A retailer that specialises in ‘affordable, screen-free activities for the whole family, has openied a brand-new store in Arnold.
The 1560 sq. ft. store is located in the former Clarks Outlet unit next to Greggs in Arnold town centre.
Over the last 40 years The Works has established itself as a popular and distinctive high street brand. Across more than 500 stores in the UK & Ireland, The Works provides customers with excellent value, offering products across its four zones of books, arts, crafts & hobbies, stationery and toys & games. The Works makes reading, learning, creativity and play accessible to everyone and is the go-to place for inspiring customers to embrace their free time.
Customers at the new Arnold store will be able to shop for the products they love including Hello Kitty, Peppa Pig and popular books including sprayed edge versions of Frieda McFadden’s latest release, all at exceptional value.
The new store has opened the chain’s newest product ranges, providing customers with a fantastic choice of screen-free products to enjoy.
A spokesperson for The Works said: “We are thrilled to be opening a brand-new store at Arnold, which is a hive of retail activity and a location we have had our eyes on for some time.
“At The Works, we aim to inspire our customers to read, learn, create and play through our offering of affordable screen-free activities for the whole family, and our stores play a very important part in this. We look forward to welcoming new and existing customers through the doors of our newest store!”
A developer has completed its largest land acquisition to date, securing a 17.2-acre site in Redhill for a £40m residential development that will include 144 new homes.
The £40m scheme has full planning consent from Gedling Borough Council. It is the largest acquisition made by the Staffordshire-headquartered developer since its inception in 1994.
A mixture of one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom family homes will be delivered, 21 of which are allocated for low-cost housing. The housebuilder says it will be making an immediate start on site to undertake enabling works.
The new development will be known as Hawksley Rise, paying homage to the 19th Century civil engineer Thomas Hawksley, who was born in Arnold. He was the engineer for the Nottingham Gas Light and Coke Company and Nottingham Waterworks Company. In 1831, he completed the Trent Bridge waterworks, which delivered Britain’s first high pressure ‘constant supply’, preventing contamination entering clean water mains
The exterior elevations of the Hawksley Rise development will be constructed in red brick and styled to complement the local vernacular. The latest green energy features will be incorporated into each home, with a very high EPC rating targeted. Specification highlights will include smart Hive thermostats, electric vehicle car chargers, and solar PV panels.
As part of the development programme, Cameron Homes will deliver ecological enhancements and increase the biodiversity of the site, with an attenuation pond situated at the lowest point – identified as the optimal location to gather surface water. Bird and bat boxes will be installed on retained trees and incorporated within the design of the 144 new homes.
Carpets give a luxurious look to your living room or drawing room, but are difficult to clean. If you have children at home, you need to learn some tips forspot cleaning carpets.
If you don’t soon, your carpets will have new patch prints with the spills, and that’s not necessarily every time; it could be kids or adults as well. Imagine chilling with friends on a weekend night with some wine or coffee, suddenly someone cracks a joke, and the controlled laughs echo, but stop suddenly!
Why, what happened?
Because one of your friends was just in between a coffee sip, and this sudden laughter burst caused him to spit-take. Now your carpet has a new pattern, what would you do? This is where spot cleaning is unavoidable to wipe the stains; otherwise, they will leave a lasting stain.
The Blotting Rule Nobody Follows
How should you clean these quick stains?
Wiping is never a good option because it pulls the spills deep into the surface. Always try to clean through blotting. Use a damp, clean cloth to wipe the stain. Keep folding the stain and blot the spill from the clean side with cold water. Using hot water will also make the stain stubborn.
Coffee Stains
Coffee spills are so common everywhere and are easy to clean if you act quickly and smartly. Otherwise, prepare yourself for a new carpet design.
Blot up as much of the liquid as you can first. Then apply cold water to the area and keep blotting. Do not pour hot water on it. Hot water push stains deep and make them sit in the depth of the carpet fibre.
Blotting is the right technique to be done either immediately or even if the stain has dried. For dry stains, you should first use cold water on the carpet fibre to make it moist, and then blot and later use washing liquid to wipe out the remaining stain from your carpet.
Wine Stains
Once, I was relaxing in my living room with a red wine glass in my hand. As soon as I reached the climax of my serial, our Milo started rubbing himself on my legs, and I spilled everything from my glass on the carpet.
