Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 20/06/2026 18:27:00

The Level is the principal events and live-music venue of Nottingham Trent University's Students' Union, occupying a large, multi-level space on Shakespeare Street in the city centre. Despite its student base, it regularly opens its doors to the public for gigs and club nights. The main room is among the largest in the city, holding up to 1,200 standing or several hundred seated, with a balcony overlooking the stage and dancefloor and a high-specification sound and lighting rig. Combined with the adjoining Landing bar, capacity rises towards 2,300. Across its spaces - the main Level, the balcony Landing and the smaller, more intimate Loft - the venue can flex from large concerts and club nights to comedy, conferences, balls and award ceremonies, making it one of Nottingham's most adaptable rooms. Its live-music billing has brought significant names through over the years, with the venue hosting national tour dates alongside the regular student club nights, big-screen sport and society events that fill the term-time calendar. By day, the Landing operates as a bar and restaurant for students, while by night the wider complex transforms for events, with two licensed bars serving the crowds drawn in by the programme. Run by the Students' Union, profits from the venue feed back into student services, giving The Level a dual role as both a commercial concert venue and a community asset at the heart of the university's city campus. Student-union venues occupy a distinctive place in the British live-music landscape, often providing some of the largest and best-equipped rooms in their cities while remaining tied to the academic year. The Level is a clear example, balancing its core role as a hub for Nottingham Trent's students with a commercial programme that brings touring artists and public events through its doors. That dual purpose, backed by the union's reinvestment of profits, has helped it remain one of the most significant mid-sized venues in a competitive city.