It is fairly obvious (to me at least) that the growth of the Creative Quarter in Nottingham gives the City so much potential. I spoke at an event on Friday last about what the issues were for Nottingham and how we might address them.

I touched on this in yesterdays blog – part of the answer (particularly for retail) lies in developing the independent offer. That can give us market differentiation. To my mind this is where success will lie. It’s the anti-Claires Accessories scenario. I have nothing against Claire (we’ve never been introduced) but it is just the representation of a vanilla High Street and, frankly – who cares.

The fact that the event was held in the old Vintage Clothes warehouse on Cranbrook Street was an interesting start. The space has been cleared to create a flexible space which has been used for flea markets and even productions of King Lear! This re-use of space which we might once have considered for demolition is a great example of what the creative industries want. They don’t want air conditioned sterile offices – with their raised floors and suspended ceiling tiles!

I likened what we need to do with how New York behaves – in reinventing itself. Constantly. It changes, it evolves – the city is a living breathing mass of talent.

And so is Nottingham.

The audience were mostly half my age – but I found it quite reassuring that there was so much interest!

The future looks bright – especially in the Creative Quarter….