Economy of Nottingham

in the city by John Boot in 1849 and substantially expanded by his son Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent and grandson John Boot, 2nd Baron Trent. Other large companies include the credit reference agency Experian, the energy company E.ON UK, the tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, betting company Gala Group, amusement and gambling machine manufacturer Bell-Fruit-Games, engineering company Siemens, sportswear manufacturers Speedo, high street opticians Vision Express, games and publishing company Games Workshop (creator of the popular Warhammer series), PC software developer Serif Europe (publisher of PagePlus and other titles), Web hosting provider Heart Internet and the American credit card company Capital One (whose European offices are based in the city). Nottingham is also the home of the Nottingham Building Society (set up in 1849), the offices of HM Revenue and Customs, the Driving Standards Agency, BBC East Midlands offices and, formerly, the Government Office for the East Midlands. Nottingham is also one of the eight members of the English Core Cities Group.

Nottingham was made one of the UK's six Science Cities in 2005 by, then Chancellor of the Exchequer (later Prime Minister), Gordon Brown. Among the science based industries within the city is BioCity. Founded as a joint venture between Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham, BioCity is the UK's biggest bioscience innovation and incubation centre. The centre houses around 80 science-based companies.

Until recently bicycle manufacturing was a major industry, the city being the birthplace of Raleigh Cycles in 1886 and later joined by Sturmey-Archer, the creator of 3-speed hub gears. However, Raleigh's factory on Triumph Road, famous as the location for the filming of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was demolished in Summer 2003 to make way for the University of Nottingham's expansion of Jubilee