New Union club and pub opening Term Three

As the first stage of Warwick’s £11 million Union rebuild draws to a close, with two significant openings – the new club ‘The Copper Rooms’ and pub ‘The Dirty Duck’ – announced for Term Three, anticipation is growing in the student population.

It seems that the promise of Phase one being fully completed in time for Term Three will be fulfilled, despite the week of heavy snow in Term Two.

Mike Pidgeon, Communications Officer for the Students’ Union, assured the Boar that construction work is still very much on schedule, despite the obvious issues, “It’s such a complicated project and it is inevitable that some parts will be ahead of schedule and some parts will be slightly behind schedule, but overall we are still on schedule, so it kind of balances out. Basically, we are very much on time for a Term Three opening.”

In terms of keeping within the budget, Governance and Finance Officer Andy Glyde was unable to disclose detailed figures of Union finance. He said, “We are constantly re-reviewing and re-forecasting everything, it is probably not going to be known until around Week Four of Term Three as we do a lot of it over the Easter holiday.”

Glyde added, “The rebuild is still largely on plan and largely on budget which is really what we wanted.”

The Boar was further assured that the rebuild is on schedule by Peter Dunn, Warwick’s Press and Media Relations Officer who said that “while these are very economical [sic] challenging times for any major construction project the project is currently on budget.”

There will be two significant introductions in Term Three to the University campus, namely The Copper Rooms, an event space with a capacity of over 2,000 people and the new pub, the Dirty Duck.

The new club will be divided into three rooms – two for dancing and another which will function as a ‘chill out’ area, which is based on the current sofa area in Tempo, where up to 250 students at a time will be able to relax.

Mike Pidgeon argues the new space will be a marked improvement in terms of layout, “One of the big problems was, in terms of live music, very few people could actually see the acts with the way [the old venue] was laid out, but in this venue, it will be much easier to see the bands… so hopefully we’ll be able to get much bigger bands to perform at Warwick.”

Arguably, the most exciting attraction of The Copper Rooms will be its ability to hold two different events in its two different ‘clubs’ simultaneously, with contrasting music in either room. For instance, genres as varied as those found at Crash and Electric City will be commonplace in the new venue.

Pidgeon argues “the venue will be a much better space and will feel like a night club, a proper venue which the university has never had before but will now… we can really be ambitious about events with these new changes.”

The other noteworthy opening to occur in Term Three will be that of the new Union pub – The Dirty Duck – which will replace the current Graduate@Cholo. The pub’s name was recently chosen by an online poll of Warwick students.

The idea for the name came originally from the Warwick’s ‘duck tradition’ – namely the huge amount of ducks on campus all year round and, in particular, the fact that the birds choose to lay their eggs close to the Union in the summertime.

Further, the bridge which currently runs from SU HQ to the Graduate@Cholo will be knocked down to create easier access for The Dirty Duck.

Pidgeon feels that ‘The good thing about The Dirty Duck is that it is always going to be separate from other events. We will never have to let Top Banana take over the pub area again. The Union does think it is important that the pub is kept open for people who only want a quiet pint in the Union without admission charge.”

Other than the complete refurbishment of the Graduate, the bars will be made a lot bigger in order to cut down serving time.

A new venture for the Union’s catering department will be the promotion of cheap roast dinners, served everyday and at a price of about £5 for a meal and a pint of beer. Also, a new outdoor terrace will be fitted to the pub, providing a view of the Rootes and Tocil Woods.

Pidgeon summed up many third and fourth year students’ – who will be leaving Warwick this summer – thoughts – “I am personally just a bit gutted that I am leaving before the build is completely finished. But above all I am very glad that a part of the new Union is opening in Term Three, as a kind of reward to the freshers.

“Obviously, in some ways this year’s Union has not been ideal for the 2008 freshers, there have been some disruptions over the year. But, as the Union, we’ve done everything we can to minimise that.”

Many Freshers who arrived at Warwick last autumn undoubtedly felt somewhat disappointed by the lack of event space provided for them.

One first year sociology student said “I, like all of my peers at other universities around the country, expected to have an excellent Freshers experience but, unlike them, I didn’t get it.’

A second year engineering student expressed her concerns for the new Union – “I really do hope this phase which is happening in Term Three – and all the subsequent stages – will be worth the wait.”

Mike Pidgeon is confident that it will be great success – “You have got to realise that the Student’s Union is much more than a building.