The A–Z guide to student life at the University of Warwick

Follow along as I take you through various aspects of student life at Warwick, featuring the highs and lows, the As and Zs, and everything in between – ultimately ensuring you’ll be as equipped as possible to take life at Warwick in your stride.

Arthur Vick or Jack Martin? The ongoing confusion between these two near-identical accommodations is the subject of much campus speculation and confusion. And whether the pair switch names intermittently to mess with us remains ultimately unknown. Although, an honourable mention must go to the infamous Leamington club, Assembly.

Benjamin Satchwell is the beating heart of Leamington’s pub culture. Be prepared to bump into everyone you’ve ever met in this uniquely narrow, glorified corridor of a Wetherspoons. Though baffling in set-up, it remains a beloved aspect of the Leamington student experience.

Honourable mention: The Boar, the independent Warwick student newspaper, which you are reading right now. Well done.

Additionally, I would be remiss if I did not mention BNOCs (Big Names On Campus), an acronym you’ll likely hear a few too many times during your Warwick career. In the last two years, we’ve even seen these generally self-proclaimed campus celebrities compete to be crowned the biggest BNOC of all, by accounts such as the Warwick Tea, the Warwick Tab, and the Warwick Grapevine.

It’s also vital that I shout out the Dirty Duck, our main student pub on campus: the home of punishing pub quizzes, and even more punishing karaoke

Circle is the foundation upon which all good Wednesday nights are built. Though I am sworn to secrecy on the rules, this iconic Warwick approach to drinking games brings together hundreds of students, clubs, and societies from across the campus in preparation for POP!, the main on-campus club night.

Honourable mentions include the Copper Rooms (the Students’ Union club), Coventry, and Canley.

Disco Dave is the man responsible for guiding us through POP!, with his penchant for classic sing-alongs, love of a good shout-out, and indisputable aura, he is truly one of our most iconic individuals. Although it’s also vital that I shout out the Dirty Duck, our main student pub on campus: the home of punishing pub quizzes, and even more punishing karaoke.

Eliminator is the distinctly green, fruit-shoot syrup drink that cannot be purchased at any good venue, but can be bought from Kelsey’s, one of the more comical and questionable Leamington night out hotspots. However, while the drink isn’t great, against all odds, the nights in Kelsey’s normally are, so it’s definitely worth checking out at the end of a bar crawl.

Flatcest is a regular feature of many a Warwick kitchen. Potentially disastrous for everyone involved, it is always a recipe for a fun bit of drama and, every now and again, a functioning long-term relationship – though the odds aren’t the best. Honourable mentions must go to the FAB, fresher’s flu, and the dreaded Forum.

Geese populate every corner of the campus. Ranging in friendliness, these happy little guys have whole Instagram accounts dedicated to them, most notably the ever-iconic Warwick Geese Premium.

Humanities building – this visual terror remains the campus’s aesthetic punching bag, rivalled only by the terrors of the Forum.

Neon is one of the most culturally significant places in the region

Initiations at Warwick, like at any good university, feature their fair share of hopefully exaggerated stories of suffering, sacrifice, and peer pressure. These are certainly not to be missed and can be a great way to make friends in your sports club of choice.

Jägerbombs at Kasbah (Coventry’s premier club) come in at the majestic price of £1.50, a powerful deal which can be taken advantage of to achieve a mixture of results.

Kasbah is Coventry’s aforementioned top club, dating back to 1914. This monument to clubbing has to be seen to be believed.

Leamington Spa is where most second-year students at Warwick live, with dozens of pubs, multiple clubs, and a terrible commute; this town is certainly the place to be.

Honourable mentions must go to the ongoing Lillington vs Cubbington feud and the various libraries, be it the Old Library pub, Warwick Library, or Leamington Pump Rooms.

Moo is one of Leamington’s smaller clubs, and though not part of the holy trinity of Kasbah, Neon, and Smack, it is, nonetheless, an iconic venue in its own right. With its upside-down interior, in-and-out queue system, and deeply claustrophobic approach, this venue is an ideal place to cap off any good Saturday.

