moved the family to the area from Haswell in County Durham, as many mining families did when pits in the north-east began to struggle. One of six children, Tom joined the local Harworth and District Cycling Club aged thirteen, and at first found himself often ‘dropped’ – left lagging behind – on long club rides around north Notts. His first race as a junior was at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham. In his late teens he became a serious contender in track cycling.

race in cycling. The gruelling annual July stage race and the ‘Maillot Jaune’ remain the sport’s most recognisable crossover icons. After enjoying immediate success from the moment he set foot in France, Simpson seized the golden jersey as leader of the Tour de France for a single day during the 1962 edition, eventually finishing sixth overall that year. Simpson’s fateful relationship with cycling’s Superbowl had begun. So had the legend of ‘Major Tom’ – a charismatic Brit who knew the importance of learning French yet attended press photoshoots sporting a bowler hat.

Amid it all Simpson simply comes across as a normal lad with dreams who dared to ride out of a Nottinghamshire town in pursuit of glory without looking back for too long Sat a few feet away from Simpson’s museum, back in rainy Harworth, nephew Chris Sidwells remembers his uncle as a slender, tanned, graceful man who would visit home often between races. “He was working class, his dad was a coal miner, but he had this suaveness, you know, he dressed very well,” Sidwells says. “Christopher Brasher was a great journalist with the Observer and a gold medallist himself. He met him in Paris in 1961 and expected to see a young man going around Europe with a rucksack and sleeping on people's settees.

A bronze medal was delivered at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 – but his burning ambition was road racing on the continent and the prestigious Tour de France. So in 1959 Simpson borrowed £100, packed a rucksack and took two bikes on a bus from Harworth to Doncaster Station. A day later he was entering his first race in France.

“Instead, he turned up to meet him in an Armani suit and driving an Aston Martin. So, he looked the part.”

At the time, no British rider had ever won the right to wear the coveted yellow jersey worn by the leader of the most famous

After making his historic mark on the 1962 Tour de France, Simpson won some of Europe’s most famous one-day races –

26 leftlion.co.uk

While in France he met Helen Sherburn, an English au pair, and they went on to marry and have two daughters, Jane and Joanne.

known as ‘monuments’ – including Milan-San Remo in Italy in 1964 and Il Lombardia, also in Italy, in 1965. That same year he became Britain’s first male cycling world champion, outsprinting Germany’s Rudi Altig on the line in Spain. Simpson’s star was now soaring at home and abroad. Later in 1965 he was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 1967 he was determined to improve on his Tour de France record and started well, lying in seventh overall as the race entered the Alps. But by stage twelve he’d caught a stomach bug and couldn’t keep anything down. Simpson was in a weakened state as stage thirteen started. The day’s route was a long, gruelling climb up Mont Ventoux in Provence. Advised to pull out of the Tour by friends who could see the state he was in, Simpson instead decided to carry on during intense heat, trying to stay with the stage leaders. Photographs of him on the way up show his eyes wide and cheeks sunken as he tries to grind on. Around 1km from the summit Simpson began to wobble and collapsed off his bike, but bystanders helped him climb back on. Shortly afterwards he keeled over again, in a harrowing moment caught on a television camera. Simpson had lost consciousness. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he died on the remote roadside in full view of spectators and sporting press. He was 29. “My grandparents have a really horrific story of this,” continues Sidwells, who was six at the time. “There weren’t many phones in 1967, so the authorities are told, and the French police are told, and they will tell the British police and eventually, it gets through to family, but it's just after it had got through to the BBC. “So the number one item on the six o'clock news – my grandfather, sat down to watch the television, sees Tom’s picture, and he and my grandmother immediately thought he'd won the stage.

“They knew he was really ambitious with this Tour de France. The stage was on the same day as my mum’s birthday and he’d said to my mum, ‘For your birthday, I'm going to win it for you’. “They didn't know he'd been ill, and when they saw his picture on the TV they thought he'd won the stage. Instead, he’d died. That was the way it was from the telling. “My grandma never really got over it. My dad was working at the colliery here, and he was told and had to come out. Then he came to my mum and he told her.” When I meet him, Sidwells, now 68, is in the middle of running events for the Tom Simpson Cycling Festival, held across Harworth through a week in mid-September. In part it raises money for the Tom Simpson Memorial Fund – set up at first to help maintain the stone monument installed in 1969 which still stands close to the spot on the Ventoux where Simpson died 870 miles from home. It bears the silhouette of a racing cyclist, with an inscription in French that reads: ‘In Memory of Tom Simpson, Olympic medallist, world champion, Ambassador of British sport. Died 13th July 1967, Tour de France. From cycling friends in Great Britain.’ Today the fund and annual festival have much wider significance – providing a focal point for hardcore cyclists old and young who still gather to celebrate Simpson’s achievements. Simpson’s short but searing life is often cited by the likes of Sir Bradley Wiggins – whose signature is in the museum’s visitors’ book – as the inspiration for British road cyclists trying to make it in a sport which holds its biggest races on the continent. Simpson’s death also took on new meaning for some following the news in years after that traces of amphetamines were found in his body following a French post-mortem. His death was caused by a heart attack, and how much of an additional role the amphetamines played alongside the heat and stomach bug is debated across cycling and sport science to this day. As such the memorial events and festival help ensure Simpson’s sporting legacy is not drowned out by the other long arguments. Simpson eventually went on record as saying he had taken amphetamines – as other riders did at the time – many years before controls and perceptions would be transformed by the likes of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the Lance Armstrong scandal. While the presence of amphetamines in Simpson’s system did turn up the volume, elite cycling’s relationship with performance enhancing substances would infamously go on to become a practical marriage of convenience in the 1990s. Sidwells is pragmatic when answering questions about his uncle’s death and whether it could – or should – have led to earlier improvements in drug controls. His expression tells me he’s been asked this many times before. Sidwells is now a cycling journalist and author who’s written 27 books on cycling, including some on the life of Simpson. As such, he could be forgiven for being tired of answering the amphetamines question. But he’s as impassioned and detailed in his responses as he is when describing his uncle’s race wins. “You've got to be in their shoes, and you've got to be faced with the decisions they're faced with [in the 1960s],” he says. “These

