Nottingham Castle: What went wrong at the flagship attraction?

The castle closed suddenly with no indication of when it might reopen

Its associations with the Robin Hood legend and a £30m refit should have positioned Nottingham Castle as a jewel in the city's tourism crown.

But with its gates now closed to visitors and the charitable trust that ran it calling in the liquidators, its future looks as difficult to pin down as the mythical outlaw's origins.

The BBC looks at how things got to this point and what the future holds for the city's much-vaunted attraction.

What has happened at the castle?

A sign outside Nottingham Castle sets out the situation the trust finds itself in

The new-look Nottingham's Castle was unveiled just 18 months ago after a three-year revamp costing £30m, which bosses predicted would realise long-held ambitions to turn it into a "world class" attraction and anchor the city's reputation as a top tourist destination.

Now, however, visitors to the castle's website and the historical building itself are greeted with a short message saying it will remain closed "until further notice" and that liquidators are being chosen to wind up the trust, following a turbulent year and a half.

Some 50 staff who worked at the castle have lost their jobs.

Susie Walton said the castle had been busy as recently as this weekend

Susie Walton, the castle's former cleaning manager who has been made redundant, told the BBC that staff had turned up to work as normal on Monday, only to be told, with no notice and little explanation, that they had lost their jobs.

She said: "It was very cruel.

"We had all been in over the weekend when the castle was very busy with visitors.

"They worked us so hard up to the very last moment then cast us out, just like that. We could not believe what we were being told.

"We were ordered to hand in our passes and leave the castle immediately.

"I'm furious with the way we have been treated."

What will happen next?

Council leader David Mellen said the council intends to reopen the castle - but he has not specified when

Tim Bateson and Chris Pole of Interpath Advisory are set to be confirmed as the liquidators of the Nottingham Castle Trust but, beyond that, the future of the attraction remains uncertain.

Nottingham City Council, which owns the site, has confirmed it will be stepping in to take it over.

Council leader David Mellen said it was the authority's intention to reopen and operate the castle but has not indicated when that might be.

He said: "It is too important to the people of Nottingham to allow it to remain closed for any longer than it has to.

"It's far too good to let go and we won't let it go."

Mr Mellen stressed the council needed to understand the "mistakes" made by the trust, in order not to repeat them, before reopening the castle.

However the council itself is facing its own financial difficulties - including a predicted budget shortfall of £28m.

Mr Mellen has stressed that much of the £30m invested in the bricks-and-mortar of the site has not been lost, as the building has been renovated and now includes new features such as a Robin Hood-themed play area in the grounds.

What did visitors think of the attraction?

The Hood's Hideout play area was popular with families

Many visitors to the castle had plenty of good things to say about it - particularly about the staff who worked there - but it failed to shake off a number of common criticisms.

Thousand of visitors reviewed the attraction online, with recurring themes including the price of admission, which was judged too high for what the attraction offered.

Darren Sims said: "If they charged a fair price and gave certain people fair discounts then people would come."

Visitors said activities such as a tour of caves such as Mortimer's Hole - which lie beneath the castle - had come at an extra cost, on top of the ticket price.

Maria Pia Beal, from Nottingham, said: "We visited on Saturday and took friends with us, who were visiting from Yorkshire. It cost £14 per person.

"My husband and I got a measly £1 discount as we live [nearby]. It was so very disappointing. I had to fight back the urge to say 'Is this it?' as I didn't want to make a fuss in front of our visitors.

"To add insult to injury, we paid another £5 per person for a tour of Mortimer's Hole that was over within 15 minutes. Guess there's no point in complaining now."

The castle and contents of its galleries are owned by the council, not the trust

The castle has suffered down the years due to the weight of expectation.

Many visitors expect to find a medieval fortress that conjures images of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

But a ducal palace now stands on the site.

Jennifer Sutton, from Nottingham, said: "What a shame. The grounds are amazing and the new kids' wooden park but the 'castle; couldn't be any further from a castle. Ridiculously overpriced."

Others complained the castle made too little reference to Robin Hood and failed to harness the legend of the outlaw.

How many visitors did the castle actually attract?

The trust said visitor numbers had fallen below expectations

The castle trust, the liquidators and the city council have been tight-lipped about the total number of visitors.

However, a target of 300,000 per year was outlined when the castle reopened in June 2021.

Eight months later it announced it had welcomed its 100,000th visitor.

The trust has acknowledged the numbers have fallen "significantly below" expectations.

It added the attraction had had a "particularly tough summer" and then faced "a fundamentally different social and economic environment" to that originally predicted.

Were there any other problems?

Many visitors from further afield hoped to see a medieval-style castle

City council leader Mr Mellen said both the pandemic and the pressure on people's pockets had combined in "a very unfortunate way".

The trust's latest accounts said coronavirus delayed the reopening of the attraction and after that "severely restricted" the number of overseas visitors who might have come.

The stalled Broadmarsh regeneration project has also limited footfall in the city centre and is thought to have reduced the number of potential castle visitors.

But the castle trust was also beset by controversy in the months after the attraction reopened.

Its former chief Sara Blair-Manning made claims of harassment and bullying against trustees which were strongly denied.

She lost a case for interim relief against the trust but had been pursuing a claim of unfair dismissal.

In November 2021 some castle staff criticised trustees following alleged racist incidents at the site.

They claimed not enough was being done to deal with grievances they raised.

The trustees said they abhorred any form of discrimination.

How bad had the financial position got?

The Nottingham Castle Trust has folded owing £2.7m to the city council

The trust most recently filed accounts to the charity commission at the end of January 2022.

They revealed the trust had been funded through loans from Nottingham City Council and Arts Council England.

Trust income for the year up to 31 March, 2021, was £395,553 made up of donations and grants, yet it spent £731,069 over those 12 months, leaving a deficit of £335,516.

Following the castle's closure, the council said it had loaned the trust £1.9m and was owed a further £821,000 for services it had provided.

The authority will join the list of creditors owed money by the trust but it has said it does not expect the debt to be repaid and is preparing to write the sum off.

What do the castle's backers say?

Nottingham Castle has many caves in its grounds but tours cost extra

The castle's big money transformation drew funds from a range of organisations including Arts Council England and the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

An Arts Council spokesperson said: "We're saddened to hear the trust which operates Nottingham Castle has become insolvent and we are very sorry for all those people directly affected by the closure.

"While we do not directly fund Nottingham Castle, we recognise the value that the museum and gallery bought to the city and the number of visitors who came each year.

"We will continue to work with our partners Nottingham City Council and National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a future for this much-loved visitor attraction."

The Nottingham Castle Trust said Covid-19 "severely restricted" the number of overseas visitors

The government also provided financial support to Nottingham Castle Trust through its Culture Recovery Fund.

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "We will continue to work with Nottingham City Council and Arts Council England to secure the best possible outcome."

A National Lottery Heritage Fund spokesperson added: "We are saddened to hear of the financial struggles of Nottingham Castle Trust. Our funding for the highly successful redevelopment of the castle has secured it as a world class visitor attraction.

"We will be working closely with Nottingham City Council over the coming months to re-establish public access and secure a viable future for this important beacon of the region's rich cultural heritage."