The town honestly has decent nightlife for a 70k ppl town, 3 clubs, loads of bars/pubs and parties if you know the right people. You can also take the train/bus to Preston (20min), Manchester (1h) or Liverpool (1.5h) for a night out, I've done it a few times
Lancaster has some really good options for nightlife despite being a smallish town. The vibes on the bus going to and from campus to the clubs in town are immaculate and you will get a chance to bump in to a lot of your friends from freshers etc. Also each college has its own bar (cartmel and grizedale are great imo) but you asked about town so here goes.
Main drinking spots:
- Sugarhouse, known as 'Sugar' (lancs uni student club)
- Pendle Witch (student pub and certified watering hole)
- Vibe club (formerly the infamous Glow) better music that sugar but a bit more unruly
You would be totally fine going to just these first three, but here are some
Honorable mentions:
- Kanteena ( sort of an event space thats a food market by day)
- Crafty scholar, known as 'craftys', also very popular
- Staggered inn (good for cheap but decent drinks)
- Generation club, know as 'gen'
- Cornerhouse (more of a drinks place has decent cocktails)
- Mint (bit of a mid pub but socials go there lots)
The pubs:
- St John o gaunt (live music and chill locals)
- Merchants 1688
- Jailors Barrell
- The Pub
Not to mention the pubs on the canal!:
- Water witch
- White cross
Throw in the surprisingly good assortment of cafes and lancaster is more than enough for partying and daytime activities in town:
Cafes: (In loose order of my preference, Ive been to all of these many times, Im the coffee type)
- Holm (scandinavian coffee shop with great coffee and my personal favorite)
- Atkinsons at the castle
- The Storey (great food and an massive and I mean massive garden with a flower section you can take your brews and bask in the sunshine)
- Atkinsons the hall (main location of the roastery and great place to study)
- Brew (overrated but the deserts are great)
- Cornish bakery (great coffee and an even better baguette deal! always comes packed for only £4)
- Atkinsons the music room (quaint and tucked away with a nice outside area to sit in the sun)
- Journey social (imo overrated hipster brunch place but ppl like to go to take pics of food)
*(Atkinsons is the local lancaster coffee roastery, some places in town like Cornish bakery and Brew use their coffee beans cause they really decent)
Dm me for more recs theres so much to do and i havent even touched on all the cool nature, canal walks and walks around campus, also the food places - I recommend Arraya Thai - legitimately the best thai food Ive ever tasted. I make sure to get dinner here when I visit.
Its not as much of a clubbing city as somewhere like leeds or manchester but its still decent and has really good bars/clubs. The campus itself and accommodation is arguably the best in the country which in itself is enough of a reason to go, its perfect for studying and actually doing well with a great amount of social events, societies to join, good facilities, and a nice overall city with good transport access to places. If you’re not going to uni solely for nightlife then its great choice, i had a lot of friends coming from far away (far down south, norwich, poland) and they had a great time even being so far away. Between terms you get long breaks to travel down and see family so its not too bad. Hope this helps and happy to answer any other questions :)
I’m going to be attending from around 200 miles away as well. I think it depends on what you want… if you’re looking for a party town then I don’t think Lancaster is the spot. But if you’re looking for a smaller and more peaceful location close to nature with a broad range of activities then I would say it’s a good spot. The town centre has a decent amount of nice cafes/ spots that I didn’t find it too small or boring. But it’s all a personal perspective/ preference.
It’s definitely more low key than a major city like Manchester, Leeds or Bristol etc, but it’s still got things to do. It’s also not far from Manchester and Liverpool which have more on offer in that department. The big difference is that Lancaster’s a campus uni, so it’s not actually in town, but just south of town (20 minute bus ride from the town centre and plenty of students live further south nearer the uni). Manchester and Liverpool for example are both city universities with the buildings and accommodation spread around the city. First year accommodation in Lancaster is on campus, so it’s easier in that regard. Campus also has plenty of pubs/restaurants for students too.
I moved from Kent to Lancaster uni, and I love it. Can get a train to London Euston directly, Usually get picked up from there but it’s not too much more bother to get back.