are young men who haven't got the skills to make decisions. And they are surrounded by people they trust. “Another quote I read from an eighties French pro - he was doing very, very well. He says, ‘can you imagine my friends if I gave up this life? 150,000 Euros a year. I've got a Porsche. I came from a sink estate. And if I quit my friends are going to say, ‘Why did you give all that up?’ - ‘Oh, because I had to take drugs’." Simpson, Sidwells says, found himself faced with a difficult choice once he’d immersed himself in the continental racing scene of the 1960s. He could join the burgeoning arms race of competitive post-war cycling – amphetamines and all, and stay in the game – or risk dropping down in the results and go home. After raising enough money to restore and secure the Simpson memorial in the 1990s, the fund, also supported by other relatives including Tom’s daughter Joanne, has branched out into supporting young British cyclists his achievements paved the way for. It awards grants to promising juniors from the local area who use it to pay for kit and travel to races. Older cyclists too are still driven on by the Simpson story. Dave Marsh is also at the Pavilion in Harworth. Now 75, he clearly remembers hearing of Simpson’s death while gathered around a car radio. “As a kid I idolised him,” he says. “We all wanted to be Tom Simpson when we were kids. I remember it was all over the news and there were photographs of Tom everywhere.” Marsh has brought along a bike from his collection at home in Maltby, near Rotheram. It’s a gleaming 1960s Carlton Flyer, which looks ready to roll again along the damp roads of Harworth. It turns out to be the same one ridden by Simpson at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics, lovingly looked after by Marsh. The care involved in keeping a sixty-year-old bike looking like new sums up how strongly so many people feel about the stringy, smiling man who shines through in so many books, stories, photographs and now-grainy films. Amid it all Simpson simply comes across as a normal lad with dreams who dared to ride out of a Nottinghamshire town in pursuit of glory without looking back for too long – yet who somehow always remembered where he came from. But the manner of his death can also make the story complicated. His tragic but public end on the Ventoux seemed to freeze his hero status in time. Simpson’s image is also of the rider seemingly willing to risk death to win – a moment of British sporting tragedy forever young, flying high up in the clouds above Provence. Encouraged by his pragmatism, I ask Sidwells what his uncle might think of the emotions he still stirs. Sidwells grins broadly again, perhaps knowingly, even. “I think he'd be proud,” he says. “I also think he'd find it quite funny and a big compliment, and a rewarding one. He'd be very satisfied. “He wanted to make his mark.” The Tom Simpson Cycling Festival happens every September in Harworth. leftlion.co.uk 27

