Hello!

Since over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking a lot about the academic side of uni, we thought that this week, we’d discuss a more light-hearted topic and talk about Lancaster’s nightlife! Lancaster doesn’t have the best reputation for a good night out. For both of us, when we first said we were going to Lancaster, people’s responses were “the nightlife is going to be rubbish!” However, this isn’t really the case.

In freshers’ week going out is a big thing (although, if you are not a big drinker or don’t really like going out, there is still stuff to do!). Firstly, there are nine bars on campus (one in each college) most of which also have pool tables etc and are a good place to hang out. This means that for a good night, out you don’t even have to venture off campus into town – we both have had some good nights staying on campus!

If you do decide to go out, pre-drinks will probably be the biggest event – flats come together and it becomes a big mixture of people who you live with, friends of friends and also people from your course. Guarantee you will play some games which always end up being funny and a great way of getting conversations going and meeting people. In first year you will have freshers reps (second or third year students) who look after your flat on nights out. They will all be really lovely and will look out for you / stick with you when you go out.

The most popular place to go in Lancaster as a student is Sugarhouse – the club run by the student union. You can’t really describe a night out in sugar until you go but; cheesy music, cheap drinks and loads of people are a guaranteed. There are Sugarbuses that run from campus to the club and also back home, so you never need to worry about getting there or back or paying for taxis because these busses are free and reliable.

There are other clubs too, such as Hustle (lovably horrendous), Dalton rooms and a number of bars ranging from Spoons (cheap for a pre-drink) or Study Rooms (bit more sophisticated with really good cocktails). As a student town new bars and clubs are always opening up. Lancaster is tiny and it can’t be compared to anywhere such as London or Manchester for a night out, BUT, as long as you go out with the right people you will have a good time.

We know that this probably sounds a bit daunting and that you will get lost / not have a good time but we guarantee, once you know your way around and where you like to go, you will have a really good time. Your student reps will help you by showing you around the campus bars and clubs and pubs in town, for example, in the form of a bar crawl! It’s also cheap which is obviously no bad thing. (If you’re from down south guarantee you will never have had such a cheap night out before!)

One thing that we found different about uni is how often you can go out in the week, rather than just the weekend. Who knew it was okay to go out on a school night?! The biggest night out of the week is normally Sugarhouse on Wednesdays; this inevitably means that it becomes socially acceptable to turn up to your Thursday 9am hungover, possibly looking and feeling a little worse-for-wear. Thankfully, many of the bars on campus serve some good hangover food. Fylde bar is a personal favourite of ours for its chip butties and a brew.

If you do fancy a change of scene and perhaps a bigger city for a day out/night out, Manchester is hour’s train ride away, and Leeds isn’t too far either. This means that even though you may be going to a campus university, this does not mean you don’t have access to cities and the outside world.

Basically, ignore the rumours that Lancaster has no nightlife and rest assured that you will have a good time. Ask most people, some of the funniest stories you’ll have from uni are from nights out, either at pre-drinks or that one drink that turned into twenty.

Becky and Katie x