Celebrating Nottingham Football Fanzines: Brian and The Pie (Film screenings + Q&A)

About this event

From the mid-eighties to the mid-noughties – and in the largely pre-internet era – football fanzines were a vital way of fans keeping in touch with each other and their clubs outside of the time they spent watching their team. In a time before the dominance of social media, Youtube, vlogs and podcasts fanzines were a primary form of communication between fans.

In 2024 Two of Nottingham’s best loved football fanzines The Pie and Brian were given a new lease of life thanks to a regeneration project by LeftLion, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

‘The Pie’ was a Notts County fanzine launched in 1987 and was run by a team which included then Selectadisc record shop manager Jim Cooke and current CAMRA Nottingham Chairman Steve Westby. It ran over 87 copies until 2009 and was known to be one of the first football fanzines of its time.

‘Brian’ was a Nottingham Forest fanzine first launched in 1988 by Julie Pritchard. It ran over 50 issues until 1995. Its lifespan covered many notable moments for Nottingham Forest including two League Cup wins (1989 and 1990) and the Hillsborough disaster. Brian Clough himself was even photographed with a copy.

During this project we made two short documentary films, one about each fanzine. At this event we will be showing the films back-to-back with a Q&A at the end with Producer Jared Wilson and representatives from each fanzine.

Tickets are £5 and this includes a limited edition set of postcards produced to celebrate the project.

This screening is in honour of Brian founder Julie Pritchard, who passed away in February 2026. All proceeds from this event will be donated to Holly’s Merry Moggies (charity number 1215708), a Nottingham-based cat rescue for disabled and different cats. More info about them at hollysmerrymoggies.com.