community Born to run words: Matteo D’Alesio photos: Commuter Films

Running has been having a renaissance moment of late; Gen Zers and Millennials are flocking to run clubs, Parkrun’s popularity has been steadily growing year on year, and the 2025 Robin Hood Half Marathon was the biggest one yet with over 14,000 participants involved. Matteo D’Alesio speaks to one of the city’s most vibrant running crews, Embankment Running Club, to hear how they value inclusion, sociability and safety over performance. As I was heading into 2025 I’d ticked off Parkrun and a Robin Hood Half Marathon but I was yet to join a club. I’d heard a lot about them – that they were wellness cults, that they were the new dating apps, but mainly I heard that they were welcoming communities where people get together to run and then end up at a pub or cafe. I liked the sound of that – croissants not cults, beers not Bumble. Nottingham is lucky to have a few run clubs (Notts Front Runners, Rebel Runners, Up & Running to name a few), but the biggest of the bunch is Embankment Run Club, known familiarly as ERC. I first went to ERC earlier in 2025 on a bright spring evening. There were 200 people chatting away and limbering up. I didn’t know anyone so I made the effort to chat to strangers, trying to strike that balance between being friendly without latching onto anyone and generally trying to conceal my first-day-atschool-like nerves. Many months later and I’ve still been going most weeks despite the cold dark nights drawing in faster and faster, I’ve found a group of people who have grown into friends, and I still enjoy running. An all-round success story. But the cold dark months have highlighted another key resource that run clubs like ERC can offer – safety. The main change to my routine for winter has been extra layers and a slightly dorky body torch, but research by This Girl Can found that 72% of women change their habits during the winter months, because of fears that public spaces are not safe. Frances, both a regular attendee and friend I’ve made through ERC, tells me how her habits change during the winter. “I normally love running around Attenborough,” she tells me. “But in winter when it's dark I only run on busy road routes and always wear my running light. I would never run alone late at night or in quiet places without lots of people around.” This isn’t surprising. A 2024 study by the University of Manchester reported that 68% of women have experienced some form of harassment whilst running. Ensuring people feel and are both comfortable and safe is a key concern for ERC. “You know there's going to be a big group of people running around a traffic-free loop in the middle of winter,” Luke Myers, co-founder of ERC, explains. Running as a large group acts as a collective safety net, meaning no-one is isolated and everyone can watch out for each other. Safety in numbers in full effect. ERC also considers the apprehension that many face before joining, that voice in your head asking ‘Can I join? Should I go?’ which can be another barrier that stops people from getting involved. “We get a few messages from people asking ‘Am I good enough to join?’” Luke shares. “Of course you are. If you want to run and you want to run with a group, you are good enough. There's a group here that's big enough that, regardless of what pace you run, there will be someone to run with.”

28 leftlion.co.uk 28 leftlion.co.uk

ERC has a few mechanisms in place to ensure people feel welcome, such as the first-timer briefing where Luke or Millie, the other ERC co-founder, will say hello and explain the basics to newcomers, such as the route.

“If at the very least two new people connect in that moment [the first-timer briefing], that's really good,” Luke tells me. “And then they can connect to the wider group during the run or at the pub.” Luke and Millie haven’t only helped other people find friends through ERC – it helped them settle into Nottingham five years ago when they didn’t know a single person and hadn’t had luck with traditional athletics clubs. “No one really wanted to chat or hang around afterwards,” Luke shares. “We thought this isn't where we're going to meet people we want to hang out with. Some of our best friends we've met at ERC. I know a lot of other people have done the same. Whatever their situation, they've come, they've met people.” ERC has taken on a self-perpetuating energy, with the group WhatsApp chat now featuring a weekly poll asking which Parkrun people are going to attend. “Alex [ERC member] just came to us with this idea, and he was like, ‘I think this would be a really nice way of getting people to go [to Parkrun] on a Saturday morning’,” Luke tells me. “It's another way of getting to interact with people from the group, which is really nice.” I ask Luke what the future holds for ERC, which has gone from a first session featuring 25 people to sessions now regularly attracting hundreds each week. “We get this question a lot,” he tells me. “From other run clubs across the UK, it's always like, what's the goal? What's the next thing? If ERC stays as it is now, a place that just keeps welcoming Nottingham's runners, that's perfect.” Frances is one of those Nottingham runners, I ask her what has kept her coming back over the past two and a half years she’s been running with ERC. “I immediately felt at home, I've made some true friends,” she tells me. “And the run flies by whilst we're chatting and catching up. ERC is a really special group of people, it's formed part of my community in Nottingham and I'm so glad I gave it that first go.” As we round off our chat, I ask Luke what’d he say to people who are on the fence about coming to an ERC session. “If people haven't tried ERC or have been thinking about it,” Luke tells me. “You're welcome. It's a place to come and meet people, hang out, get your miles in. I think for us it's reminding people that it's a place for everyone. There's no barriers to entry.” So if you want to hit the ground running in 2026 (pun intended), don’t let safety during cold dark nights or a lack of running buddies be a barrier – ERC offers plenty of both. ERC is a free meet-up every Wednesday at 6pm by the City War Memorial on Victoria Embankment, running a 5k loop, and finishing at the Embankment Pub for a drink and a chat. [ Q] @embankmentrunclub

environment Mending our ways words: Caradoc Gayer illustration: Zarina Teli

Ally Booker and Gemma Broad are two repairs professionals in Nottingham, who in June 2025 founded We Are Repairs: an online directory of UK businesses which give products of all kinds a longer lifespan. Their aim was to shift the public mindset away from a careless ‘throwaway culture’ – they tell us about how the project’s gone since. At certain points in our lives, many of us throw away broken or faulty possessions which could just as easily have been fixed. In the fast paced world of today, it’s difficult to resist that urge – innumerable companies are battling to sell us what they say is the next best thing, while we often feel too busy to make that extra bit of effort and give our possessions an extended lifespan. When Notts-based repair professionals Ally Booker and Gemma Broad recognised this problem, they decided to found We Are Repairs: an online directory of repairs professionals, and it’s seen huge success since. At the time of writing, over 3000 businesses across the UK are listed, and available to contact in as quick and convenient a way as possible – you can go to the website, type in the object you want to repair, along with your location, and you’ll get contact details for everyone locally to you who can help. It’s a simple, but amazingly effective way of kicking down that mental barrier we all sometimes have to a more sustainable mindset. Ally and Gemma met at the Ruddington Makers Market a few years ago. They became close friends – helping each other out work-wise when needed; exchanging their expertises in joinery and upholstery. Meanwhile, they would have coffee and bond over a shared frustration with how people treat their possessions. “We helped each other grow as independent businesses, but also had rants about how frustrating it was that people were throwing really good furniture away, and buying new stuff that isn’t anywhere near the same quality,” says Gemma. “We got to a stage where we said, ‘Right, we either stop moaning about this or do something about it’, because it was dominating our conversations.”

