My UK city is so popular with stag do's that locals want an anti-tourist tax – but there's so much more to it than bars

The Sun

05-05-2025

When it comes to the latest UK cities considering a tourist tax for overnight visitors, London and Liverpool seem likely locations to add to the list. Nottingham? Not so much.
While the capital reckons it could raise more than £240m a year and Liverpool benefits from Beatles mania, the Midlands city where I spent my teenage years wandering round New Look and Top Shop isn't top of most tourists' to-do lists.
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The main overnight guests who head to Nottingham appear to be hordes of hen dos and lads on tour - it's the Midlands' answer to top stag destination, Amsterdam.
Much as I love the city of my youth, charging overnight visitors £2 per room per night seems a bit cheeky, when tourist hotspots like Mogan in Gran Canaria are setting their rates at €0.15 per person per day.
The city council reckon bringing in a tourist charge could raise £1.7m a year, which could be invested in attractions to make Nottingham less about the night-time economy and more of a tourist destination during daylight.
The City of Edinburgh Council is introducing a five per cent visitor levy for overnight guests in paid accommodation from July next year.
Meanwhile Manchester adds £1 per room per night for stays within the Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) zone.
London is considering bringing in a levy to boost public coffers, while Liverpool is going ahead with its £2 per night charge from next month.
Here in Nottingham, the city centre is undergoing a facelift with the demolition of the Broadmarsh shopping centre, so money raised from overnight stays could come in handy.
There's actually lots of interesting sites in Nottingham if you know where to go.
The whole city has a hidden network of caves beneath it, which have been in use since Roman times.
My eldest son and I were fascinated by what we found when we bought tickets for the City of Caves and wandered the warren of walkways and tunnels underground last summer, past medieval tannery pits and air raid shelters.
Robin Hood might have spent more time hiding out in nearby Sherwood Forest than in the city itself, but Nottingham still celebrates the legendary figure.
A statue of the fabled outlaw stands proud near the castle, ready to take on the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The fortunes of the castle itself have been somewhat chequered in recent years, after the trust that ran it went into liquidation in 2022, just 18 months after the site unveiled a £30 million revamp.
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The castle, actually a 17th-century ducal palace refurbished in Victorian times after it was set ablaze by protesters, houses a museum and art gallery.
Young visitors can enjoy immersive and interactive games that bring to life the legend of Robin Hood, including trying out a bow and arrow, before heading outside to the wooden fortress adventure play area.
This year could be a great time to visit as up to three kids go free with each paying adult- and an adult ticket costs £15 and acts as an annual pass, meaning you can visit as many times as you like over the year.
Nottingham City Museums Service has just launched a £30 'adult rover ticket' under the pay-once-visit-all-year scheme, that enables holders to visit Nottingham Castle, Wollaton Hall and Newstea d Abbey.
Wollaton Hall's newest gallery Discovering Dinosaurs opened to visitors a month ago and features a 12m T-rex skeleton.
The Elizabethan mansion, set in a deer park, also boasts an impressive collection of taxidermy, including a giraffe and other exotic animals.
Ben Aitken, the author of Sh**ty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities, has spent a year exploring overlooked cities.
He told Sun Travel reveals he'd rather go there than some of the classic bucket list destinations.
Ben said: "The worst pizza I've ever had was in Venice, so I'd rather go to Wolverhampton. I'd also swap Edinburgh for Dunfermline - given that they're neighbours.
"I'd say that Newport's better than Cardiff - that's going to get me into trouble, and Sunderland for me is the best city in the North East, so I'd swap that with Newcastle.
"Limerick is a match for Dublin. I'm not going to say it's better, but it's half the price with half the crowds, and the Guinness is better there.
"And let's give some love to Preston, I'd rather spend a weekend in Preston than in Lisbon."
He added: "I'm not saying that Edinburgh is not fantastic, Venice isn't cool, and Paris isn't sexy. But other places are of value and of note and are interesting as well."
At Newstead Abbey, to the north of Nottingham, visitors can find out about the life and times of Lord Byron, its most famous inhabitant, and enjoy the parkland around the historic house.
Legend has it that sky-high taxes triggered Robin Hood's crusade to take from the rich to give to the poor, so it's ironic that visitors coming to enjoy his story in the city he made famous could soon be taxed for doing so.
I'm not sure taking from the tourists to subsidise the city would win approval from Nottingham's most celebrated son.
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