‘It doesn’t deserve the reputation’: Meadows residents say area has moved on despite ‘terrifying’ Co-op shooting

By George Palmer-Soady and Tommy Bonnet
“I can’t leave The Meadows,” says Di Clausen.
She moved out of the estate seven years ago but had previously lived here for three decades.
Di is among a group of women knitting in the corner of a small redbrick library over a few packets of biscuits and cups of tea. They natter about life and how they love the area they group up in – despite some of them having since moved elsewhere.
Just a few weeks ago two teenagers were convicted for a carrying out a shooting at the Bridgeway Shopping Centre, just a four minute walk away from the library on Wilford Grove.
For many living outside of the Meadows, there remains a perception this kind of violent crime is common here. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the area had a reputation for drug dealing, gang violence and anti-social behaviour. But those who live on the estate say it is a welcoming, close-knit and friendly community, which has moved on since it was associated with the city’s old ‘Shottingham’ nickname.
“There’s always been a lot going on here,” Di continued.
“There’s a lot of community groups working together and I knew all my neighbours. Generally, it doesn’t deserve the reputation it’s got”.
Di is a member of the local Craft and Sewing Group, which meets in the library every Wednesday. Members sit, knit, and natter under a huge banner sewn by group members, covered in squares showing their love of locations from the surrounding streets.
For long-time member Jackie LeHuqet, that love hasn’t faded after seven decades of living here.
“The Meadows has got a slightly bad rep,” she says.
“Even though it’s not like that anymore. People who live in other areas often say ‘oh you won’t want to go to the meadows.’
“It’s not like that and that reputation has stuck and we don’t deserve it. I moved away for a few years then I came back.
“After all, you can take the girl out of the Meadows but you can’t take the Meadows out of the girl.”
Janet Moulding, who moved to the area three years ago, adds: “There is poverty about – but I’ve found the neighbours very friendly and I say hi to people when walking down the street.
“It is a poor area – the problem is there’s nowhere for [young people] to go as the youth clubs have all been closed down. But I’ve been made very welcome and I always go on walks and feel safe.”

According to the Meadows community website, since the COVID-19 lockdowns, 41.7 per cent of children in the area now live in poverty, and 32 per cent of adults have no qualifications.
Sarah Egan, another member of the group, added: “I moved to Bulwell but I’ve come back here because the Meadows is always in my heart.
“You’re not going to get anywhere better than here”.
Across the room, on the other side of the library, Sarah’s mum, Eunice Holland Regan and Michael Edwards are wrapping up their weekly surgery for the ward they represent on the city council as Labour members.

Having both lived in the area for decades, they can point out every landmark and and future vision of regeneration as they walk from the library down the road to the local community centre café for cheese toasties.
“There’s such a community spirit here,” Eunice, who has represented the ward on the city council for just more than a year, says.
“When I moved down here 40 years ago and told my friends, they would say ‘you don’t want to go to a place like that’ and I’ve never found it to be that way.
“We’ve been welcomed here as a family. When the first lockdown came in, the Meadows community got together and every single street had a community go-to person.
“If people needed some budgie food or medication picked up – everybody had a go-to person on that street”.
Last Friday’s conclusion of the case at Nottingham Crown Court briefly felt like time reversed for the Meadows. Ramarni Spencer and Pharrell McLennon both fired shots at another youth outside the Co-op in the Bridgeway Centre on May 5 2024. The horrifying CCTV footage of the incident shows both pointing pistols at their target at 3.25pm on a Sunday. Both missed, but a bullet broke glass at the store and police said a ‘terrified’ passing family was forced to take cover.
Just a few yards away, and 19 years ago, 17-year-old Nathan Williams was shot dead in a murder which shocked the area at a time when Nottingham was already trying to recover from a wave of similar shooting across the city. The pattern of violence attracted national attention, brought fear to communities and led to a reputation for gun crime which lasted well into the 2010s.
Spencer and McLennon, both now 18, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Neither were living in the local area – McLennon was from Clifton, while Spencer lived in Beeston.

Asked if she thinks the area suffers from its poor reputation related to its previous history of high crime levels, Eunice bluntly replies: “I do.”
She added: “[But] if this is such a bad place to live in, why are people desperate to get a house here? The perception people have of the area is that it’s a terrible and unfriendly place to live – and it’s nothing like that at all.
Michael, who has served on the council for 27 years, added: “The reality is that people are finding that once they get behind this perception of the Meadows they find it’s a nice place to live”.

A report by Nottinghamshire Police published on January 6 outlying the force’s priorities in the area says drugs, anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime – robbery, thefts, and burglary – continue to be issues.
Between July and September last year, 475 crimes were reported in the Meadows, according to official Police figures. This is an increase from the previous three months, when 336 cases were reported.
Between January 2022 to November 2024, the most common type of crime was violence and sexual offences, with 1,217 cases, followed by shoplifting at 1,165, the data shows.
In the heart of the area sits Queen’s Walk Community Centre – for more than two decades, a vibrant central hub for groups and businesses. It also acts as a popular social club, particularly with the Afro-Caribbean community.
In one room, a group takes part in a line dancing class. In another, advisor Sheila offers support on benefits, debt, employment and housing.
“Everyone in the Meadows seems to know each other and we do support each other,” she says.
“You always read things about ‘such and such is happening’ but it’s not like that. Don’t get me wrong, things clearly happen but sometimes it appears like it’s all going down in the Meadows.
“I think it’s very welcoming and when someone new moves in, they are very supported. It’s a small community.”

Upstairs in the building, charity Green Meadows is working to bring local action to climate change and improve greenery in the local area.
They have previously set up compost sites to tackle food waste and revitalise the Bridgeway Centre by adding hanging baskets and planting wild raspberries to make the precinct more welcoming and vibrant.
The charity’s community engagement officer, Heather Hodgkinson, said: “When I started working here, there were already so many community groups active and running,” she said.
“People have really great ideas about what to do with the area. They want to plant orchards, put more wild flowers across The Meadows and get involved.
“There’s loads happening here.”
Following the recent sentencing of Ramarni Spencer and Pharrell McLennon, the past reputation of the Meadows’ once again looms over the area. To people living on the estate, past conceptions continue to be just that – history. The area is still the small, close-knit and friendly community they’ve always known, most local people told us.
“People don’t see the community spirit and good stuff that happens here,” Eunice added.
“But we are here and we do exist – just not in the way people perceive us.”
Nottinghamshire Police were contacted for comment.
After Spencer and McLennon were locked up for a combined 23-and-a-half years at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (January 24), Det Insp Chris Berryman said: “The weapons were not recovered so I would urge anyone with any information about their whereabouts to get in touch with police.
“Firearms offences are extremely rare in Nottinghamshire and we are proactive in our efforts to take them off the streets and keep the public safe from the devastating consequences of gun crime.”
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