Radford, Nottingham

Radford is an inner-city area of Nottingham, located just outside the city centre itself. It is bounded on the south by Lenton and Nottingham City Centre, and comprises around 600 acre of land.

History
St. Peter's Church, Radford was given by William Peveril to Lenton Priory. The church was rebuilt in 1812 at a cost of £2,000. The Wesleyan chapel, was built in 1805, and enlarged in 1828. In September 1878 a chapel was built on St Peter's Street by the United Methodist Free Churches at a cost of £1,900. It was closed due to declining membership and income in June 1947 and purchased by the Evangelical Free Church.

Radford Registration District (RD) was created on 1st July 1837 on the introduction of Statutary registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths (bmd) - and was abolished, and absorbed into Nottingham RD, on 1st July 1880.

Population by year

 * 1811 - 5,704
 * 1821 - 7,348
 * 1831 - 16,568
 * 1841 - 22,473
 * 1851 - 12,635
 * 1901 - 34,354

Background
In recent years it has suffered from problems related to crime and anti-social behaviour (akin to the nearby district of Hyson Green), although there are signs that recent efforts by the authorities may be improving the situation.

The area has a large ethnic minority population (mainly West Indian, African, Asian and increasingly Polish), and there is accordingly, a large number of specialist food and retail shops catering to specific cultures. Due to the relatively cheap nature of housing in the area (and the large number of old Victorian properties converted into flats and bedsits), Radford has a large student population, most of whom attend the nearby Nottingham Trent University and University of Nottingham.

Industry
Radford was the home of
 * Raleigh Industries once the world's largest bicycle producer
 * Players cigarettes
 * Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. inventors of incinerators for waste disposal.

Culture
It provides the backdrop for much of Alan Sillitoe's book Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Numerous scenes from the film of the book which starred Albert Finney, were shot in Radford.