🎡 Goose Fair Returns to Nottingham 2025

Community & Culture
Written By Architecture North

Nottingham’s iconic Goose Fair is back this year, running from Friday 26 September to Sunday 5 October 2025 at the Forest Recreation Ground. With its vibrant lights, thrilling rides, and rich history, it is more than just a fair. It is a moment when the city comes together to celebrate community, tradition, and the joy of shared spaces.

🕰 A Tradition That Shapes Place

Goose Fair has been part of Nottingham for centuries, starting as a trade and livestock market before evolving into the spectacular fairground we know today. Its shift in 1928 to the Forest Recreation Ground was a pivotal moment, creating a new relationship between the event and the city’s public spaces. For us as architects, it shows how location and setting can define the character of an experience.

🏛 Temporary Architecture in Action

While Goose Fair is temporary, its design and layout are fascinating. The fairgrounds become a transformed environment, filled with structures, lighting, circulation routes, and gathering spaces. These elements echo many of the principles we consider in permanent architecture:

  • Flow of people through entrances, pathways, and gathering points

  • Use of light and colour to create atmosphere and identity

  • Accessibility and inclusivity so everyone can enjoy the experience

  • Spatial planning that balances safety, function, and enjoyment

This is architecture in its most immediate and playful form, showing how design shapes human interaction even in short-lived contexts.

🌍 Why It Resonates With Us

At Architecture North, we believe architecture is about more than buildings. It is about how people live, connect, and share experiences in spaces both permanent and temporary. Goose Fair is a perfect reminder that thoughtful design, even in a fairground, has the power to bring people together and create lasting memories.

📅 Join the Celebration

Mark your calendar for 26 September to 5 October 2025 and experience Nottingham’s most famous fair for yourself. Events like Goose Fair inspire us as architects because they show the importance of spaces that bring communities together.

👉 Want to see how we design for community and connection in Nottingham? Explore our projects and discover how Architecture North shapes spaces that support modern living.

📩 Thinking about starting your own project? Get in touch with us today and let’s turn your vision into reality.

Architecture North http://www.architecturenorth.co.uk
Next

RIBA Work Stages 6 and 7: Handover, Close Out and In Use