Top 10 stories of 2022: Number 9 – Nottingham Castle Trust collapses
In the run-up to the Christmas break, we’ll be looking back over 2022 to rediscover our top 10 most popular stories of the year.
We only had to go back a few weeks to find our 10th best-read story of the year – and the same goes for number nine.
When Nottingham Castle reopened to the public following a £30m revamp, few but the most cynical of doomsayers could have predicted what was to come a little over a year later. Unless, perhaps, they had taken a closer look at what was going on behind the scenes.
Nottingham Castle Trust was forced to appoint liquidators last month following a re-launch it would be charitable to describe as “underwhelming.”
First, the reopening was delayed by four months. When the attraction did finally open it received lukewarm reviews at best, while the Trust – which ultimately lasted just four years – was criticised for its response to allegations of racism, and faced bullying and harassment claims of its own.
A troubling picture of the Trust’s financial precarity emerged over time.
In accounts made up to March 31 2021, the Trust pointed to the fact it had been financed by loans from Nottingham City Council which totalled around £1.6m and which were due to be paid by 32 March 2031.
It also owed Arts Council England £1m, to be paid back by the same date, but with an annual interest rate of 2%. The first repayment of this loan was due in March 2024.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2021, the Trust made a loss of £335,516.
That, of course, was prior to the grand reopening.
Following a number of high-profile departures, the attraction struggled on until late November 2022 when Tim Bateson and Chris Pole from Interpath Advisory were officially handed the task of winding the Nottingham Castle Trust up.
47 people lost their jobs and the public were locked out of what should have been the jewel in Nottingham’s tourist crown.
In a statement, the Trust insisted it stood by “the vibrant vision that was set for Nottingham Castle in 2017” and said it was hopeful that a new operator would take it forward “for the benefit of our fantastic city.”
We can only second that hope.
