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West Bridgford

West Bridgford is a town in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. West Bridgford is a suburb of Nottingham, despite being outside of the administrative boundaries of the City of Nottingham. It lies south of the city boundary, delimited by the River Trent, and forms the largest town in the borough of Rushcliffe and is also the Administrative centre of Nottinghamshire with County Hall situated on its side of the river.

As part of the Rushcliffe Constituency its MP is The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke, QC (Conservative Party). The headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Council moved to the town in 1959 from the traditional county town of Nottingham. The town is enclosed by the A52 and the A6011 (former A52).

History

1801 - 235

1851 - 258

1901 - 7,018

2001 - 43,395

Public transport

Nottingham Express Transit a light rail system opened in Nottingham in 2004, running from Hucknall in the north to Nottingham railway station (under a mile from West Bridgford town centre) and plans have been made to include West Bridgford in future phases of the project. Extensive bus services frequently serve most of West Bridgford.

Bus services

1: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Clifton - East Leake - Gotham - Loughborough.

2: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Clifton.

3: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Clifton.

4: Nottingham Trent University City - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Nottingham Trent University Clifton.

5: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Muster Road) - Gamston.

5A: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Gamston.

6: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Edwalton.

7: Notitngham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Gamston.

8: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Wilford Hill.

9: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Wilford Hill.

10: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wolds Estate - Ruddington.

11: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Radcliffe Road) - Trent Boulevard.

11C: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Radcliffe Road) - Trent Boulevard - National Water Sports Centre.

Skylink: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Clifton - East Midlands Airport.

Nottingham Community Transport

L1: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Wilford Village - Silverdale.

L2: Silverdale - Clifton - Ruddington - Wolds Estate - West Bridgford (Muster Road & Central Avenue) - Gamston.

Trent Barton

22: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Gamston - Tollerton - Langar - Granby.

Bingham Xprss: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Trent Bridge and Radcliffe Road) - Bingham.

Cotgrave Connection: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Cotgrave.

Keyworth Connection: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Melton Road) - Tollerton - Keyworth.

Radcliffe Line: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Central Avenue) - Radcliffe - Bingham/Cropwell Bishop/Gunthorpe/East Bridgford.

Ruddington Connection: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Wilford Green - Ruddington - Ruddington Business Park - Clifton.

Premiere Travel

12: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Tollerton - Keyworth - Leicester.

S1: Clifton - Wilford Green - ASDA - West Bridgford (Rectory Road) - Gamston.

S2: Bingham - Gamston - West Bridgford (Rectory Road) - ASDA.

S3: Keyworth - Gamston - West Bridgford (Rectory Road)- ASDA.

S4: Cropwell Bishop - Tollerton - Gamston - West Bridgford (Rectory Road) - ASDA.

X1: Whatton - Bingham - West Bridgford (Radcliffe Road) - Nottingham - QMC.

X9: Loughborough - Ruddington - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Nottingham.




Veolia Dunn-Line)/Paul James

19: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Melton Mowbray - Oakham.

29: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Loughborough Road) - Kinoulton - Keyworth.

Marshalls

90: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Radcliffe Road) - Farndon - Newark.

90A: Nottingham - West Bridgford (Radcliffe Road) - Farndon - Newark - Balderton.

Bridges

Three essential bridges allow rapid access to the city of Nottingham. The easy access to Nottingham has been an important aspect of the high popularity of West Bridgford as a suburb.

Trent Bridge

Currently a dual carriageway road bridge. Plans to include bus lanes on the bridge are yet to be rolled out.


Suspension Bridge

The now somewhat aged bridge is currently closed. The date for the recomissioning is yet to be made widely available but Severn Trent have started work on the bridge and estimate completion in September 2009. Unfortunately, the easy safe access to Nottingham by cyclists has thus been prevented for several months and the busy Trent Bridge has to be used.


Lady Bay Bridge

Lady Bay Bridge is a road bridge of two lanes that spans the River Trent. The bridge was originally the rail crossing for the Midland Railway's "alternative route" from London to Nottingham via Melton Mowbray. Despite passing right through the middle of West Bridgford, mostly on a high embankment, there was never a West Bridgford station - the nearest station on this line was at Edwalton, and even that closed in July 1941, the line itself following in May 1967. Today much of the embankment has been removed and its route built over.