I tried acting smart and sprinkled some salt and started scrubbing, but the stain never left. I then tried scrubbing again with some hot water, but not only the moments but also the carpet was spoiled.
Then the same incident repeated during a friend’s gathering. And imagine what one of them actually acted smart by blotting the spill with a clean cloth dampened with cold water. When the spill was blotted to its maximum, she used liquid dish soap to blot the remaining stain. Whoa! There were no signs of the spill left.
Another technique I learnt at my brother’s is diluting the red wine spill with some white and blotting the spill, which works wonders too.
Pet Stains
Pet problems are different. They not only spoil the carpet with stains, but their dirt gives a foul smell. The smell keeps coming back even if the stain vanishes using domestic cleaning tips. To get rid of the smell, special pet stain removers are available in the market that work wonders for both the smell and the stain.
This happens because regular cleaning products do not break down the organic matter, causing the smell. They mask it temporarily. As soon as warmth or moisture hits the carpet again, the smell returns because the source is still sitting in the fibers.
To get rid of these stains and smell, try specific enzyme cleaners. They decompose the organic matter. The trick is to follow the exact method as instructed to leave the stain remover on the stain and then blot, and it will not only wipe the stain but also the smell.
When Spot Cleaning Is Not Enough
If your carpets give a foul smell, or all your techniques fail to remove a specific stain, you should try hiring a professional carpet cleaning service, like Prolux Cleaning. They use different proven methods, like hot water extraction or professional stain removers that deep cleanse the carpet fibres from inside.
Spot cleaning fails if you leave a stain for some time or try removing it with the wrong type of stain lifter. Therefore, be careful with every stain.
Conclusion
Try to be quick with spot cleaning carpets, but don’t lose your mind in anxiousness. Remember the right techniques to wipe the stains from the carpet and follow them.
Using hot water, the wrong stain lifter, or scrubbing will only make the stains more stubborn. So be careful with your spot cleaning techniques to get them right.
But when all your techniques fail, give Prolux Cleaning a try.
The modern internet can be thought of as akin to a very complex, and very fast, kind of messaging system. But no messaging system can function without a way of distinguishing one recipient from another. This is where the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Control Protocol (that’s TCP/IP) comes in. It works by assigning every device on a network a unique address. These addresses are known as IP addresses.
What Are Static and Dynamic IP Addresses?
There are two main types of IP addresses: static ones, and dynamic ones. As the name might suggest, the former remain fixed, while the latter are assigned automatically.
It’s possible to configure a network, or device, to use either. But in most UK homes, dynamic IPs are the default, while static addresses are reserved for particular devices, like the router. So, a new device might connect to the network, and be assigned an address via what’s known as the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server.
How Dynamic IP Addresses Change (and Why They Do)
Dynamic IP addresses change every time a new device connects to the network. You can think of it like checking into a hotel. You don’t have the same room assigned every time you visit, and this allows the hotel to effectively manage capacity.
Dynamic addresses are more difficult to track, which makes them inherently more secure. They’re also more user-friendly and flexible. When the address isn’t being chosen by the user, there’s no risk of one device conflicting with another.
When and Why Static IP Addresses Stay the Same
For all of the advantages of a dynamic address, it’s fair to say that static ones haven’t gone anywhere. This is because they tend to offer advantages of their own. They tend to offer a simpler, more robust connection that makes them perfect for servers and business applications that are going to be used constantly, and that need special priority on the network.
If you want to set a static IP up at home, then you might need to overcome additional hurdles. You might even find that you’re unable to assign static IPs to your devices without paying extra.
If you want to learn how to change IP address yourself, then there are a number of online guides to consider.
Choosing the Right Option for Your Needs
For most home users, the flexibility and efficiency of a dynamic IP address makes it the go-to choice. If you’re doing something a little more elaborate, like hosting a website, or running an on-site storage server, then having a static address might be preferable. It can be a worthwhile exercise to try both, so you can understand exactly how they work, and which best fits your purposes.
A warning has been issued urging people in Gedling borough to ‘stay alert’ after new research revealed AI tools are directing customers to fake customer service phone lines – putting millions of consumers at risk of fraud.
