There is a sense that Nottingham is straining a little at the seams. University students and their parents are in town for their graduation ceremonies, most of which take place this week. The city is hosting the Touch Rugby World Cup, which has a record 188 teams – Australia alone has sent 13 of them – representing nations from Chile to Chinese Taipei and from Lebanon to Luxembourg. In the evenings, after the action at the university’s Highfields Sport Complex winds down, the city centre hums with groups in liveried singlets or flag-emblazoned T-shirts, scurrying through the cobbled laneways seeking somewhere to socialise.
And into this a Test match has been squeezed. In short, these are heady days for the city’s hospitality industry. At a budget hotel on Wednesday a receptionist, checking in a guest, tapped their details into the computer and suddenly looked up, shocked: “Do you know how much you’re paying for this?” With all these visitors and the belated arrival of summer driving people out into the streets, at times the town feels ready to burst.
