West Bridgford

West Bridgford
Nottinghamshire
Trent Bridge and Nottingham from West Bridgford
Location
Grid reference:	SK585365
Location:	52°55’12"N, 1°7’48"W
Data
Post town:	Nottingham
Postcode:	NG2
Dialling code:	0115
Local Government
Council:	Rushcliffe
Parliamentary constituency:	Rushcliffe

West Bridgford is a town in Nottinghamshire, immediately south of the city of Nottingham, delimited by the River Trent. It forms a continuous urban area with Nottingham, effectively making it a suburb of the city.

The town is enclosed by the A52 and the A6011 roads, and the Trent.

Geography

The northern boundary of West Bridgford is the River Trent, spanned by two road bridges, Trent Bridge and Lady Bay Bridge, and two pedestrianised bridges consisting of a suspension bridge and a toll bridge near the Ferry Inn linking nearby Wilford village with the Meadows area of Nottingham city. The pedestrianised bridges link particularly well with cycling routes to Nottingham, the railway station and the university areas, making several rapid, safe, car-free routes available.

Two spans of the original mediæval bridge still remain, surrounded by a traffic island on the south side of the river, adjacent to Trent Bridge.

Although the railway line built for the Midland Railway passes right through the middle of West Bridgford, mostly on a high embankment, there was never a West Bridgford station (the nearest station on the line was at Edwalton, and even that closed in July 1941, and the line itself in May 1967). Today much of the embankment has been removed and its route built over, though part of the line's embankment has been converted into a public footpath. Parts of railway sleepers and stones can still be seen on the path.

Bridges

Several bridges across the River Trent allow rapid access to the city of Nottingham. The easy access to Nottingham has been an important aspect of the high popularity of West Bridgford as a suburb.

• Trent Bridge: A dual carriageway road bridge. It is highly decorated on the sides with carvings that can be seen from the river.
• Wilford Suspension Bridge: A pedestrian / cycle bridge to the west of Trent Bridge, linking the town with The Meadows, Nottingham.
• Wilford Toll Bridge
• Lady Bay Bridge: A two-lane road bridge, originally the rail crossing for the Midland Railway's "alternative route" from London to Nottingham via Melton Mowbray.

History

Most of the main roads in central West Bridgford are named after wealthy families that dominated the town's early history. There are also, however, new developments that are, in effect, suburbs of the suburb named after different things. For example, the Gamston development has roads named after the Lake District, and Compton Acres has roads named after Dorset and the Purbeck Coast.

There are no 'Streets' in West Bridgford. When the town was planned in the Victorian period roads were originally named "Street", as for example, Musters Street and South Street. However, the planners eventually decided that the term 'Street' was too urban, so today the town has Musters Road and South Road.

West Bridgford is notably different from the other suburbs of Nottingham in a variety of ways. During the Victorian period, Nottingham was growing rapidly, but development in West Bridgford was restricted, as much of the land was owned by the Musters family.

At the end of the First World War the Musters family sold the Trent Bridge Inn and the Trent Bridge Cricket ground to the cricket club. The club only briefly owned the inn as they resold it to a brewery for a sum in excess of the money they had paid to the Musters. After much pressure, the Musters sold land for building, but they applied strict planning regulations to the area then known as the West Bridgford Estate. This estate was planned over a grid of tree-lined streets. The main roads such as Musters Road had restrictions on the density of housing and house size. All houses were specified to contain a certain number of bedrooms. Smaller houses were permitted on side streets, and terraces were erected on roads such as Exchange Road for the servants of the wealthy Nottingham merchants who bought up property in West Bridgford.

What has resulted from these strict plans is a community that is still very separate from Nottingham. The town has no formal ties with Nottingham. In Nottingham itself, West Bridgford is often called "Bread and Lard Island" in the belief that its inhabitants spend most of their money on big houses and fur coats so they could only afford to eat bread and lard behind closed doors. Chris Arnot in the Independent commented, 'Bread and lard? Not likely - it's all ciabatta and tapenade these days'.

Sporting heritage

West Bridgford is renowned for its sporting facilities.

• Football (professional):
  • Nottingham Forest Football Club play at the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent in West Bridgford. The club was founded in 1865 and have played at the City Ground since 1898.
• Football (amateur):
  • AFC Bridgford
  • West Bridgford Football Club
  • West Bridgford Colts FC (one of the largest youth football clubs in the country)
  • Holy Spirit Celtic Sports Club (youth)
  • Edwalton Cavaliers (youth)

• Cricket:
  • Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, who play at Trent Bridge

Trent Bridge cricket ground was first used for cricket in 1838 and hosted its first Test Match in 1899, for England playing against Australia. It is the third oldest ground to be used as a Test cricket venue after Lord's in Surrey and Eden Gardens in Calcutta, India. It has been described by some as the finest Test cricket location in the world.

• Rowing:
  • Nottingham Rowing Club
  • Nottingham and Union Rowing Club

Several of the town's secondary schools have rowing activities on their curriculum.

• Rugby Union
  • Nottingham Moderns RFC in Wilford village
  • West Bridgford RFC
  • Nottingham RFC moved their training base and reserve team ground to Lady Bay after the 2005/6 season.

The Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre is Britain’s centre for water sports and is located in Holme Pierrepont, next to West Bridgford. Its facilities include a regatta lake, a white water slalom and water-ski jumps

Outside links

• West Bridgford Wire - Event Calendar, News and Local Information