It has been revealed criminals are exploiting AI‑powered tools so that consumers looking to contact trusted brands are shown fake phone numbers, websites and search results, which they use to capture data and perpetrate fraud.
Virgin Media O2, who carried out the research, say they have dealt with fraud cases where customers have called these numbers and been scammed. It’s warning this sophisticated fraud is on the rise and urging consumers to be on their guard.
To help peopel stay safe, advice has been issued to people when looking for a customer service number online:
Only use customer service numbers listed on official company websites, apps or on your bill. For customers looking to speak to O2, the quickest way is calling 202 from an O2 device and for Virgin Media it’s 150 from the landline.
Be cautious of numbers returned by search engines, social media posts or AI tools
Never share security codes or personal details with unsolicited callers – no matter who they say they are from.
Report suspected calls and texts to 7726 on any network to help shut down scams faster in future.
Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at Virgin Media O2, said: “Criminals know when people search for help, they’re often looking for a quick answer. AI tools are creating new opportunities for fraudsters to create realistic looking fake numbers that appear through search results or chatbots, putting people at risk of calling a criminal rather than their trusted provider.
“At Virgin Media O2, we’re doing all we can to keep customers safe by blocking known scammer numbers on the network and using AI to flag more than 1 billion suspicious calls to date. But with scammers looking to exploit new channels to target victims, everyone can help us keep people safe by reporting dodgy numbers to 7726 so we can shut down scams faster in future.”
Reform’s new JCB pothole machines will be working on the borough’s roads within the next two weeks, says the council leader.
Back in February, the Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council announced it would be purchasing at least two JCB Pothole Pro machines to help with tackling the declining state of the county’s roads.
The machines have been trialled by neighbouring Reform-run authorities in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire and typically cost between £150,000 and £200,000.
The council has recently embarked on critical highway projects, announcing £2 million to go towards emergency repairs across dozens of sites in February and its £122.5 million pot for phase one of fixing roads, which launched in early April.
Council leader, Mick Barton, said the new machines will be used for around 200 to 250 square metres of patching repairs, which then prepares roads for surface dressing.
He said: “Once we’ve patched them all and got them all into a satisfactory condition, then we’ll do the surface dressing.
“They [the machines] will definitely be on the roads within the next two weeks. Maybe the end of next week – but we’ll quantify that in the next few days.”
The leader said once the machines are out on the roads, they will be used every day.
He said: “They’ll be able to do 200-to-250 metres a day and we’re going to judge that every day how much they do, on a weekly basis and monthly basis to make sure we’re getting value for money.”
Road conditions are known to worsen during winter months, where cold and wet weather can chip away at roads or more easily undo any temporary works or patching.
Cllr Barton says the next winter period will be different, where highway teams will be working through all seasons, even laying hot tarmac during winter.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s cabinet also approved the authority’s ‘phase two’ works in a meeting on Thursday, adding millions more pounds to its £122.5 million highways pot for 2026/27 in phase one.
An extra £58.75 million will be pumped into the county’s highway network for 2026/27, bringing the total spend on roads to £181.25 million – when factoring in the £2 million emergency works earlier this year, that figure settles at more than £183 million.
Speaking in Thursday’s meeting on the further cash boost, Cllr Barton said: “But it’s not over now, we’re going to parliament in the summer and will try and get some more money because we’ve got to now prepare for next year.
“We’ve got over 130 people working on the roads at the minute. We’ve got the eight crews out at the moment doing the first-time fixes and two more starting in a few weeks’ time.
“The game changer for me is the 12 months of the year they’re going to be doing that and that will make a big impact next winter. We’re working on the next winter’s programme already.”
Cllr Rory Green, cabinet member for children’s and families, said: “This year we’ve seen record-breaking responses to pothole reports, higher reports.
“This is for the people and areas like Ashfield, that some of us represent, that have been abandoned for years.”
Both phases of spending should lead to the authority’s highways works backlog being reduced by nearly £100 million, from its peak of £414 million to an estimated £317 million, the council says.
The boost of cash comes after a September 2025 survey found about 38 per cent of the county’s roads in ‘poor condition’, along with more than half of all road marking being in ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ condition.
Police have boarded up a home in Arnold after a host of noise complaints, fights and drugs use were linked to the property.
