Copper Rooms paved with gold

When I began university as an innocent fresher last term, I walked onto Warwick campus with a somewhat naive idea in my mind; that I’d be waving my student card at bouncers on the doors of clubs and strolling in for free, buying about 50 shots for a pound and managing to have a good night on a fiver.

Reality check: log onto the Warwick website and buy a Freshers Passport for £58, to get you into every event, guaranteed, for the entire fortnight. Sounds great, right? Well, looking through my Freshers photographs, it appeared that I only went to 6 events at the SU over the fortnight. This probably worked out cheaper than buying each ticket separately, but £10 an event for even a newly-poor student is a bit steep.

Still, all this expense to get into the (in)famous Copper Rooms may have been more worthwhile if the drinks were a fair price. Deciding to stick with a beverage which I knew to be cheap in my local area, I ordered a Jagerbomb. But my heart sank – £2? At home (bearing in mind I live in a small town in the middle of the countryside, so the clubs there have little competition) I can get into my town’s club for free before 11pm, and get skittle shots and Jagerbombs for £1 each. Student nights clearly aren’t all that they are cracked up to be.

The SU price shockers continued. I nearly choked on my classic hot chocolate when Curiositea charged me £2, despite my slight relief when I was given a measly 10% off for using my Eating at Warwick card. Only the other day I was stuck with only five minutes between lectures to get some lunch, so I decided to buy something in the Arts Centre Cafe. £5.10 for a sandwich and a biscuit no bigger than my finger? No thanks. I’d rather starve.

My biggest disappointment to date was most definitely the price of the Christmas ball tickets. Quite a good night I admit, but it was no different to any other night at the SU, except a few more people, Christmas-themed music and a couple of reindeer chucked in for us to walk past at the beginning. The plastic ice rink was probably only slippery for the completely plastered and the chocolate fountain ran out way before I even entered the SU. I got all this for a bargain £16.50.

The SU needs to up its game and lower its prices, as people would be much more likely to invest their money in drinks at the Copper Rooms instead of pre-drinking to save money. More people would visit, too. For now, I’m hitting Kasbah. Discounted entry with an NUS card and £1 (suspiciously-named) J-Bombs? I’m yours.