Nottingham Castle prepares to welcome visitors back after eight-month closure

Nottingham Castle is welcoming visitors with a one-off £1 special ticket for its official reopening on Monday 26 June 2023.

The museum and heritage site has been brought back under council management following the collapse of Nottingham Castle Trust last November.

Children will be led through the castle gates by “Robin Hood” at 10am, where the sheriff of Nottingham and city representatives will be in attendance.

Following criticism that the site was too expensive under previous management, a new pricing structure has been introduced offering a “pay once, visit all year round” £12 ticket for adults. Up to three accompanying children aged 15 years old and under can go free with each paying adult.

The new admission arrangement includes access to the grounds, Brewhouse Yard Cottages, Robin Hood Adventures and Rebellion Galleries and the castle museum. The site’s two cave tours – Mortimer’s Hole and King David’s Dungeon – will reopen for the summer at an additional £5 per person.

Along with features added during its recent £31m redevelopment, including an adventure playground and redesigned permanent galleries, the reopened site will offer a number of new experiences that visitors have not seen before.

These include a reinvigorated Brewhouse Yard exploring Nottingham life from the 1500s to 1900s and a new Land Train, which will operate at weekends and during the peak holiday season.

To commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Windrush Day, a temporary exhibition, 70 Objeks & Tings, has been developed at the museum by Museumand (the National Caribbean Heritage Museum), working with Nottingham City Museums. The show will run to the end of October.  

There will also be a series of artist commissions and interventions on display around the museum by Jemisha Maadhavji and Tim Fowler.

The site has already reopened for a number of successful preview days, including a screening of the coronation last month.

The council plans to develop a programme of events, exhibitions, gallery talks and school visits, and offer the site for events such as weddings and corporate functions.

Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for leisure, culture and planning, Pavlos Kotsonis, said: “It’s fantastic that the day is coming soon for the castle gates to reopen to the public. It took a lot of effort, but we are proud to have delivered on our promise to reopen in June.

“I am delighted that the people of Nottingham will have the opportunity to access the whole castle site including Brewhouse Yard for just £1 as part of its opening.”