Officers from the Gedling Central Neighbourhood Policing Team secured the closure order on 72 Bentwell Avenue following a series of complaints from nearby residents.
The property was boarded up on Thursday (23) following the granting of an order at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court – it is believed to be the first order of its kind secured in Gedling borough.
Police have boarded up the property
The order will be in place for three months and prohibits anyone from entering the house.
If an individual breaches the order they will be committing an offence and be liable to imprisonment and/or a fine.
Problems at the property included loud music, parties into the early hours of the morning and other antisocial behaviour.
There have also been sporadic reports of drug use and a fight involving weapons in January this year.
Sergeant Alison Riley, of the Gedling Central neighbourhood policing team, said: “It is disappointing when an address becomes a magnet for antisocial behaviour in the way this house has done.
“Police were repeatedly called to the address and the number of complaints meant we were determined to take action.
“Although the order is a first for Gedling we won’t hesitate to take action like this in future. In neighbourhood policing we always act when an address becomes such a problem for the whole community.
“It is also pleasing that members of the community had the confidence in their neighbourhood team to share their accounts and provide the evidence we needed to shut the property down.
“I hope this order now gives residents in the community some respite from these issues.
“It should also serve as a warning to other people about what could happen to them if they behave in this way.”
To report antisocial behaviour, call 101 or use the Live Chat option on our website. If you don’t report it the problems may continue – so don’t rely on someone else to report it for you.
Two Gedling borough councillors have praised a Government decision to u-turn on powers to punish fly-tippers.
An amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to hit drivers who litter from their vehicles with penalty points on their licence was proposed by the Conservatives and will now be considered.
This change means the Secretary of State will now consult on establishing a system for flytippers in vehicles to place points on their licences.
The measure was originally voted down at Committee stage, but will now be included.
An amendment had been tabled to give police the powers to seize vehicles used for fly-tipping but this wasn’t supported by the Government.
Conservative Cllrs Sam Smith & Mike Adams, who represent the Trent Valley Ward on Gedling Borough Council, said:“Fly-tipping continues to blight our communities.
“Our constituents across Trent Valley, in Stoke Bardolph, Gedling, Burton Joyce and Rivendell, are fed up with seeing rubbish dumped on our streets or in our beautiful green spaces.
“We welcome the Government’s u-turn to put points on the licenses of fly-tippers and will continue to hold their feet to the fire on extra powers for the police to seize vehicles.
“Labour-run Gedling Borough Council must now get a grip of this issue and start punishing fly-tippers”
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:“Fly-tippers are turning our towns and countryside into dumping grounds. Fly-tipping is a scourge on our communities.
“I am pleased to see that the Government have finally u-turned due to pressure and decided to implement our measures to put points on the licenses of fly-tippers and seize their vehicles.”
Drivers forced to swerve around potholes on Carlton Hill, labelled one of Nottinghamshire’s “worst roads” say it is now like a “dream” after repairs finally took place after months of problems.
Residents travelling along Carlton Hill, Carlton, had been suffering with poor road conditions for months after a weakening section of road, near the Cromwell Street junction and the Tesco Superstore, got progressively worse.
The bottom of Carlton Hill had been getting into an increasingly worse state since the turn of the year, with problems first reported before Christmas 2025.
Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council, the authority responsible for highways, announced an emergency £2 million pot of money in February this year to tackle roads across the county in the most dire state.
Part of the cash was used to resurface the section of Carlton Hill, where machines left the site last Monday (April 20).
Works across dozens of sites started in March and are due to be completed soon but, since then, the authority has announced a further “record-level” £181.25 million in 2026/27 to start fixing Nottinghamshire’s deteriorated roads.
Standing on the side of the resurfaced Carlton Hill section, council leader Mick Barton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) it was “one of the worst in the county”.
He said: “We realised what such a bad state it was in the county, this was one of around 45 projects completed, they’ll complete in a few weeks time.
“This has needed doing for years, as part of that £2 million project, this was one of the worst in the county and it desperately needed doing.
“We’ve got these roads all across the county. It’s due to the neglect – it’s nobody’s fault individually – it’s been a lack of investment for the last 20 years, but we are addressing that as much as we can.”
Nearby resident Sharron has lived near the problem road for 10 years told the LDRS she welcomed the multi-million investment into the roads “wholeheartedly”.
