Nottingham Castle may fully reopen in June if plan approved

Nottingham Castle could fully reopen in June if councillors approve recommendations at a meeting next week.

The flagship attraction was closed when the Nottingham Castle Trust went into liquidation in November.

It came 18 months after a £30m revamp of the city centre castle.

A report to be considered by an executive board at Nottingham City Council has recommended the authority takes over the running of the castle at a cost of up to £2.1m over three years.

Under the proposals, the council would run the castle site as part of its museums and galleries service, which runs heritage sites like Newstead Abbey and Wollaton Hall.

"This option mitigates a number of risks and has a range of benefits when compared to the other options that have been considered," the report said.

If approved, the castle could host some preview events from as early as May with the intention of fully reopening the following month.

However, the report also featured other options for the board to consider.

They included keeping the whole castle site closed and a partial reopening of just the gardens.

If the recommendation were approved, the council said a period of three months would be spent recruiting and training staff.

Further details about the proposed programme of activities and pricing structure would follow.

Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis said: "We committed to looking at ways to reopen the castle as soon as possible after Nottingham Castle Trust went into liquidation.

"This report recommends a way to do that by using the expertise of the council's well-established museums and galleries service, which has previously run the site and has the skills, specialist knowledge and cultural partnership connections."

The council's executive board is expected to consider the recommendation at a meeting on Tuesday 21 March.

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