Local government

West Bridgford was created an urban sanitary district in 1891. It became an urban district with an elected council under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1935, the parishes of Edwalton and South Wilford were added to the urban district. This then became part of the larger borough of Rushcliffe under the Local Government Act 1972.

Geography

The northern boundary of West Bridgford is the River Trent, spanned by two road bridges, Trent Bridge and Lady Bay Bridge, and two pedestrianised bridges consisting of a suspension bridge and a toll bridge near the Ferry Inn linking nearby Wilford village with the Meadows area of Nottingham city. The pedestrianised bridges link particularly well with cycle routes to Nottingham city, railway station and the University areas making several rapid, safe, car-free routes available.

Two spans of the original mediaeval bridge still remain, surrounded by a traffic island on the south side of the river adjacent to Trent Bridge.

Architecture and housing

The central West Bridgford area has a rich diversity of buildings, mostly Victorian, although the larger properties are being demolished for development as no protection exists for common housing stock. St. Giles Church is medieval but heavily restored at the end of the nineteenth century.

House prices

The average price of a home in West Bridgford is £331,454 which is very high above the national average.

The average price of a detached home is £374,505. A semi-detached house is £340,093, a terraced house is £279,216 and a flat is £246,371.

Neighbourhoods

Abbey Park

Compton Acres

Lady Bay

Wilford Hill

Nearby places

Nottingham to the north

Holme Pierrepont to the north�east

Gamston to the south�east

Edwalton to the south

Clifton to the south�west

Wilford to the north�west

Sporting heritage

West Bridgford is renowned for its sporting facilities and heritage.

Nottingham Forest Football Club play at the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent. Founded in 1865, the clubs glory days are considered to be 1975-1993, under manager Brian Clough who died in 2004. Under Clough's guidance in the 1977-78 season, Forest became the last team to date to win the English First Division Championship (then the top tier of English club football) the season immediately after winning promotion from the English Second Division. In 1978-79 Forest went on to win the European Cup after beating F.C Malmo (1-0) in Munich’s Olympic Stadium and retained the trophy again in 1979-80 by beating SV Hamburg (1-0) in Madrid. The club also won the Europe Super Cup and three League Cups.

Trent Bridge cricket ground was first used for cricket in 1838 and hosted its first Test Match in 1899, for England playing against Australia. It is the third oldest ground to be used as a test cricket venue after Lord's in London and Eden Gardens in Calcutta, India. It has been described by some as the finest test cricket location in the world.

Trent Bridge is also home to Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, a first-class English cricket club.

The National Watersports Centre is Britain’s centre for water sports and is located in Holme Pierrepont, next to West Bridgford. Its facilities include a regatta lake, a white water slalom and water�ski jumps. West Bridgford also hosts two rowing clubs, Nottingham Rowing Club and Nottingham and Union Rowing Club, and a rowing shell manufacturers, Raymond Sims Ltd. Several of the town's secondary schools have rowing activities on their curriculum.

West Bridgford is home to a number of Rugby Clubs notably West Bridgford Rugby Club. Additionally Nottingham R.F.C moved their playing ground to Lady Bay following the 2005/6 season in Ireland Road Beeston and this is not as widely known as would be expected considering their long history with Nottingham.

Retail

West Bridgford's main shopping district runs from Central Avenue through Tudor Square to Gordon Road. Multiple retailers in the central area include Vision Express, Boots, Greggs, a large Co-operative supermarket, Iceland, Blockbuster Video. Marks & Spencers opened a food supermarket in early 2006. These established chains complement a variety of independent specialist shops like Strawberry Blinds, Guitar Base music store, BuyTheBook bookshop, hardware store Jayline, and No.8 Deli providing fresh, seasonal foods, Liz Corker bride which opened in 2008 selling designer wedding dreses and mens formal hire, and Jolie Lingerie an independent lingerie store offering a specialist fitting service and designer lingerie.

Cafes include Caffè Nero and Philos, as well as the very popular cafe, wine bar & bistro Belle and Jerome), pizza chains include Pizza Express and a new Italian restaurant Felicini as well as contemporary restaurants, typified by Five Rivers serving fusion Indian cuisine. Following refurbishment and street improvements in 2000, the quality of shopping in central West Bridgford has noticeably improved.

There are two food superstores in the area: Asda in West Bridgford and Morrisons in nearby Gamston.

