Pride celebrations to focus on ‘Nottingham Together’ theme for 2023

Nottingham Pride is one of the social highlights of the summer with thousands taking to Broad Street to celebrate being here, queer and raising a glass together. This year, the traditional celebrations will see the march from Lister Gate move through the city towards Hockley where it will finish with an array of performances and information stalls on July 29.

Last year’s event saw thousands head to the heart of the city to join the march before popping into the pubs to raise a glass in celebration. Every year, Nottingham Pride has a theme which ties the event together and this year, the theme will be Nottingham Together. Together is the right word as the march and celebrations brought a huge crowd to the streets in 2022 which marked the first full event since Covid restrictions.

“We knew there were an additional 30,000 people in Nottingham city but at any given time we had an additional 15,000 people in the Hockley area,” Leigh Ellis, Chair of Nottingham Pride said. “Our theme this year is Nottingham together which will acknowledge that we need to come together to stand in support of our transgender community.”

Despite the large numbers, the Notts Pride team are determined to keep things in Hockley which has been the heart of LGBT+ life since the 1980s. Nottingham Pride, or Pink Lace as it was known then, began in Hockley on Broad Street in 1997. Although it has moved throughout the years to Nottingham Castle, The Arboretum and Forest Recreational Grounds, it has come home to Broad Street in recent years.

The stage will return to the street along with the information stalls that outline support for the community.

“We will also have our information stalls as we’ve always provided people with information about what is available for the LGBTQ+ community. There will be the Notts Pride Community stage which celebrates the diverse talent that we have in Nottingham from our drag community to LGBT+ choirs. We will also have local theatre groups putting on performers.”

Leigh added: “We also have Becks confirmed who is a local artist currently with BBC Introducing. We will be working closely with BBC Nottingham to identify LGBT+ performers and we want to showcase local LGBT+ diverse talent.

Hockley has always had links with Nottingham’s queer community as many of the shops, pubs and clubs based were safe spaces during different decades such as the 1980s. This includes Mushroom Bookshop, Lord Roberts, Broadway, NG1, Jacey’s and Queen of Clubs which have been LGBT+ or community-friendly or supportive venues.

“Hockley is and was the centre for LGBT+ life since the 1980s starting with Mushroom bookshop which was a place where people could get Gay Times which wasn’t sold at retailers at that point. It wasn’t until 1990 that WHS Smith agreed to stock it but even then you had to ask for it,” Leigh explained.

“Hockley was a place for people to meet especially in the 1990s as you had the Health Shop and the GAI Project which supported the LGBT+ community and people living with HIV and AIDS. Our community grew from there and we knew that it was the place to go if we wanted free sexual health information, counselling or if we just wanted to meet our friends for coffee. Hockley, particularly Broad Street, was the place to go.”

Community spaces are now even more important than ever given the increasing rise of transphobia across the UK. The new theme of Pride could not have come at a better time when transgender people need increased community support.

“It’s significant with the current climate towards LGBT+ people, particularly the transgender community that we maintain visibility and understand our history. Understanding our history means we can move forward and ensure what happened in the past, such as Section 28 remains in the past. We stand together and we say no,” Leigh said.