The village has two children's play-parks as well as a small duck pond. It is the northern terminus of the Southwell Trail. It has also a members-only fishing lake created from the remains of the old colliery slag heap.
The village is known locally as being two areas, the 'old' and 'new'. The village has one public house, Copper Beech, following the closure of the Stanton Arms in 2024 and a miners' welfare club. Bilsthorpe used to have a village hall with squash and sauna facilities with some gym equipment. However, Newark District Council closed the hall due mainly to the low usage of the facilities. The old squash centre site now houses a miners' museum. The village hall's main section has been condemned and plans are in place to demolish the building.
Bilsthorpe parish church is the Grade I listed St Margaret's Church. [1]
Bilsthorpe Moor is to the south of the village. It previously housed a supported-living home, LifeWays, for adults with learning disabilities and autism, which closed in 2019.[4][5]
Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy is the local education facility for children with access to nursery and primary learning. Part of The Flying High Trust, a multi-school organisation based in Cotgrave, Nottinghamshire, it opened for the autumn term 2015 and was previously known as Crompton View Primary School.[6][7][8]
The village's colliery closed in 1997 after 70 years in use.[10] The colliery was the centre of national media and public attention on 18 August 1993 when a roof collapsed in the colliery, killing under-manager David Shelton and miners Bill McCulloch and Peter Alcock.[11] David Shelton was posthumously awarded the George Medal for bravery on 11 October 1995 for aiding the rescue of other miners;[12] survivor Ray Thompson also received the George Medal.
A memorial in the form of an 8 ft (2.4 m) miners lamp carved from sandstone bearing the names of 77 deceased workers dating back to 1927 was established in 2011.[13]
A memorial to dead miners was also erected outside the colliery site.[14]
Sport
Bilsthorpe Welfare Youth Football Club won the Mansfield Youth Under 16s Division 2 football championship. BWYFC Bilsthorpe is also the home of non-league football club Nottingham United, one of the biggest semi-professional clubs in the county, currently playing at Step 7 of the National League System and based at Bilsthorpe Sports Ground on Eakring Road. NUFC
English footballer Mark Monington was born in Bilsthorpe.