Queuing, whether it’s in Kasbah, Smack, Neon, or Moo, is an exciting, dangerous, and extended affair; sometimes it even outdoes the clubbing experience that follows

Neon is one of the most culturally significant places in the region, from its unique layout, iconic queues, and cultural monopoly on Friday night clubbing in Leamington, it is one of Warwick’s most celebrated places.

Oxbridge rejects will make up at least 60% of the people you meet at Warwick, so get ready for extended chats about how many rounds of interviews they had and which colleges they applied to.

POP! is the cultural lynchpin of Warwick life; once a week, students from across the University convene in the Copper Rooms for a night of drinking games, bumping into each other, and intense clubbing. The highest known record for most POP!s attended currently stands at 107; perhaps you can beat it.

Although a special shoutout must go to Purple, the undisputed champion of Warwick drinks, and a must for any self-respecting Warwick student on any half-decent Wednesday night.

Queuing, whether it’s in Kasbah, Smack, Neon, or Moo, is an exciting, dangerous, and extended affair; sometimes it even outdoes the clubbing experience that follows.

Rootes is Warwick’s most infamous accommodation. Party-central and with an enormous number of inhabitants, it’s generally considered the most action-packed spot on campus.

These iconic buses really pick their moments, often arriving when and where they please. Warning: the hours spent waiting for them may account for at least 20% of your time at Warwick

Skool Dayz is a bi-termly school-themed club night where you ‘act your age and not your shoe size’, and if you can ignore the creepy undertones of that statement, it’s an extremely fun night. With some top-tier Circling, an easy costume, and a great atmosphere, it’s a must for any Warwick student.

An honourable mention must go to shopping trolleys. Whole accounts have been set up to celebrate their wheelie torture, and you’ll be sure to see dozens of them adorning the campus lawns in Freshers’ week. I also couldn’t go without mentioning the Spirit of Sonic, a ghostly apparition, which reportedly haunts the Copper Rooms club night Sonic.

And how could I go without referencing Smack? One of Leamington’s finest clubs, this place has presumably hosted some of the greatest moments in the region’s history, most notably Stormzy winning a fight there.

Tea, more specifically Warwick Tea, is the go-to place for campus gossip, confessions, and hot-takes, a focal point of university life. These accounts have a rich history at Warwick and are as divisive as they are popular.

U1, the two most feared symbols in the English language, if you only ask Warwick students. These iconic buses really pick their moments, often arriving when and where they please. Warning: the hours spent waiting for them may account for at least 20% of your time at Warwick.

Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft is pretty popular as vice-chancellors come, and though he may claim a few too many expenses, he is generally considered a nice guy.

Westwood’s moleman, known formally as ‘the Westwood Moleman’, is a famous and historic campus legend. This mysterious cryptid dwells in Warwick’s most distant and comical accommodation, Westwood, reportedly hunting or mugging unsuspecting passersby.

Whether you’re sleeping off a hangover, through your 9am alarms, or with someone who hopefully isn’t your flatmate, sleep will be a big part of your university career

Xmas dinner is a staple in many a coordinated flat and is the perfect way to cap off a busy Term 1.

An honourable mention must go to Xanizabar, the Tocil pond god, an urban legend known throughout Warwick and the West Midlands. Xanizabar is supposedly a pagan ‘pond walker’. With roots in Celtic myth, he became a local icon and has gained something of a cult following among Warwick students as one of Tocil’s most famous and peculiar fixtures.

You, yes you. You are what makes Warwick special. (Can you tell I struggled to think of one for y?)

Zzzzzzz. Z was always going to be a difficult one, and while I could have gone for the Zeeman building or the zebra crossing outside the Co-op, I will follow in my predecessors’ footsteps and go with this. Whether you’re sleeping off a hangover, through your 9am alarms, or with someone who hopefully isn’t your flatmate, sleep will be a big part of your university career – just make sure you don’t get too much of it, these are some of the best years of your life, so make the most of them.