30 leftlion.co.uk 30 leftlion.co.uk

“When you look behind the green washing marketing, a lot of the policies promoted as eco-friendly have no substance to them whatsoever,” adds Gemma. “They turn that into another money making opportunity. The independent business is the people first, not profit first.” With the current way that economics are going, it’s high time for a website like We Are Repairs. Through the UK there’s a general sense that product production cost, quality and lifespan are all fast decreasing in tandem. “When you buy a piece of furniture from a high street stall, you don’t really look at where they’ve cut corners to increase their profit,” says Gemma. “There’s certain ways that chairs should be built to make them comfortable for a long period of time. But when you take pieces of furniture off, labels underneath will say: ‘do not sit on the arm of this chair’. But it’s a chair! You should be able to sit on any part of it! I think this goes across life – the diminishing quality of things while prices keep going up.”

We’re taught that convenience is key, and that it’s easier to discard things and get something new But despite the doom and gloom, repairing is something that is still very much ‘in the zeitgeist’. Back in 2024, the Sustainable Consumer reported that through 2024 56% of people had fixed or repaired a product, not replaced it. Ally and Gemma also think that We Are Repairs could help revitalise age-old forms of craftsmanship.

It’s hard to deny that, towards 2020, the way in which people talk about sustainability and environmentalism shifted. It became less about individual responsibility for creating a greener society, and more about creating a wholly ‘different society’ in the first place.

“It’s really important – especially with things like stained glass, and people who fix clocks and watches – a lot of that is a dying skill, and a really important heritage skill,” adds Ally. “The more we support those industries, the more it’s going to create green skilled jobs. There’s so much potential for growth in that industry – we want it to become more accepted as a solution to so many problems.”

With environmental NGOs wanting stricter ‘green regulations’ on businesses, the onus for a sustainable output moved more so to them, with people like Dutch businessman Paul Polman, and of course Greta Thunberg, saying, in so many words, that “businesses should thrive by fixing the world’s problems, not creating them.”

And what’s more, setting aside the sustainability talk, getting stuff repaired is proven to be one of the most emotionally uplifting things you can do. Ally and Gem have heard as much since founding We Are Repairs – particularly in one case, when a toy repairer called Conrad, from West Sussex, had a customer contact him via the directory.

As such We Are Repairs is definitely a website that was ‘born of the moment’. Visit it, and you’ll see some pretty scary statistics about the ‘linear economy’ and its ‘throwaway culture’. Each year, the UK throws away 22 million pieces of small furniture, while globally 92 million tonnes of textile waste appear each year – the equivalent of a truck full of clothing every second.

“This customer got him to fix an old, N gauge train,” says Ally. “He was so happy with how he did, that he got him to repair another one of his childhood toys. He’s in his late 60s, or early 70s. It’s a toy that he and his brother fondly remember playing with. And he’s so thrilled with the transformation that he’s going to give it to his brother on Christmas day. I think it’s stuff like that that’s really special.”

For Ally and Gemma, however, it’s not the consumer’s responsibility to ‘solve’ these issues but instead avoid the pervasive corporate greenwashing which is exacerbating the problem.

It’s a lovely anecdote, which illustrates how effectively We Are Repairs tackles multiple aspects of the ‘linear economy’ issue. When it comes to big problems, Notts people have always brought a ‘do-it-yourself’ attitude to solving them but regardless, Ally and Gemma have certainly set a shining example for sustainability advocates to come. wearerepairs.com

“Yes there are real issues with our throwaway culture,” says Ally, adding, “but that’s because we’ve been built to accept it. We’re taught that convenience is key, and that it’s easier to discard things and get something new.”