Speaking on the Carlton Hill works, she said: “It was awful, there was pothole after pothole in that whole section, from the bottom of [Southdale Road] to just past the [Texaco] garage.
“Literally you were swerving to avoid everything and every morning it was like being on a fair ride, it was awful – now it’s a dream to drive on.”
The pothole situation had been so bleak on Carlton Hill that Sharron said drivers “couldn’t not hit one” as the damage was close together.
Lindsey Greenwood, who has also lived near the works for four years, said the section of road was in a state “well before Christmas” but was at its worst from February.
She said: “There was a lot of swerving, there was a lot of deep holes – horrendous.
“This junction has always been dodgy at the bottom [of Southdale road], so to try and get out and cars are trying to worm their way around all the holes, it was definitely the worst round here.”
Ms Greenwood said she often had to drive onto the other side of the road to avoid any road damage.
Speaking on the council’s boosts of money for road fixes, she said: “It’s good but then you just think what are we going to cut corners on to use that money on?… You can’t fix one thing without causing problems elsewhere can you?”
One man living nearby said one particular pothole on the road was that significant a cone had been placed in it.
He said: “Ever since Reform have been in things have been 100 per cent better – it’s nice to see things being done. Since the resurfacing it’s safer.”
In February, Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council announced it would be purchasing at least two JCB Pothole Pro machines to help with tackling the declining state of the county’s roads.
Cllr Barton recently told the LDRS he expects the JCBs to be out on the roads within the next two weeks.
The machines have been trialled by neighbouring Reform-run authorities in Derbyshire and Lincolnshire and typically cost between £150,000 and £200,000.
The new machines will be be able to complete 200 to 250 square metres of patching repairs each day which then prepares roads for surface dressing.
Supermarket giant Tesco could soon take over a former Arnold pub according to growing rumours – but official plans have yet to be filed with bosses.
Rumours about the future of The Eagle are circulating after the ex-boozer, in Howbeck Road, Arnold, closed down earlier this year and was listed for sale, seeking offers around £550,000.
The pub, which opened in 1979, was extensively refurbished in 2015 and comprised two open-plan bars, a compact kitchen, office, a large ground-floor cellar along with the 30-space car park outside.
It closed down suddenly in May 2024 before reopening up once again but shut down for good in early 2026.
Now, rumours are growing that a large supermarket chain – rumoured to be Tesco – may have its sights set on the spot.
PICTURED: The Eagle pub in Arnold shut its doors in early 2026 (IMAGE: Google)
In March this year, plans were submitted to Gedling Borough Council to change the use of the empty space from a pub into a shop, impacting the ground floor only and leaving the upstairs residence unaffected.
However, documents do not state which business or retailer is set to take over the space, describing them only as the “proposed end user”.
Documents said the “proposed end user” will submit a separate planning application for “signage and external alterations” at a different date.
So far, no other application has been submitted to the council for the same address, but a former landlady previously told NottinghamshireLive the pub had been purchased by a supermarket chain.
Now, “street” rumours are circulating that Tesco could end up moving in.
Gedling Borough Council leader, John Clarke (Lab) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that he had heard a “street rumour that it could be Tesco”.
He said: “As a CAMRA member I’m sorry the pub’s shut.
“There’s a fair amount of housing that’s gone on not too far from there so it would be good for people.
“I would welcome it because you see what happens to buildings that are left for a long while, they get damaged.
“The biggest welcome is the building won’t be standing empty and we’ll be collecting council tax, which is an issue when buildings stay empty.”
Nottinghamshire County Councillor John Semens (Ref), who represents Arnold North, said he had heard a similar rumour.
He said: “I think anything being used is better than an empty building.
“It generates income, it’s a service for people. We’ve got enough empty units without adding to them.”
Tesco already had – and has – a presence on the road. In May 2023, the Tesco Express on Howbeck Road – just opposite the former Eagle pub – closed down.
The spot was then replaced by One Stop – which is owned by Tesco – where the convenience store has remained ever since.
The LDRS contacted Tesco for comment on two separate occasions to confirm whether it had plans to take over the site, but the supermarket chain did not respond.
Any future retailer moving into the former Howbeck Road pub will be revealed at a later stage.
