Castle doors shut... even to Robin Hood
WORK BEGINS TO CREATE £30M WORLD-CLASS ATTRACTION
WITH the gates now padlocked, the diggers already in and the gift-shop postcards packed away, Nottingham Castle’s £30 million transformation into a world-class tourist attraction has begun less than 24 hours after the last visitor walked the site’s halls and grounds.
It will be two years until the public can return to the redeveloped landmark, which will then include a new visitors’ centre, access to more caves beneath the castle and a Robin Hood gallery - and the city’s own official outlaw, Tim Pollard, believes it will be well worth the wait.
“I’ve spent 800 years trying to get in [to the castle]. Two more years is not a long time to wait,” said the 54-year-old Robin Hood, who helped mark the site’s closure yesterday alongside the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Cat Arnold, and children from Dunkirk Primary School.
“It is poignant, I’ll give you that,” said Tim, who has been appearing as Robin Hood for more than 22 years. “It’s great because we’ve got a huge amount of money going to be spent on turning the castle into a real world-class tourist attraction.
“They are renovating the museum, the grounds and repairing the building itself, which it is sorely in need of, and that’s great. But obviously it is going to be closed for two years and Nottingham Castle is worldfamous. It is the centre of the city. It’s the centre of the Robin Hood legend, along with Sherwood Forest.
“Everyone knows it and if it is closed for two years, it’s going to be very strange. So I’m happy and sad at the same time but I’m really looking forward to seeing what it is like when it is done.” When it is completed, the Sheriff hopes to follow in the footsteps of city’s such at Stratford Upon Avon and offer a multi-attraction ticket that may include the likes of the National Justice Museum and Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre alongside the castle. “I’ve been coming to the castle my whole life and it’s always been an interesting place with a lovely art gallery,” said Councillor Arnold. “But this is going to make it more family-friendly. As well as entertainment for the children and childfriendly activities, we are going to be having this gallery called Robin And The Rebels, which will take us right through rebellious Nottingham, from Robin, through the burning of the castle, the Luddites, right up to the miners’ strike.
“Instead of just being a ‘one-off’ place for people at the moment, what we want to do is to encourage people to come again and again.
“We are looking into multiple ticketing in the county so they could come here, then go to Sherwood visitor centre and we also want to encourage people to go to the National Justice Museum and the Contemporary.”
Improvements to the castle have been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, D2N2, Nottingham Castle Trust and Nottingham City Council.
It will reopen in summer 2020.
I’ve spent 800 years trying to get in. Two more years is not a long time to wait
City’s official Robin Hood