Nottingham Castle officially reopens to visitors

Little changed on the outside after the £30m project but galleries have been completely refurbished

Nottingham Castle has officially reopened to the public, more than six months after it was forced to shut.

The attraction has mostly been closed to the public since November, when the trust running it went into liquidation.

It was opened for Coronation and Eurovision events by Nottingham City Council, which now owns the site.

Visitors queued outside before the 10:00 BST opening, with a new "pay once, visit all year" ticket now available.

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

The castle will be run as part of the council's museums service, and will be open from 10:00 to 17:00 from February to October and from 11:00 to 16:00 from November to January.

The city's official Robin Hood led school children through the gates, along with the Sheriff of Nottingham and other city representatives.

Among the new features at the relaunch will be a new - temporary - gallery, a revamped Brewhouse Yard showing Nottingham from the 1500s to 1900s, and displays to mark the 75th anniversary of Windrush Day.

Leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen said lessons had been learnt from past mistakes

Leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen it was "great to see people flooding back in".

He added they had looked hard at reasons for the trust's failure.

"There was one factor that was outside the control of everybody - the Covid pandemic - which caused people not to be coming to tourist attractions like this.

"But I do think the price adjustments that we have been able to make reflects the fact that some people thought it was too expensive.

"Also the best thing I think for children is the Robin Hood experience, which was charged separately in the past, is now incorporated in the price," he said.

Nottingham's official Robin Hood was on hand at the reopening of the castle to show visitors around

Pavlos Kotsonis, portfolio holder for leisure, culture and planning at the city council, said the reopening "took a lot of effort".

"We have had great feedback from visitors so far that are excited about the breadth of the site available as part of the all-year-round standard admission ticket, which I believe offers exceptional value for visitors, near and far."