Goose Fair Nottingham: Fascinating black and white photos show Goose Fair being held in Old Market Square

If you hail from Nottingham, then chances are you’ll have attended Goose Fair at least once in your life. 

Each October, the Forest Recreation Ground is illuminated by more than 250 rides and attractions, with hundreds of thousands of people in attendance. 

The Goose Fair has grown over the years to become one of the biggest travelling funfairs in Europe, having been staged annually in Nottingham since at least 1284. 

It’s thought that the Goose Fair name is linked to the event’s early years when live animals were sold.

Traders from across the country, particularly Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, would bring their geese to Nottingham to be sold - earning the fair its iconic name.

Everyone attending this year’s event will know nothing other than the fair being held at the Forest Recreation Ground, but rewind a century and things were very different. 

For hundreds of years the Goose Fair was actually held in Old Market Square, before moving around a mile north to the Forest Rec in 1928. 

Such was the popularity of the fair in the early part of the 20th century, organisers had no option but to find a bigger area to host it. 

Below are fascinating black and white photos of Goose Fair being held in Old Market Square.