food An avo-lanche of flavour words & photos: Lucy Campion

Ten years ago, Jordana Chin was travelling by trike across university campus, delivering home-cooked food to hungry students. Today, the University of Nottingham graduate turned entrepreneur owns a healthy food cafe and community hub in Lenton. Our food co-editor Lucy Campion talks to Jordana about the evolution of Avocafe, and her plans to connect local people with sustainable produce through an ambitious new open food network. Ever since my first visit in 2022, Avocafe’s whimsical logo (an avocado perched on a bicycle) has been a source of curiosity. The avocado is an obvious nod to the cafe’s focus on healthy eating, but the bike was always a mystery. “I came to Nottingham to study nutrition at university, and during my studies I decided to start a meal prep service for other students called Nutri2go,” Jordana explains. “I was cooking on campus and delivering the meals by bike. That’s where the logo comes from – although, technically, I was using a tricycle back then as I couldn’t ride a bike!” After graduation, Jordana’s business continued to grow and eventually evolved into something more. “We spent one year just delivering, then a year running things from a kitchen I rented on Canning Circus and another year at a yoga studio on Triumph Road. We moved here in December 2019, opening Avocafe three months before the first lockdown.” In contrast to most hospitality businesses, lockdown presented more opportunities than challenges for the newly opened cafe, allowing Jordana to return to her roots and raise Avocafe’s profile within the local community. “We already had a delivery system set up so it was easy. I could actually ride a bike by then, and I had a car, so we were able to do lots of drop offs around Lenton. It was great because we got to know people in the area and that’s actually how we met some of our regular customers.” Conveniently located in Lenton, a hotspot for student housing, the cafe has become a popular destination for a generation of health-conscious young people. While term time is especially busy at Avocafe, devoted customers hail from all over Nottingham, with some even travelling from further afield. Art deco cinema Savoy next door and Primary art gallery just down the road add to the area’s appeal, making a trip to Lenton worth the short bus ride from the city centre.

32 leftlion.co.uk 32 leftlion.co.uk

Jordana’s inclusive approach to healthy eating has no doubt contributed to Avocafe’s popularity. It’s the type of place I could visit with my dad – a staunch salad hater who avoids any food deemed ‘too healthy’ – knowing there would be something tasty

on the menu for both of us.

“Sometimes people’s perception is that healthy food is bland or they assume that we only serve salads, but neither of those things are true. We have something for everyone, including brownies and pastries on the counter. For me, healthy eating is not about counting calories, but making mindful choices. Our health starts with what we put in our body so it’s important to know what’s actually in the food we eat, which is why we list all the ingredients we use on the menu.”

Sometimes people’s perception is that healthy food is bland or they assume that we only serve salads, but neither of those things are true. We have something for everyone, including brownies and pastries While the promise of healthy food that doesn’t compromise on flavour attracts people of all ages and backgrounds to this neighbourhood cafe, Jordana believes it’s her team’s commitment to consistency and personable service that keep customers coming back again and again. “I believe when you do anything, you should do it really well. People return to Avocafe because they know they can rely on us and the quality of our food,” she says. That reliability is paired with the personal touch. “We know our customers by name and their regular orders. Sometimes we get requests for things that are out of season and we always try to accommodate them. One of our customers orders pumpkin spice all year round! I always say if we have it in stock, we’ll do it for our regulars.” When I ask Jordana about the future, it’s clear she has big plans and little fear of trying something new as she looks to continue building the community around Avocafe. Her most recent innovation has been the launch of a new single origin coffee – she worked with

local roaster Franco Specialty Coffee to create it. “Launching our own coffee has been very exciting. It was a lengthy process with lots of tastings but we finally found something we really like that isn’t too different from the coffee we were offering before. I’m really proud of it and our customers are enjoying it too. We sold out faster than we expected and had to ask Franco to make some more!” “We’ve always wanted to sell our own products and we already have some for sale, including our popular reusable coffee cups. If you use one of those or bring your own, you get a 25p discount on drinks.” From the beginning of Jordana’s journey into food and nutrition, sustainability has been a nonnegotiable. “Sustainability is something we really care about. Looking back, we could have grown the business much faster if we had compromised on some of the choices we made to prioritise sustainability. It was very important to us from the start to not use a lot of plastic in our packaging and to source our food sustainably. Nowadays, it’s thankfully much easier to be sustainable and there’s more options for eco-friendly products.” In recent years, Avocafe has played host to a range of events, welcoming both loyal customers and Lenton locals through its doors after hours. Jordana is eager to organise more events in the future. “We’ve done open mic nights, gigs, supper clubs and most recently pumpkin carving for Halloween – I’d love to do that annually, it was so much fun.” And now Jordana’s role in the re-launch of an open food network (which she likens to an “online farmers’ market”) is set to bring Avocafe even closer to its community and sustainability values. “It’ll provide people with access to local produce, like vegetables, bread and dairy products, more easily and sustainably. You will be able to order everything together online, just like you would from a supermarket, then collection will be available from Avocafe on Thursdays. Food will be produced to meet demand so there will be minimal waste. We’re going to start by offering fortnightly orders and see how it goes from there.” Find Avocafe at 1 Park St, Nottingham NG7 1RR. Open 9am - 5pm Mon - Fri, 9.30am - 5pm Saturday, and 9.30am - 4pm Sunday. Q @avocafe.notts

food

words & photos: Caradoc Gayer

Tasty, any way you slice it We check out The Slice: a new artisan bakery and Roman pizza spot on Middle Pavement. It’s sometimes hard to find city centre spots for a light lunchtime treat without breaking the bank, or committing to a ‘dining-out’ experience. The Slice, however, is a pretty lovely resolution to that. Whether you’re seeking a quick-ish afternoon bite, or lengthy catch-up with somebody, you’ll probably find what you’re looking for here. This artisan bakery and eatery used to be a street food stall, appearing at occasions such as the Hucknall Market and Wollaton Farmer’s Market. Since the start of December, they’ve found a permanent home on Middle Pavement, which is a pretty lovely space to walk into: airy, bright, and tastefully decorated – an atmosphere matched by the relaxed and welcoming demeanour of the two guys behind the counter.

