These streets are ours: The Park Estate

Surrounded by the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Savoy Cinema, and Castle Boulevard, overlooked by the Castle itself and positioned a mere five minutes from the Market Square, lies The Park, a private residential estate and conservation area. Known for its blue lines, gas street lamps and huge Victorian houses, The Park is Nottingham’s ‘posh’ neighbourhood. But is there more to it than that?

Originally woodland, the history of The Park dates back to the latter half of the eleventh century, when William the Conqueror commanded the construction of the original Nottingham Castle. The area became a royal deer park to accommodate the castle. Both were ruined as a consequence of the English Civil War in the seventeenth century.

The blue lines on the roads are often an immediate interest for people new to The Park. Blue signifies Park Estate-only rules, as issued by the Nottingham Park Estate Limited company (NPEL); single blue lines mean that those with a residents’ parking permit may park adjacent to their property, and those with permission from a permit holder can also park adjacent to the holder’s property. By contrast, double blue means that no one, not even permit holders, can park. A subtle but distinct difference that separates The Park’s roads from nationwide yellow lines. Running alongside the roads and blue lines are The Park’s 226 gas light lamps, which are its original lighting despite the rest of Nottingham having transitioned to electric lights in 1937.

The longstanding greenery of the area is what comes to mind when Nick Lee, who has been visiting or lived as a resident of The Park for almost sixty years, thinks of the estate. “The defining feature of The Park that makes it so special is the mature trees, the tree-lined vistas. We're just seeing all the leaves fall, but autumn in The Park is magical,” he says.

In his childhood, Lee regularly visited his dad and stepmother in The Park at their flat, before moving in with his dad for some of his teen years. While only a handful of other teenagers lived in the area at that time, and most of his friends lived elsewhere in the city, Lee found himself popular with them. “It was great as a teenager because my friends used to crash here and enjoy its proximity to the city centre. We'd go to Rock City and then we'd be back to my place. It felt quite different to the experience of most of my friends, who grew up in more typical suburbs,” Lee says. Then, around twenty years ago, Lee and his wife, Dara, bought their house in The Park and raised their children there.

Still, despite the conveniences of living next to the city centre, there was a time in recent history when The Park lacked much of the elegance it wields in 2025. “In the 70s, it was a lot less maintained than it is now. Some of the houses were very run down; certainly the roads weren't as well maintained. It felt a bit like it was a bit neglected really,” Lee says. 

It would not be until the 1990s that the area would see improvement in the form of an Act of Parliament, the Nottingham Park Estate Act 1990, giving the NPEL control over upkeep and rules of the estate, as well as the ability to set rates for residents. The regeneration of The Park is one of the key changes Lee has seen, “There's been a huge improvement in general maintenance of The Park in terms of the roads, houses and of the actual environment.”

And in the long term, that improvement helped foster another change within The Park: more families. “Demographically, it's become more of a family environment than it was in the 70s,” Lee says. “There were families living here, but now it’s a more settled and established environment to bring a family up in.”

As such, there is one change Lee would make to The Park: a play area for kids. “I did try to lobby and do some work to develop a children's play area, which came to nothing in the end, unfortunately,” he says. With the amount of families with young children growing inside The Park and the estate seemingly bucking the national trend of fewer children, Lee re-affirms that a local play area would be beneficial and his only change.

There are, however, events that occur in The Park. A responsibility of the Nottingham Park Residents Association (NPRA), which is a separate entity to the NPEL, is building community in the neighbourhood. Happenings run by the NPRA have included social lunches, carols, jubilee celebrations and picnics for kids. There is also the biennial Park Garden Trail, in which a number of houses and gardens across The Park are open to public viewing for the purpose of raising money for local charities. The 2025 trail raised a record-setting £43,000.

The Robin Hood Half Marathon runs through The Park, which Lee has taken part in several times and respects the difficulty of the leg through the estate. “It's a beast of a course. It's great running down from the castle but then you hit the hills and you know what's coming,” he says, referencing the steep climb runners then have to face up to Lenton. While Lee doesn’t participate in marathons now, he does cheer and clap for other runners and has supported Dara when she took part in the 10k run through the area.

Lee’s wish is that The Park remains accessible to such events and to the public at large, and never gated. At one point, there was a move to lock the gates at the Lenton end of the estate due to concerns about noise and student behaviour waking residents up at 3am. The gates were locked for a time but a right-of-way meant this practice stopped.

While Lee is sympathetic to the worries of those who desire to seal The Park, it’s against his instincts and politics for it to be gated. “I understood that there was a bit of an anti-social issue with the way students were behaving but I wouldn't like to live in a community that considers itself exclusive and gated,” he says, before adding, “but the gates are always open apart from the bollards at the bottom entrance. Everywhere is open and I think that's how it should be.”

“What I want for the next generation is that the environment of The Park be maintained and is available, that we continue to have that opportunity, but that it also remains open to all. We shouldn't pull the drawbridge and exclude people.”

Visit The Park next time you’re out and about. Remember to check out The Park tunnel!