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‘A real asset to the city’: How Robin Hood actor Tim Pollard came to spend more than 20 years putting Nottingham on the map

By Sam Hart

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In his years of portraying Robin Hood, Tim Pollard met thousands of people from around the world who were fascinated by the legend of the character.

The reaction to the news of his unexpected death shows what an affect he had on those he met.

His passing was announced by his family on Saturday (June 28) on his Facebook page after a “short, brave battle with cancer”.

As the city’s official council-backed ambassador in the shoes of the outlaw, his job went way beyond hand shaking and selfies.

Councillor David Mellen, former leader of Nottingham City Council, spoke of his memories of Tim.

“He will be sorely missed. He was a real asset for the city of Nottingham and a lovely man too,” he said.

“Nottingham is known around the world for two things mainly: Brian Clough and Robin Hood. So to have someone like Tim as Robin Hood was brilliant, he could get into character so easily and always did a great job”.

In June 2023, Cllr Mellen and Pollard were at the reopening of Nottingham Castle, after major redevelopments at the historic site.

Pollard, as Robin Hood, led a group of children through the gates to officially reopen the castle grounds to the public.

Cllr Mellon remembered the day fondly.

“He was great with the kids. There was quite a sense of relief when it reopened because of the harm that Covid had done.

“There was a worry that he (Pollard) could be made insolvent in his role.”

Tim was a regular at the castle, playing the iconic outlaw at events run by the Nottingham Campaign for Real Ale, which hosted Tim at its annual Beer and Cider Festival.

Tim, alongside his wife Sally as Maid Marian, also used to put on impromptu live plays for crowds around Nottingham.

Back in 2014, Notts TV spent a day with Tim and Sally as part its factual series ‘A Day in the Life’.

At the time, Tim described how he got into the role: “I had a little hippy shop on St James Street. The great thing was it was just next to the Tales of Robin Hood which had just opened. Some of the guys used to come in and they found out I used to do sword fighting and said ‘would you like to do medieval banquets and you can be Robin Hood’.

“Duh, you know, what chap wouldn’t? So about 10 years ago they decided they were going to have a consistent, single Robin for the council and rather brilliantly they decided that it would be me.

“So I’ve been doing all the official stuff since then and it’s been brilliant.”

Tim spoke in 2014 of how honoured he was to play the role of such a famous local figure.

“I pretty much do Robin Hood full time. I get to meet loads of people and everybody is enthusiastic. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a formal engagement in the council house or indeed when we have VIPs coming down, they’re all equally excited to come down and meet Robin Hood.

“People just recognise the character, they associate Nottingham with Robin Hood. When you grow up in Nottingham, Robin Hood is an intrinsic part of your childhood. It kind of gets under your skin and you realise that in the local area he was a hero.

“What I have to look forward to everyday is being able to get into the Robin Hood kit, go out and meet people, spread the good word amongst visitors to the city, have fun and enjoy myself.”

During his years as Robin Hood, Tim was famously not the only actor who took on the role, although he remained the council-supported official Robin.

Ade Andrews, known professionally as Ezekiel Bone, is another well-known Robin Hood re-enactor.

He said: “It’s a great loss, he was a great ambassador. It’s no easy task for someone to put on the boots everyday and do the job. He did his bit for the city of Nottingham.”

Tim’s family said they will share details of how they will celebrate his life in due course.