It’s sometimes hard to find city centre spots for a light lunchtime treat without breaking the bank, or committing to a ‘dining-out’ experience. The Slice, however, is a pretty lovely resolution to that. Their main selling points are pizza-by-the-slice, sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls, all made in on-site ovens. Everything is on rotation, so there’s always something new to try. The price of individual pizza slices varies between £3 and £4.50, with a six-slice helping varying between £15 and £22.50. It’s great value – one to three slices would probably sort most people out lunchtime-wise (it's an attractive prospect to try several, as each looks so tasty). On my visit I choose a slice of the Forest Floor pizza: containing mushrooms, artichokes, and kalamata olives on a tomato base, seasoned with garlic and oregano – along with the Salame: a little simpler but no-less delicious, with salami Napoli, parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil. Together, they provide me a little ‘slice’ of heaven on a cold December afternoon. Other regulars on their menu include the Ndjua sausage pizza, the Gustosa – with potato, rosemary, and Italian sausage – and

FROM THE KITCHEN

With Connor Sullivan, Head Chef at Bar Iberico Describe your venue in two words Tasty tapas When did you first know you wanted to make food for a living? I needed a part-time job when I was seventeen and got hired as a kitchen porter in a local pub. I absolutely loved it! The work ethic, chaos and the people. After that I decided to go and give uni a go, but ultimately I was always drawn back to the kitchen. Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking? My dad. He used to be a chef when I was young and some of my happiest memories are of cooking with him. We’d cook freshly caught mackerel on the campfire, and make homemade beef jerky together. It was him that made me love food. What's the best selling item on your current menu and why? Crispy chicken in jerez sauce. It’s absolutely addictive. What’s the best meal you have ever cooked? It has to be Christmas dinner 2024. I did porchetta, partridge and turkey with all the trimmings, and had all the family round. All of the plates were licked clean that day. What’s the best meal you have ever eaten? It was on holiday, in Crete, over Easter a couple of years ago. I had antikristo lamb, slow-cooked on a large fire for hours, with roast potatoes cooked in the fat. It’s a traditional dish out there, so simple but absolutely beautiful. Other than your own place, where do you eat out most on Notts? I'm a pizza boy at heart, so I tend to frequent Slice and Brew. Kushi-ya also deserves a shout though! Who are your five ideal dinner party guests alive or dead? And what’s on the menu? Jurgen Klopp, Kenny Dalglish, Bob Mortimer, Ricky Gervais, and Liam Gallagher. On the menu we’d have some New York style pizza and a few pints of Guinness. Visit Bar Iberico at 17-19 Carlton Street, NG1 1NL

34 leftlion.co.uk 34 leftlion.co.uk

baribericotapas.com

other veggie options like the Ortolana vegetable medley. The cinnamon buns are also wonderful – made on-site and served with freshly topped vanilla or caramel glaze. It’s a little difficult to eat with plastic cutlery but worth the extra effort with a fluffy, not-to-overpowering texture (but one that will definitely fill you up!). Aside from that, they sell lots of sourdough varieties at The Slice – Kalamata Olives and Saffron and Cheddar and Jalapeno, to name but a couple, plus panini rolls and brioches – all made on site. There’s also coffee, tea, refrigerated and shelf goods – if you’re a fan of the economical charm of classic, Italian lunchtime eateries, The Slice is a must-visit. It’s also a good option if the darkness of January has you feeling down-and-out – if that’s the case, why not treat yourself to a slice or two….? Find The Slice at 3 Middle Pavement, NG1 7DX Q]@theslice.romanpizza

Life behind bars

With lucy simons, co-owner at the abdication Tell us something interesting about your pub… We love our location! Daybrook is an overlooked suburb with a serious brewing heritage. We look out over to the iconic Home Brewery building from a beautiful, Grade II listed parade of shops built in 1936-7. It’s called Coronation Buildings, so it simply followed to name the pub after Edward VIII’s abdication. What’s the best thing about your job? Getting to choose a fine selection of beers and ciders from the best independent producers. It’s a delight connecting up with other passionate small business folks. What’s your best selling drink? Cask Ale is our biggest seller by far – bucking the national trend of falling sales across the sector. What’s your most expensive drink? Quite the reverse, people more often remark on the value for money – we still have a fair number of sub £4 pints! What’s your personal favourite tipple? Saison Du Pont, a classic Belgian beer, is my desert island beer, so having it on the taps in my pub earlier this year was a total treat. Who’s the most famous person you’ve had drinking in your place? Our electrician is a guy called Devon White, but when he called in for a pint it caused a bit of a commotion. Totally unbeknown to me he was also a professional footballer, including a spell at Notts County back in the 1990s. The regulars made a real fuss of him. What’s the best thing a customer has ever said to you? “We were going to move out of the area until you opened.” How would you persuade someone who’s never visited to entice them in? We’ve now been listed in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for ten years in a row, so you know you’ll get a delicious pint served in tip top condition. Visit The Abdication at 89 Mansfield Rd, Daybrook, NG5 6BH

