Hockley Village (or more commonly, just Hockley) is an area near the centre of Nottingham, UK, adjacent to the Lace Market. With many bars, restaurants and trendy clothes shops, it is a vibrant, modern section of the city, described by one fan as "the Soho of Nottingham". It is, however, housed in some fine old buildings, and there has been a mercantile presence on the land since at least the 13th Century.
The area was originally (from around 1285) called "Walker Gate", from the practise of "walking" or stamping upon cloth to make it softer after weaving. Up until the 20th century Nottingham's fortunes have been tied to the "rag trade" (cloth industry), and from 1343 to 1345 the price of wool in Nottingham Market was taken as the standard for all England. However, it has not always been quite as pleasant as it is now: Sir Jesse Boot, son of the founder of the Boots Company and the man most responsible for turning it into the pharmaceutical empire it is today, was born in poverty in the area in 1850.
Hockley, with its galleries, design, fashion, New Age, and record shops, has been called "so sure of its own style and sense of community that its pavement cafes don't even hint at self-consciousness". It's also home to two small cinemas. The Broadway is "the East Midland’s flagship cinema and production house with an established national and international reputation for film exhibition, production and festivals". One claim to fame was the season of crime thrillers ("Shots in the Dark") it used to hold every year, whose honorary president was Quentin Tarantino. This apparently came to be after the cinema was the first in the UK to show Pulp Fiction, straight from the Cannes Film Festival - complete with French subtitles. The other cinema is the Screen Room, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest with just 21 seats.
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References
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- "An Itinerary of Nottingham." History and Archaeology: Hockley, Goose Gate, Platt Street, Coalpit Lane and Holland Street. Accessed on March 14, 2005.
- "Famous Residents of The Park Estate." A list of famous people who have at one time lived in The Park Estate, Nottingham. Accessed on March 14, 2005.
- "Quentin Tarantino's Life." Page listing the life and influences of Quentin Tarantino. Accessed on March 14, 2005.
- "Smallest cinema in the world opens its doors." BBC (Nottingham) report on the opening. Accessed on March 14, 2005.
- "Nottingham - total inspiration." Article on Nottingham by Stephen McClarence, National Daily Newspaper Travel Writer of the Year 2001. Accessed on March 14, 2005.
