How Green Hustle is empowering Nottingham with environmental know-how
We speak with its co-founder about the festival and its initiatives
With its yearly festival and community projects, Green Hustle is one of the best ways to get involved with the environment in Nottingham.
I spoke with festival co-founder and co-director Adam Pickering about why green spaces in the area are important, what to expect from this year’s festival on May 30 (greenhustle.co.uk), as well as how people can help make greenery thrive throughout the year.
If you’re looking for May events and things to do in Nottingham, Green Hustle is worth attending and getting involved with. For more features and guides, subscribe to The Notts Edit to receive our articles in your inbox for free.
How Green Hustle is empowering Nottingham with environmental know-how
By Eve Smallman
Photos by Tom Platinum Morley
In Nottingham, it’s hard not to be inspired by greenery right now, with The Green Heart currently absolutely flourishing with plants and wildlife. “I think this is an amazing example of when we put nature first, lots of other great things can follow,” says Adam Pickering.
He is the co-founder and co-director of Green Hustle, which runs a free festival every year in May, as well as hosting community initiatives throughout the year that benefit our green spaces.
Whilst Broadmarsh stood derelict, shopping in that area deteriorated – but now we have the Green Heart, national retailers are opening up again there. “It’s vibey, it feels safe, it’s always populated, and it’s a beautiful welcome into the city that I think just lifts up the whole city centre for anyone coming to visit Nottingham.”
He says it’s important that people have access to quality green spaces – and there are some areas in Nottingham where these don’t get the same attention. “The Woodland Trust has developed something called the Tree Equity Map, and it shows clearly not just where there are fewer trees, but also versus higher-density populations,” says Adam.
This is why many of Green Hustle’s tree planting projects have ended up being in areas north of the city, such as Aspley and Bestwood, as – compared to places like West Bridgford, Sherwood, and Mapperley – they don’t have as many trees.
“I know that if I don’t get that space outdoors and that quiet time in nature, hearing the birds and seeing the insects flying, I just get sad – and I think that applies to a lot of people, whether we know it or not,” Adam says. “The more greenery we have around us, the calmer we’re going to feel, the more connected we’re going to feel, and the more able we feel to get on with our day-to-day life – so those green spaces, even tiny pockets of green spaces, can make a lot of difference.”
Before I interviewed Adam, we walked along the road past the Motorpoint Arena. He pointed out to me a planted Christmas tree with yellow buds peeking past the tips, and we had a little moment of pause. I definitely understand what he means.
In May, Green Hustle’s annual festival comes to the city. And, in 2026, it’s set to be its biggest yet, with it expanding both in Old Market Square and across the rest of the city centre.
“This year, the fountain space in Old Market Square is going to be a proper showcase – it’s going to be our green pavilion, so we’re going to create a community garden with lots of different layers and shapes, which will be populated by some of the lovely gardens from Nottingham Growing Network,” explains Adam. “The Network will have people from across Notts, such as from Bulwell Forest Garden and St Ann’s Allotments.”
There will also be a forest garden, which is Adam’s pet project. “We’re working with The Woodland Trust and The Sherwood Forest Trust, sourcing some lovely local trees, some nice big oaks, and some rescue trees that have sort of self-seeded in a nearby garden to me, and we’re going to be bringing it all together,” he says. “We reckon about 50 trees are going to form the main forest, and then we’ll have loads of trees to give away as well from The Woodland Trust, and they’ll tell you all about how to plant them.”
As well as this, a geo-dome will be hosting a new programme of work about STEM subjects and literacy, in partnership with Experian and E.ON. “These will be focused around different ways of making stuff like renewable technology really clear and accessible to people, and have fun ways that people can engage, along with signposting towards other places that they can go to get more support,” says Adam. ‘‘I’m really proud of that, because Green Hustle has always been about including everybody, so sometimes we’ve got to take a step back and say, ‘What are we missing?’ and ‘Are we making too many assumptions?’”
Food will also be served up, with DISHED and Shifting Your Mindset hosting a long dining table down the middle of Old Market Square. This area will also host the slow fashion catwalk. Head down to Sussex Street and you’ll find activities with Skate Nottingham, The Pythian Club, and Switch Up, along with street food, creative activities, community gardening, and literature and poetry at Nottingham Central Library.
“I’m just excited because we’re cooling it all down – instead of being like in the past where it felt like a music festival with some nice green stuff going on around the edges, we’re actually like taking the volume down a lot this year,” says Adam. “It’s like the things you find in the nooks and crannies of big festivals that you don’t normally get time to do.”
He adds that it’s really just about making it even more inclusive and super relaxed. “We want to have a really chilled vibe, with lots of space for people to just unwind, explore, and get creative.”
Green Hustle doesn’t just stop with the main festival – it also provides and helps with many green community initiatives throughout the year. If you’ve wandered down the canal recently and seen a six-foot metal heron made out of old Raleigh Bikes, that’s a space Green Hustle developed in partnership with Raleigh.
Adam says, “We’ve also planted over 10,000 trees in the city, which we’re really proud of, and we’ll be planting trees from the pop-up forest in the ground at King George V Playing Fields in Aspley on Sunday at the Aspley People’s Forest that we’re helping create,” says Adam. There are regular volunteering sessions here, as well as with Grow Notts (@grownotts).
It’s important for them to create opportunities year-round for people to get stuck in their local communities. “If people have ideas, such as transforming a little green space near them, then we can probably put them in touch with a local community garden or something like that that can support it.”
In terms of Green Hustle festival’s future, Adam says it’s always evolving – especially with this year’s big push to move the festival from just a single site to a citywide immersive exploration. “We’ve got a lot of space to grow into now, so there’s a lot of scope for businesses to get more involved – I’d love to have little fringe events in shops like talks at Five Leaves Bookshop, which is a great little independent tucked away just behind Primark.”
He continues, “It’s like putting on a big baggy jumper that your aunt bought you when you’re a kid – it might look a bit big at the minute and there might be a bit of space to expand, but that’s exactly what we need to see us through the next few years.”
The future of the festival – and of green spaces around Nottingham – is certainly looking bright. Whether you’re worried about the environment, love learning about new things, or simply want to put your green thumbs to work, Green Hustle is a great way to begin growing.
Green Hustle is taking place on May 30 in Old Market Square and surrounding areas. greenhustle.co.uk
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