theabdication.co.uk

fashion Love at first sight words: Addie Kenogbon-Harley photos: Lottie Baxter

Fashion editor Addie Kenogbon-Harley catches up with Lottie Baxter, owner of one of Notts’ latest vintage boutiques, Love at First Sight, to find out more about how her teenage dream became a reality in the form of a small but mighty fashion hideaway in Southwell with a cult following. If shopping more sustainably is on your New Year’s resolution list this year, then you’re not alone. In fact, a recent YouGov survey found that 84% of shoppers now buy second-hand items. And if you’re lucky enough to live in Notts, then it’s safe to say you have your pick of sustainable and vintage clothing shops to choose from. We featured a round-up of preloved clothing haunts in our September issue, but Love at First Sight is a new boutique that opened its doors a handful of months ago. Located in Southwell, down a hidden sidestreet, it is stocked with treasures ranging from affordable to high-end luxury designer pieces. Its owner Lottie, has been selling vintage clothing since the age of sixteen. While most people were spending their teen years getting into mischief, she could be found rummaging through car boot sales, hunting down coveted silk scarves and garments from yesteryear. It’s this eye for a bargain and a celebration of fashion from years gone by, that has helped Lottie fund the dream that would become the launch of her very own pink palace boutique six years later. “I've always been into fashion. As soon as I got interested in having my own sense of style and needing to shop for clothes, I opted for charity shops and going to the car boot,” says Lottie. “So I think the interest for it was always there, and the shop was just a natural progression from there for me.” “I've always been quite introverted too, but for me clothes have always been how I expressed myself,” she adds. ”I felt very at home when I was rummaging through piles of clothes. I think some people just have that connection to clothing. I don't feel like myself until I've got dressed in the morning – an outfit is therapeutic to me.” Lottie’s love affair with selling preloved treasures began during lockdown, after buying secondhand silk scarves for just 50p and successfully selling them on for £15 a piece on the popular reselling app, Depop. This experience gave her a little taste of reselling and began the Love at First Sight journey. “You get a dopamine hit from it. I built a bit of a collection, was having regular sales online and then got a stall at Sneinton Market where I would go every Saturday,” Lottie says. “I loved selling on that market. It really helped me come out of my shell a bit because it was out of my comfort zone. That's when I realised, okay, I like online selling but I love doing this in person because I'm able to actually connect with people. It's a bit faceless online.” This marked the first time Lottie got to meet her customers, with many loyal fans visiting her Sneinton Market stall to see what treasures she had or put requests in for pieces they were on the hunt for. But it wasn’t until her hairdresser offered her the chance to set up shop in her salon’s basement in Southwell that Lottie got to make her dream of a permanent space a reality. With a trail of pink and red signs featuring the iconic Love at First Sight heart and eye logo, leading the way to the shop, the boutique stocks a carefully curated array of womenswear ranging from the ‘50s, to the ‘00s, with something to suit all styles and wallets.

40leftlion.co.uk leftlion.co.uk 40 40

“I've always had quite a random mix of stuff,” says Lottie. “I try to make sure that there is something for anyone of any age. You could be a goth or you could be really girly or into cottage-core and you'll find something in the shop. That’s what I like about vintage, it's so varied and you never know what you're going to find. “As for me, I love the 70s. It’s my favourite era. The bold prints, the colours, the textures - and things were really well made. It was an era where they paid attention to details but also had fun with bold floral prints and big flares. I also love 1920s style because I love the glamour and the femininity of that era.” Since opening the doors to Love at First Sight last year, Lottie has amassed a throng of loyal fans with shoppers travelling from across the city as well as from further afield to get their hands on a rare vintage piece.

I don't feel like myself until I've got dressed in the morning - an outfit is therapeutic to me “People - especially older people - come in and comment about how an item just takes them back to a time. They'll share memories that they had wearing certain items or styles – whether that’s a gig they went to or a family memory. I think that's the joy of old clothes. Everything has a story attached to it and a memory.” There’s no denying that the likes of giants such as Shein and TikTok still have the world in a chokehold. Lottie believes it means shoppers have lost touch with the clothes they wear. “People buy a bag full of stuff and it's dirt cheap, and they wear something once and forget about it. Whereas before, you'd invest in one jacket, you'd wear it to all occasions and it would be on your journey with you. Now, clothes don't last long enough in your life or in your wardrobe for you to feel attached to them. So I think the only way people are going to get that sentimentality and joy again, is probably by buying old clothes and cherishing the things that they already have.” It’s this ethos Lottie has channelled into the shop, taking care to find extra special pieces and one-of-a-kind items often not found elsewhere. Hailing from Nottingham herself, Lottie also has a special eye for finding vintage Paul Smith pieces, and she’s now garnered a collection of items including shoes, bags, jackets, blouses and more. “I had one Paul Smith bag that was in the shop when I opened and it created an absolute frenzy. The amount of messages I received and people coming in asking if they could buy the Paul Smith was crazy. It's a Nottingham brand and Paul Smith himself seems like a lovely guy, so people clearly have that real connection to it. So I bought in loads of Paul Smith stuff and customers love it.” Following the successes of the shop, Lottie has her sights set on launching a preloved fashion show later this year, which will feature a curated runway of looks put together by Lottie with vintage pieces from the shop. Find Love At First Sight at 17 Market Place, Southwell, NG25 0HE. Q @loveatfirstsightvintage

