An Ugly Affair

Maid Marian Way in 2023

One of the most frequently stated 'facts' about Nottingham's streetscape is that Maid Marian Way was once called the ugliest street in Europe (the inference being that it was termed thus by a specific, presumably identifiable individual). The collective 'recollection' of this description in recent years - specifically, the exact wording - has always seemed a little suspect to me, so I decided to investigate its origins.

Stepping into our time machine, we travel back to Saturday 27 February 1965 and purchase a copy of the Guardian Journal newspaper.

The leading front page article, with its headline, 'THE CHAOS OF A CITY,' reveals that the individual responsible for stoking an already roaring fire was a Professor Arthur Ling, who had been appointed as head of the University of Nottingham's Department of Architecture and Civic Planning a few months earlier. While not directly quoting the good Professor, the article opens with the following sentence:

'Nottingham's Maid Marian-way was described last night as one of the ugliest modern streets in Europe.'

Aha! One of the ugliest modern streets in Europe.

The event at which this description had received its premiere was a lecture at the university entitled 'The Architecture and Environment of Nottingham'. Admittedly, we cannot be entirely certain of the exact words uttered, but the (presumed) transcription in the Guardian Journal seems far more plausible than the present-day edit, which has been stripped of the original qualifications. It is unlikely that academic rigour would have resulted in the description 'the ugliest street in Europe', which would then need to have been taken at face value as an empirical statement, thus revealing Professor Ling to be an extraordinarily well-travelled gentleman.

We could travel a little further back in time to the lecture, in order to resolve the matter beyond dispute, but frankly we can't be bothered. Home, James, and don't spare the Tardis.

Happily, in 2005, the BBC was able to report that Maid Marian Way was the 'joint winner of the inaugural Urban Transport Design Award'[1], after Nottingham City Council had spent 'almost £3m' on improvements. John Dales, director of award sponsor Urban Initiatives, stated that 'the judging panel was particularly impressed by...the transformation of a barrier into a street.'

Of course, Maid Marian Way should never have foisted upon us in the first place. But ugliest street in Europe? Nahhh.

It's not even the ugliest street in Nottingham.

Professor Arthur Ling
(image from the Guardian Journal)

[1] Rather brilliantly, the 2023 award was won by a pedestrian crossing in Chelmsford