It is certainly no secret that university students enjoy a drink – but the question is; are we hitting the pubs or the clubs?
Whilst sober social events are now widely available, the majority of students who have left home and are away from the judgemental eyes of their parents are keen to make the most of their freedom.
Whether you fancy just one or two a week or consider yourself to be a king of the sesh, university students and alcohol is about as common a mix as vodka and coke. Despite this, the age old question of whether students prefer pubs or clubs still garners much debate.
My opinion on this debate has changed over time. As a fresher starting university still in my teen years it seemed to me that the majority of my friends and acquaintances preferred frequent trips to nightclubs per week.
The initial buzz over having the freedom to do whatever you want with your time often takes over the mind of new university students.
Personally, I was always keen to make the most of my new found freedom, and what better way to do that than staying out as late as possible at a nightclub in town.
As time has gone by however, I have found that the tastes of both me and my peers have changed. Now a more relaxing evening of conversation and alcohol at a local pub seems far more appealing. I wanted to see if this was the case for many other students, so I decided to do some research.
I was keen to ask as many people as possible about their thoughts on this matter. Luckily, people were more than happy to help.
‘Generally I prefer pubs, but this has changed from when I started university,’ said third year student Katie.
The verdict from third year student Charlie was: ‘I’ve always preferred pubs, even in first year.’
This was also the view of Ellen who stated she much preferred pubs as a third year student, while one student, Seth, said: ‘Clubs are too hot, sweaty and expensive. You can’t really enjoy yourself, and men trying to act like an alpha pushing into you makes it difficult to have fun.’
Certainly quite the damning indictment of the nightclub scene all students supposedly love. This was also the view of many students in their first and second years and even the students studying beyond undergraduate degrees.
For the majority of students asked the quieter and more sociable atmosphere of a pub is preferable to the high adrenaline atmosphere of a night club.
What surprised me about the answers is it didn’t seem to make a difference what year people were in – from freshers students straight out of school to students studying for PHDs, the conclusion to the research was clear: it’s all about going to the pub.
My theory about students’ tastes changing as time goes on seems to be flawed, but it would seem pubs are the main choice for students right now.
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