West Bridgford has a place in British retail history as the location of the UK's first major out-of-town shopping development. In 1964 an American company called GEM opened a store on Loughbrough Road. However, despite ambitious expansion plans, GEM's British operations were not a success, with only one other store (at Crossgates, Leeds) being opened. National concessionaires withdrew from the stores and in 1966 the fledgling Asda company (then known as 'Associated Dairies') of Leeds, acquired a controlling interest in the GEM operations. The Loughborough Road site still houses a major ASDA store, although this was resited and rebuilt some years ago. (For a fuller history of the site and GEM, see Whysall (2005) in International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 15(2), 111-124).

Pubs and restaurants

As West Bridgford expanded in the Victorian and Edwardian periods The West Bridgford Protection Society was formed that worked hard to prevent any licensed premises being opened in West Bridgford. This has meant that there have been a relatively small number of pubs in the area until recent years. In fact there was no licenced premise of any kind until 1938; at that date the Trent Bridge Inn was still in Nottingham.

In the late 1930s, planning was granted for the Wolds Hotel, effectively a pub (on Loughborough Road) and the Test Match Hotel on Gordon Road. Many of these establishments are called 'Inns' as public houses were prohibited in West Bridgford, but hotels were thought to be more acceptable. In reality, places like the Test Match never operated as a hotel. The Test Match was refurbished a few years ago by its then owners, Hardy and Hansons Kimberley Brewery, and was recognised as the best refurbishment in Britain by CAMRA, reflecting the care and attention given to preserving its distinctive art deco features (which were recognised as important by English Heritage). Hardy and Hansons has since been taken over by Greene King.

March 1970 saw Nottingham Forest Sportsmens Club open its doors to the fans from the Football Club whose name it bears. It was their determination to establish a base from which to follow 'their team' that converted the building immediately outside the Football Ground as a licensed Social Club. Although it now operates independently from the Football Club and its membership has a much broader, although predominantly sporting interest, and fully refurbished (March 2008)it now provides an accessible and relaxing alternative to local pubs.

West Bridgford nightlife has been growing in recent years, particularly after the opening of new drinking establishments such as La Vina (ex-Bar des Amis, September 2007 and the Pearl. Other drinking establishments include the long running West End Cabaret on Central Avenue, and the Stratford Haven on Stratford Road.

Along with many established local restaurants a new branch of Pizza Express has opened on Central Avenue. Fire&Ice, a bar/restaurant on Bridgford Road, featuring an authentic wood-fired pizza oven, has quickly become popular as a venue for late-night drinking along with the very recently refurbished Oriental Pearl. Added to this, Belle and Jerome has now introduced a full evening menu into their bistro, so adding to the exceptional range of eating establishments in this suburb. Many of the pubs and bars in West Bridgford are frequented by people who live south of Nottingham, before heading onto the larger bars and clubs in Nottingham itself. However, increased interest in West Bridgford has attracted around 20-40% more people from town to stay in West Bridgford according to local taxi firms who say they seem to take more and more people from Nottingham to West Bridgford every week.

Education

There are two state-funded Comprehensive schools, the West Bridgford School^[1] and Rushcliffe School. The Becket School is a local Catholic school, although in a separate Local Authority from West Bridgford. The private Grosvenor School is also located on Melton Road in Edwalton. The largest site of South Nottingham College is in West Bridgford and the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University are within three miles.

The number of highly ranked schools in West Bridgford is often cited as a reason for its relatively high property prices.^[who?] This, along with the gentle nature of the town, a leisure centre and proximity to the south Nottinghamshire countryside, including the Vale of Belvoir, ensure that West Bridgford is a popular location for families to live in.

Local facilities

Rushcliffe Leisure Centre–swimming pool and gym.

Rushcliffe Arena–Indoor Bowls and gym.

Roko Health Club - Members-only health club

David Lloyd Club–members-only health club.

Edwalton Golf Club

West Bridgford Library

Bridgford Park -

West Bridgford Bowling Club - members-only outdoor bowling.

West Bridgford Bridge Club

Notable residents

The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke, QC MP lives on Melton Road.

Harry Wheatcroft, the famous rose grower lived with his family in West Bridgford. The Wheatcroft family garden centre is located in Edwalton, now owned by a chain.

Numerous Nottingham Forest F.C. and Notts County F.C players live in West Bridgford and adjoining Edwalton.