Jobs in Nottingham | Pictures of Nottingham

Nottingham is the thriving, regional capital of the East Midlands and one of UK’s top five retail centres. Centrally located with a population of over 274,000, Nottingham is part of the UK’s Core Cities Group – those cities that have been identified by the government as one of the ‘powerhouses’ of the economy. Besides being a great city for shopping, Nottingham has also proved itself great for businesses, with over 50 regional and national HQs located here and an annual GDP that keeps it in the top five strongest local economies in the country.

Then and now
Nottingham’s industrial past differs somewhat from most English cities. Whereas the Industrial Revolution set about transforming sleepy market towns into thriving manufacturing centres, Nottingham’s pre-industrial past was almost equally as significant. Having established itself as a leading export centre of religious sculpture in the fifteenth century, the arrival of industrialisation in the 1800s saw the local economy diversify into- and become the world’s leading- lace manufacturing centres.

But in common with the textile industry across the country, Nottingham’s lace sector went into irreversible decline following the end of the Second World War, unable to compete both in terms of cost and productivity with the cheaper Asian and Far East markets and the city was forced to come to terms with life as a post-industrial service economy.

Today, the local economy is now worth more than £11.2 billion per annum and has seen 36 per cent economic growth since 2005 - growing at a faster rate than the national average. Indeed, Nottingham is creating jobs three times faster than the national average, according to the annual Employment Survey. So what are the biggest employment sectors?

As the regional administrative centre, the public administration, education and health sector is the city’s biggest employer which accounts for almost one-third of all jobs in Nottingham, with the likes of Nottingham City Council, Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust and The Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust employing near around 30,000 employees. Whilst HM Revenue & Customs also have their national headquarters based here employing around a further 2,000 people following its relocation here in 1997.

With Nottingham forging strong links with international markets, notably China, its financial and business services sector is an area of expansion. Already established as the regional finance centre for many professional businesses, Nottingham’s banking, insurance services, legal services, accountancy, business consultancy sector can boast an impressive portfolio of key employers, including Capital One, Experian, Fortis Bank and Eversheds, Deloitte and Browne Jacobson to name a few.

And given its strong reputation for retail – it ranks as the fifth best shopping destination in the UK – with over 1,100 stores generating over £1.3bn per year, the retail sector is one of the biggest employers in the area.

The creative industries are a target growth sector for the city with graphic design, interiors and textile design being of particular focus. Already many small design companies are establishing base in the city with Jupiter and the multi-award winning Purple Circle being two of the higher profile consultancies.

However, arguably the fastest growing sector is science and technology. Since becoming a Science City in 2005, Nottingham has been able to build on its pioneering research and scientific achievements which now see this sector employ over 60,000 people with ambitions plans to grow over the next 20 years. Aside from the obvious examples of Boots Plc which has its headquarters here, other major contributors to this sector include AstraZeneca and Rolls-Royce.

Key business districts
The city's established professional centre in Park Row area is just on the outskirts of the city centre and home to businesses such as KPMG, Handelsbanken and the Bank of England. Further out of the city centre is ng2 – one of Nottingham's leading and iconic business parks and home to a growing cluster of financial and business services companies such as Experian and Coutts.

Elsewhere, BioCity one of the UK's largest bioscience innovation and incubation centres with offices and laboratoies in the heart of the city. And Nottingham Science Park has a high concentration of companies involved in science, technology or R&D.

Smaller business centres and industrial areas are located at Ashforth Street business centre, 5 minutes from the city centre, Broxtowe Park business centre on the city outskirts, and Lenton business centre located within 10 minutes of the city centre.

If you're thinking of moving to the area, take a look at some of the current property available to buy or let in Nottingham.

Take a closer look
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can see some images from in and around Nottingham below.

Looking for local vacancies? See all current jobs in Nottingham or find out more information on the local area.