Women will gather at Sneinton Market at 6.45pm on Saturday 7 November for a free, female-only march at 7pm. No registration is needed. Updated November 2026.

A Reclaim the Night march will take place in Nottingham on Saturday 7 November, with women gathering at Sneinton Market Square at 6.45pm and setting off at 7pm. The event is free and no registration is required.

The march is being organised by a grassroots women’s rights group, independently and without public or corporate funding. The group says the female-only march will champion women’s safety, sex-based rights and an end to male violence against women.

“Women should not have to plan their lives around the threat of male violence,” one organiser said. “Whether it’s changing our route home, avoiding certain streets or worrying about walking through the city centre after dark, this is not freedom. Reclaim the Night is about standing together and saying enough is enough. Nottingham belongs to women too.”

A new team this year

Anyone who knows the city’s annual march should note that this one has different organisers. The team behind last year’s event said on its Facebook page that Reclaim the Night Nottingham is paused for 2026.

The new group, which describes itself as “a grassroots team of sex-based women’s rights campaigners in Nottingham”, says it is “stepping up to ensure women in Nottingham still have a platform”.

What the police survey found

The organisers point to Nottinghamshire Police’s Walk in My Shoes survey, which drew more than 3,600 responses. The campaign launched at the end of March 2025 and the survey ran until 7 November that year.

Most of the women and girls surveyed described Angel Row and Long Row as the area of the city centre where they felt most unsafe, with unwanted behaviour taking place in Old Market Square. Across the survey:

  • More than 2,700 women and girls had changed their walking or running route to avoid places where they felt unsafe.
  • More than 2,300 women had experienced unwanted behaviour from men in a public space in the previous year.
  • Nearly 90 percent felt most unsafe in the evening and at night.

The results also reached this side of the Trent. Under Rushcliffe, Broxtowe and Gedling, the police report named the river path next to County Hall as unsafe, saying female runners were avoiding it because of poor lighting. It said Nottingham City Council’s major projects team would take forward a lighting scheme for the south side of the embankment, with a view to carrying it out in 2026. West Bridgford Live has not confirmed whether that work has been done.

The Angel Row Help Point

The 4m-tall Help Point on Angel Row was a direct response to the survey. Pressing its button connects the caller to staff in the city council’s CCTV control room, and it launched on 31 July.

It was first used just after 3am on 8 August, by a woman who felt a man was following her. Officers took her to a place of safety and found the man. The police commissioner’s office said there were no grounds for arrest at that stage and that he left the area when told to.

The organisers say the Help Point does not settle the matter. “Women should not have to rely on emergency buttons to feel safe in their own city,” their statement says.

Why the march began

The organisers trace Reclaim the Night to 1977, when they say women marched in response to murders and attempted murders of women across Yorkshire and to the police response to the violence.

“Nearly 50 years on, the message remains urgent,” they say. “Women have the right to live, work, travel and socialise without fear of male violence.”

What it means for you

  • When: Saturday 7 November. Gather at 6.45pm, march at 7pm.
  • Where: Sneinton Market Square, Nottingham. The organisers’ release does not give the route.
  • Who: the organisers describe the march as female-only.
  • Cost: free, with no registration.
  • Updates: the event page on Facebook, or email the organisers at reclaimthenightnotts@gmail.com.