Old Market Square

However, the decline in the quality, changes in function, and issues around disabled access spurred a City Council-led international redevelopment competition in 2003 known as Square One.

This fell into a state of disrepair before the redesign, and was subsequently removed, renovated and installed near the Royal Concert Hall entrance.

Historically the square forms a meeting place for the people of Nottingham and is also the location for local events, civil protests, royal visits, celebrations, and public mourning.

In 1984, Nottingham ice dance legends Torvill and Dean also stood on the Council House balcony following their famous Olympic Triumph.

In 2004, a memorial service to remember the life of Nottingham Forest's former manager Brian Clough was held there in front of national television cameras and thousands of local football supporters.

[10] Folklore has it that it was in the Market Square[citation needed] where outlaw Robin Hood took advantage of an amnesty and won the coveted silver arrow in a contest devised by the Sheriff of Nottingham.

As well as many shops, bars and department stores, the square is also home to the Nottingham City Transport Travel Centre.

The square has been the focal point of Nottingham's entry to the Britain in Bloom competition in recent years, taking the title four times (1997, 2001, 2003 and 2007).

When Joseph Else FRBS, the Principal of the Nottingham School of Art from 1923 to 1939, sculpted the two lions, they were named "Agamemnon and Menelaus", after the two brothers from Greek mythology.

At the west end was a similar arrangement, but at the centre of each of these two areas of grass, was a circular pool with a single central fountain.

Around 1940, the grass, flowerbeds and earth at the west end were removed, and the two areas utilized as reservoirs to provide a ready supply of water for use by fire-fighters during the war years.

Subsequently, in the 1960s, the two squares flanking the central processional way at the east end, were rebuilt as two pools with a multiple fountain display in each.

These remained until the redesign by Kathryn Gustafson which was completed in 2007, when new fountains and water feature, were added at the west end of the new square.

The two tram lines run in both directions, skirting around the edge of the main square from Market Street in the north west and along South Parade towards Hockley.

On 22 February 2009 Nottingham's Speaker's Corner was officially opened by Jack Straw (at the time, UK Justice Secretary).