literature Nine Lives interview: Andrew Tucker Leavis

Branching off from a unique event in Belfast, Tenx9 Nottingham sees nine local people tell ten minute stories about their lives in the atmospheric surrounds of Broadway Cinema. The next instalment of the event is in January, so we heard more about it from facilitator Sai Masud. Tenx9 is a regular storytelling night, in which nine people tell ten-minute true stories about their own lives. How would you tell your story, Sai? I’m a consultant clinical psychologist in adult mental healthcare in Nottinghamshire NHS, and a member of Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organisation – Corrymeela – where I learnt about the power of community as a way of sharing experiences and holding back differences that in other circumstances can lead to divisions and separations.

stage upon which the storytellers sit. They sit together.

I was born on a mountain in Kashmir, and I moved to the UK when I was a child. My dad is a poet, so even though I never felt that I fully belonged to Kashmir or the UK, I knew I felt at home in ‘words.’ I have a love of words and people, and storytelling just brought the two together.

I think stories are a wonderful way of learning about our blind-spots, in an unintentional, nonthreatening manner

During lockdown, I was living in a hamlet between Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. It was incredibly isolating, even if wonderful in terms of space and nature. When I returned to Nottingham, I made a vow to myself that I would do something to feel in and for the community of Nottingham.

It is a very liberating and freeing experience. It is a conquering of the story that they have survived to tell.

Tenx9 began in Belfast – how did you get involved in bringing it to Nottingham? I’m in Ireland quite a lot, because of my work with Corrymeela, and on one such visit in the summer of 2023 friends of mine booked tickets for us to attend this thing called the Tenx9. I had no idea what it was. That was my first time – I heard stories from a bricklayer, an ex-nun, someone who worked for the BBC, and so on. I laughed, cried, and felt in awe of each person who told their story. It was a fantastic, free, night.

The oral tradition of storytelling seems to have shrunk in the modern world. What is it about telling stories that you believe is so important? I think the world has become so divisive, we feel vulnerable about how we will be received for ourselves. Covid amplified this segregation and aloneness. We all became mini-islands – standalone and stranded from the mainland. Coming together on a shared theme tells us that we can sit in the same space with different meanings and different struggles but maintain our contact and connection. This is what community is: it is created between people and driven by what we put into it.

I straight away knew that we in Nottingham could do this – we are the City of Literature, it’s in our bones and blood. I spoke to co-founder Paul Doran that night – I’m not sure what he made of me, but I was full of excitement, energy, and begging him to let me create one in Nottingham. Within a few months I set up a year’s worth of events for 2024.

I think stories are a wonderful way of learning about our blind-spots, in an unintentional, non-threatening manner. We live in a time when you have access to anyone in the world, their life, their story, their truth, in the easiest, quickest way. Yet, prejudice, stereotyping, othering and polarisation continue to increase at a speed that we cannot keep up with, nor slow down.

I should add that the day after the Tenx9, I was doing a coastal walk and ran into one of the storytellers, Richard O’Leary (a very established storyteller from Bangor in Northern Ireland), on the beach – not so much ran into him, more running over to him screaming that I’d loved his story! He promised to speak to Paul about letting me have a go.

When you sit in a room with strangers and you hear their story directly from them, it is quite impossible to refute them and their humanity. The Irish are natural storytellers, and I really admire that – even at Corrymeela, we do peace work through bringing together storytellers. In a recent session I heard from young people from South Korea, telling us about how they overcame their prejudice of those in North Korea – through children on each side of the border drawing, writing and connecting with each other. Because you can’t refute what is embodied and tangibly in front of you. It brings a level of engagement that starts at a very human level. Person to person.

How would you describe these nights to a newcomer? Tenx9 gives the everyday person the opportunity to tell a story. It is not necessarily ‘the’ story of their life – the one framing all other experiences or the one illuminating profound meaning. It is not fiction. It is one perspective on one of their experiences, through the lens of the theme that has been set for that event. It is a non-judgemental space. Everyone in the audience is rooting for the person telling their story. It is as much about the story-listeners as it is the storytellers. The space is created so that there is no division between the two – there’s no

42leftlion.co.uk leftlion.co.uk 42 42

I think it also offers a freedom to give your story away. Difficult experiences are brought into the open – when someone reading their story pauses, stops to catch their breath, swallows the lump in their throat or halts a tear in their eye – the audience feels the momentousness of what is happening before them. We are all ears, eyes and hearts.

The next instalment of Tenx9 Nottingham, with the theme ‘awkward’, takes place at Broadway Cinema on 20 January. Submit pieces to tenx9nottm@gmail.com by 17 January.

Q @tenx9.nottm