A Freshers’ Guide to Nightlife

Your first year of university will potentially be the best year of your life. The independence you gain from not living at home, the like-minded people you meet who become your best friends, not to mention the endless, hilarious, drunken nights out: all experiences that will stay with you forever. Choice of venue is extremely important when going on your first few nights out at Warwick- both on and off campus. After all, you want to meet the right people and make friends, which unfortunately won’t happen in an over-thirties club in Coventry. Luckily for you though, this won’t be a problem, as the Boar has compiled for your entertainment and delight a personalised Freshers Guide to Nightlife.

Monday:

NOTORIOUS:

Begin your week in drunken style with a trip to Evolve, one of the main clubs in Leamington Spa, which runs ‘Notorious Mondays’ on alternate weeks. Head into the upstairs bar for a cheeky £1.50 vodka mixer before hitting the downstairs dance floor to boogie to the likes of Rihanna, Usher and David Guetta. Expect to see freshers, second years and finalists – pretty much everyone you know! And don’t forget to visit Viallis, the local Turkish fast food joint on your way home. (I recommend their cheesy chips with garlic mayo.) Entry costs £5 and Uni Express tickets for freshers are £10, including entry and travel to and from campus.

GATECRASHER:

If small clubs with familiar faces aren’t your cup of tea, every Monday night the Uni Express runs trips to Gatecrasher, one of the biggest and best clubs in Birmingham. This is a great option if you want to escape the ‘bubble’ as the club is packed full of students from Birmingham Uni (fresh meat!). Also, with four separate floors in the club playing floor filler anthems, indie and rock, RnB and cheesy pop classics, there is something for everyone. Uni Express tickets cost around £13 from campus and include travel, queue jump and entry.

Tuesday:

SMACK:

On Tuesday nights students flock to Smack, Leamington’s other main club, for the appropriately named, ‘I love Smack on a Tuesday’. A typical night at Smack usually entails impatiently queuing for around half an hour to get in, downing several £1 Vodbulls upon entry, dancing on a table upstairs to Katy B before foolishly deciding to queue again for the downstairs dance floor, only to get there and find yourself surrounded by sweaty crowds of testosterone filled boys. On the plus side, you WILL see everyone you know there, and technically, queues can be avoided by purchasing a queue jump from Moo Bar or the Duke in Leamington earlier that evening. Entry costs £5.

Wednesday:

POP:

If you love the Spice Girls and want to bag yourself a hot sports player boyfriend/girlfriend/one night stand, I would strongly advise attending POP every week. Taking place at the Copper Rooms, POP involves classic nineties music (think Take That, the Backstreet Boys and S Club) a vast array of fancy dress and crowds of drunken sports players looking to get lucky. For those on sports teams, drinking Circles begin at 7pm, before everyone heads to the Copper Rooms at 10ish. Entry costs £3 and regulars can buy a season pass (10 weeks worth of entry) for £25.

NANA’S PALACE:

If cheesy pop music cringes you out and you can’t stand the cliquey sports teams, there is another option every fortnight: ‘Nana’s Palace’ at Moo Bar in Leamington, which is run by Warwick alumnae. When arriving at Moo, you may wonder the hell a dull, dingy run-down building could possibly have to offer, but walking into Nana’s Palace is literally like entering a groovy seventies disco. With tunes like the Bee Gees’ ‘Night Fever’ and the B52’s ‘Love Shack’, flashing disco lights and a lot of old-school dancing, Nana’s Palace definitely rivals POP on the fun-factor. Entry costs £3.

Thursday:

SILVER/EVE:

On Thursday nights it’s back to Smack in Leamington, for either ‘Silver’ or ‘Eve’ which run on alternate weeks. Both nights are run by student DJs, with RnB and Garage being played at Silver and drum n bass being played at Eve. All profits from Eve go to Cancer Research UK, so you can do a good deed for charity as well as have an awesome night out. Both nights are very popular, so it’s a good idea to get on the guest list (which is put up on the Smack website a week before) to avoid queuing. Entry costs £5 for both nights and freshers can get the Uni Express to and from campus for £10.

SAINT BAR:

If you’re after a classy night then ‘LeDice’ at Saint Bar in Leamington might be a better bet. ‘Saints’ as it is more commonly known, is an underground bar/nightclub with several seating areas and a small dance floor. A club photographer also takes quite flattering pictures of everyone there, which is definitely better than your friend’s dodgy drunken photography. However, people tend to be divided over Saints: Some love it; others think it’s too dark, over-priced and pretentious. It’s up to you to decide!

Friday:

TOP BANANA:

Hosted by a giant monkey called Spank, Top B is somewhat of a tradition at Warwick and should be experienced by all freshers. Great for a cheap, fun night out, the downstairs dance floor plays chart music whilst upstairs is more hip-hop/urban style. Rouge Bar is of course open for mingling, too. One tip: try and get your photo taken with Spank, as rumour has it that this guarantees free entry the following week (if your photo is on the SU website). He is also a very friendly monkey. Entry costs £3.

KASBAH:

You might be reluctant to go to Coventry, but Kasbah on a Friday night is actually pretty good, especially if you’re bored of the SU. As well as a massive dance floor, a live music room and several bars, Kasbah has an awesome outdoor area with fire heaters and a barbeque – which does amazing burgers! Plus there’s so many Warwick freshers that you don’t have to go near a Cov student – but if you do, it’s pretty funny to play jokes on them. Uni Express tickets costs around £10 for entry and travel both ways.

Saturday:

SKOOL DAYZ:

Weekends at Warwick are usually pretty quiet in terms of nights out, with many people going home or choosing to catch up on all that sleep they’ve missed during the week. However, twice a term, the Copper Rooms is packed full of slutty school girls and naughty school boys reliving their school years to the likes of Busted, B*witched and N-Sync. Skool Dayz is definitely one of the highlights of Freshers fortnight, and the words ‘eventful’ and ‘messy’ seem to trend on Facebook the following day when describing the night. Don a white shirt, tie, glasses and long socks, and don’t forget to paint your face with freckles. Tickets cost £4 – don’t miss out!