St Barnabas Cathedral Nottingham — Attraction in Nottingham

My partner was really excited about our 2 year old being baptised. She had spent the previous two days cooking food, organising the house and ensuring that arriving guests on the day were well catered for. My partner has faith; although I don’t I do accept , appreciate and am slightly envious of her ability to believe. On Sunday and after being told to wear something more than a black t shirt we all arrived at the cathedral. We were met by Rev Canon Malachy Brett with what I could only assume was a joke and reference to the two Ronnie’s four candles sketch. He came bounding over and said “one candle not four”. It was completely acceptable that he did not get the joke but all quickly fell in-line and waited his instruction. We were presented a pamphlet of the service and we were told to sit in specific places according to our relevance to the family. Our little two year at this point decided to have a cry (as every parent knows - there is no magic off switch). The rev started pushing for us to hush the child in order for him to hurry the service along. My heart told me to question him however, not wanting to upset my partner I bit my lip. When the service started which was after we had managed to calm our boy with some nursery rhymes the reverend started what can only be classed as speed reading. Not one of us in the group had any way of following. This made it challenging when responses were required and we seemed to rely on one of our guests who seemed to know when “praise the lord” was needed over “Amen”. After the service I have to admit that the Reverend seemed to cheer up slightly: he took some photos of our group which was appreciated but for something we will do once or twice in life only then I feel the reverends attitude was way below what it should have been. When we left the cathedral and walked home I mentioned to the group that the reverend could have been a little friendlier, everyone agreed and hence why I’m leaving this review. Initially, I thought who do I complain to; a friend said pray to god but given that would be pointless I thought an online review would suffice! I hope I don’t burn for...

We were married at St Barnabas in late December 2022 and we were blown away by the stunning cathedral and the welcoming nature of Alison and Canon Malachy Brett.

Planning our wedding from Melbourne Australia was no small feat but working with Alison in the lead up to our wedding in England was very straightforward. We were able to organise our ceremony, including a duet and organ player from the other side of the world all via email. The cathedral also provided a livestream that our family and friends in Australia could use to tune in and feel a part of our wedding.

We put a lot of trust in everything turning out as we wanted but the day of our wedding was beyond belief. We had so many comments on the beauty of the setting and the skill of the singers and organist. It certainly made our wedding one to remember for not just us.

Canon Malachy Brett was wonderful to work with in the lead up to our big day. He knew the balance between respecting the seriousness of the sacrament of marriage whilst also being light hearted and jovial to calm our pre wedding jitters.

We cannot thank you enough and cannot recommend you enough. Thank you for...

The Nottingham Catholic Cathedral interior was originally designed by Augustus Pugin, perhaps best known for his work in the Houses of Parliament. Due to renovation and redecoration, much of AWN Pugin's work has been lost, but one side chapel remains as it was originally. Along with other features such as some areas of the Minton encaustic tiling, which can still be seen on some floors. Most has been replaced, or in some case combined with simpler geometric tiling. The Pugin side chapel's decorative exuberance, reminiscent of St Giles, Cheadle, Staffordshire, hints at what St Barnabas would have looked...