West Bridgford was founded between 919 and 924 when defences and houses were built at the south end of Trent Bridge. It was established by Edward the Elder to protect Nottingham and the surrounding area against incursions from Danes in the North of England. A survey during Edward's reign indicates that the population at this time was 192 people, 19 of which were farmers.[3]
Some main roads in central West Bridgford are named after wealthy families that dominated its early history.
At the end of the First World War, the Musters family sold the Trent Bridge Inn and Trent Bridge cricket ground to the county cricket club. The club owned the inn briefly, then sold it at a profit to a brewery.[4] After pressure, the Musters sold land for building, but strict planning regulations were stipulated for the West Bridgford Estate. This was planned over a grid of tree-lined roads. The main roads, such as Musters Road, had restrictions on housing density and size. All houses had to contain a specified number of bedrooms. Smaller houses were permitted on side roads and terraces were erected on roads such as Exchange Road for the servants of wealthy Nottingham merchants who had bought West Bridgford property.
The result is a community separate from Nottingham, with no ties of governance to it.
Though some services like business waste and cycling park provisions are carried out or provided by Nottingham City Council.
In Nottingham, West Bridgford was sometimes negatively dubbed "Bread and Lard Island", suggesting that its residents had spent so much on big houses and fur coats that they could only afford to eat bread and lard.[5][6] It grew from a small village in the mid-19th century into a town of over 36,000 inhabitants by 2021.[2]
Geography
The River Trent separating West Bridgford from Nottingham
The northern boundary of West Bridgford is the River Trent. The river is spanned by two road bridges and a pedestrianised bridge allowing access from the town to the city of Nottingham. The bridges link in with safer cycling routes to Nottingham city and railway station, and to the university areas.
Bridges
Trent Bridge has three traffic lanes in each direction. It is decorated on the sides with carvings visible from the river. In 2017, it was fitted with permanent steel safety barriers at pavement level to protect pedestrians attending major sporting events. Two spans of the original medieval bridge remain, surrounded by a traffic island on the south side of the river, adjacent to Trent Bridge.
Lady Bay Bridge has a single traffic lane in each direction. It was originally the rail crossing for the Midland Railway's "Melton loop" from London to Nottingham via Melton Mowbray, avoiding Leicester. Despite the line passing on an embankment through the centre of West Bridgford, there was never a West Bridgford station; the nearest station was at Edwalton, which closed in July 1941, as did the line in May 1967. Much of the embankment has been removed and the route built over, but part has been converted into a public footpath. Some signs of railway sleepers and ballast can still be seen on the path.
St Giles Parish Church, a grade-II listed building in the town and one of its oldest buildings
The central West Bridgford area has a diversity of buildings, mostly Victorian, although larger properties are being demolished for development, as no protection exists for the common housing stock.[citation needed]St. Giles Church is medieval, but was heavily restored at the end of the 19th century.
Nottinghamshire County Council's headquarters are at County Hall, a municipal building on the south bank of the River Trent. Rushcliffe Borough Council's headquarters are at Rushcliffe Arena,[9] a joint headquarters and leisure facility on Rugby Road.[10]
Sport
The City Ground, home to Premier League football club Nottingham Forest F.C., located in West Bridgford, Nottingham
At local level, West Bridgford has a number of football teams for all ages. West Bridgford Colts FC are thought to be the largest FA-approved football organisation in the country, running over 144 teams ( checked Feb 2024 ) the club includes West Bridgford Football Club the Senior section for Colts, which started in 2011 on Saturday afternoons in the Nottinghamshire Senior League. Also playing in the Nottinghamshire Senior League are Magdala Amateurs who play at the ROKO Ground.[11]
West Bridgford has two major rugby clubs: Nottingham Moderns RFC in Wilford village and West Bridgford Rugby Club. Nottingham RFC moved its training base and reserve team ground from Ireland Road, Beeston, to Lady Bay after the 2005/2006 season. It plays first-team fixtures at Meadow Lane, just over Trent Bridge from West Bridgford.
There are two interlinked Karate clubs in West Bridgford - South Notts Shotokan Karate Club (SNSKC) and West Bridgford Shotokan Karate Club (WBSKC), both of which are KUGB clubs.
West Bridgford Hockey Club on Loughborough Road was the childhood hockey club of Olympic Gold medallist and former West Bridgford resident Helen Richardson-Walsh.
Retail
ASDA, West Bridgford
West Bridgford was the location of the UK's first major out-of-town superstore.[12] In 1964, an American company, GEM, opened a store on Loughborough Road. Despite ambitions, GEM's British operations were not a success, with only two other such stores opening. National concessionaires withdrew, and in 1966 the fledgling Asda superstore chain, owned by a Leeds, Yorkshire-based dairy farming conglomerate, Associated Dairies, acquired a controlling interest in the GEM operations. The Loughborough Road site has an Asda store, although it was replaced by a much larger one on land adjacent to the old site in 1999. The original building was demolished and replaced by a car park and petrol station area.[13]
In 2018 Rushcliffe Borough Council appointed a team of retail consultants to recommend improvements and changes to the town's shopping areas and the wider public realm. These included better road design, with landscaping points to improve the movement of people from Gordon Road through to Central Avenue. Both roads have independent retailers and national chains. Other proposals included moving Bridgford Road car park underground and putting retail space at ground level. These proposals have largely been abandoned and presently in 2024, have not been followed through.
The West Bridgford School's feeder primary schools are West Bridgford Infant and Junior School, Jesse Gray Primary School, Heymann Primary School and Greythorn Primary School. Rushcliffe School's feeder primary schools are Abbey Road Primary School, Pierpont Gamston Primary School, Edwalton Primary School, Lady Bay Primary School and St Peter's School in Ruddington.
Local facilities
Rushcliffe Arena, opened 2017
Rushcliffe Arena, extended in 2017 with a swimming pool, a gym and now the offices of Rushcliffe Borough Council
West Bridgford Young People's Centre, adjacent to the library, with a music studio, dance studio and other facilities
West Bridgford Library
Bridgford Park
The Studio Theatre, home of West Bridgford Dramatic Society, the only registered public theatre in Rushcliffe Borough
Lutterell Hall, a managed community facility in the centre of West Bridgford. Owned by the borough council and managed by The Rock Church. Gifted to the people of West Bridgford by the adjacent church.
Sir Julien Cahn Pavilion, a managed community facility on Loughborough Road, West Bridgford. Owned and managed by Rushcliffe Borough Council.
Media
Television
Local news and television programmes are BBC East Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Waltham TV
transmitter,[14] and the Nottingham relay transmitter.[15]
Nottingham station is the nearest railway station, approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the town centre.[17]
The former Manton Route from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray ran to the east of the town although no station was ever built to serve the town. Instead there was a station at Edwalton but it closed to passengers in 1944 with the through line to Nottingham not long after. Only a stub remains in use south of the old station site to Melton Mowbray as a test track. The site of Edwalton station has since been redeveloped for housing.[18]
^Bailey, Thomas (1853). Annals of Nottinghamshire; a new and popular history of the county of Nottingham, including the borough. Basford, Nottingham: Simpkin, Marshall and Co. p. 9.
^"New cycle and pedestrian bridge over the River Trent". Nottingham City Council. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2023. Plans are progressing on the new Transforming Cities-funded pedestrian and cyclist bridge across the River Trent
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