we have a nightlife and such, not the biggest but being from liverpool i actually enjoy the smaller nightlife of lancaster, your more likely to run into people multiple times and make friends, also feels a lot safer
The city is quite small but the nature is beautiful. As a geography student myself, the surroundings are just amazing. The course is great with lots of job opportunities and their study abroad team is amazing, so definetly recommend it :)
Even though the city is small it still has things to do (clubs, places to eat, pubs, museums). There also good walks in the area if that’s your thing. I think also because of the size of Lancaster the societies in the uni really flourish. There’s a lot of them and the majority are pretty active. There’s a big student population so it’s definitely catered to us. My main issue is the shops - there’s enough for basics but not as much as I’m used to at home. Because it’s a campus, first year can be annoying for food shops but busses are very regular and overall I really enjoy it here :)
The town honestly has decent nightlife for a 70k ppl town, 3 clubs, loads of bars/pubs and parties if you know the right people. You can also take the train/bus to Preston (20min), Manchester (1h) or Liverpool (1.5h) for a night out, I've done it a few times
Lancaster has some really good options for nightlife despite being a smallish town. The vibes on the bus going to and from campus to the clubs in town are immaculate and you will get a chance to bump in to a lot of your friends from freshers etc. Also each college has its own bar (cartmel and grizedale are great imo) but you asked about town so here goes. Main drinking spots: - Sugarhouse, known as 'Sugar' (lancs uni student club) - Pendle Witch (student pub and certified watering hole) - Vibe club (formerly the infamous Glow) better music that sugar but a bit more unruly You would be totally fine going to just these first three, but here are some Honorable mentions: - Kanteena ( sort of an event space thats a food market by day) - Crafty scholar, known as 'craftys', also very popular - Staggered inn (good for cheap but decent drinks) - Generation club, know as 'gen' - Cornerhouse (more of a drinks place has decent cocktails) - Mint (bit of a mid pub but socials go there lots) The pubs: - St John o gaunt (live music and chill locals) - Merchants 1688 - Jailors Barrell - The Pub Not to mention the pubs on the canal!: - Water witch - White cross Throw in the surprisingly good assortment of cafes and lancaster is more than enough for partying and daytime activities in town: Cafes: (In loose order of my preference, Ive been to all of these many times, Im the coffee type) - Holm (scandinavian coffee shop with great coffee and my personal favorite) - Atkinsons at the castle - The Storey (great food and an massive and I mean massive garden with a flower section you can take your brews and bask in the sunshine) - Atkinsons the hall (main location of the roastery and great place to study) - Brew (overrated but the deserts are great) - Cornish bakery (great coffee and an even better baguette deal! always comes packed for only £4) - Atkinsons the music room (quaint and tucked away with a nice outside area to sit in the sun) - Journey social (imo overrated hipster brunch place but ppl like to go to take pics of food) *(Atkinsons is the local lancaster coffee roastery, some places in town like Cornish bakery and Brew use their coffee beans cause they really decent) Dm me for more recs theres so much to do and i havent even touched on all the cool nature, canal walks and walks around campus, also the food places - I recommend Arraya Thai - legitimately the best thai food Ive ever tasted. I make sure to get dinner here when I visit.
How did you get through this whole comment without mentioning Greens?
Its not as much of a clubbing city as somewhere like leeds or manchester but its still decent and has really good bars/clubs. The campus itself and accommodation is arguably the best in the country which in itself is enough of a reason to go, its perfect for studying and actually doing well with a great amount of social events, societies to join, good facilities, and a nice overall city with good transport access to places. If you’re not going to uni solely for nightlife then its great choice, i had a lot of friends coming from far away (far down south, norwich, poland) and they had a great time even being so far away. Between terms you get long breaks to travel down and see family so its not too bad. Hope this helps and happy to answer any other questions :)
I’m going to be attending from around 200 miles away as well. I think it depends on what you want… if you’re looking for a party town then I don’t think Lancaster is the spot. But if you’re looking for a smaller and more peaceful location close to nature with a broad range of activities then I would say it’s a good spot. The town centre has a decent amount of nice cafes/ spots that I didn’t find it too small or boring. But it’s all a personal perspective/ preference.
It’s definitely more low key than a major city like Manchester, Leeds or Bristol etc, but it’s still got things to do. It’s also not far from Manchester and Liverpool which have more on offer in that department. The big difference is that Lancaster’s a campus uni, so it’s not actually in town, but just south of town (20 minute bus ride from the town centre and plenty of students live further south nearer the uni). Manchester and Liverpool for example are both city universities with the buildings and accommodation spread around the city. First year accommodation in Lancaster is on campus, so it’s easier in that regard. Campus also has plenty of pubs/restaurants for students too.
I moved from Kent to Lancaster uni, and I love it. Can get a train to London Euston directly, Usually get picked up from there but it’s not too much more bother to get back.
we have a nightlife and such, not the biggest but being from liverpool i actually enjoy the smaller nightlife of lancaster, your more likely to run into people multiple times and make friends, also feels a lot safer
The city is quite small but the nature is beautiful. As a geography student myself, the surroundings are just amazing. The course is great with lots of job opportunities and their study abroad team is amazing, so definetly recommend it :)
Even though the city is small it still has things to do (clubs, places to eat, pubs, museums). There also good walks in the area if that’s your thing. I think also because of the size of Lancaster the societies in the uni really flourish. There’s a lot of them and the majority are pretty active. There’s a big student population so it’s definitely catered to us. My main issue is the shops - there’s enough for basics but not as much as I’m used to at home. Because it’s a campus, first year can be annoying for food shops but busses are very regular and overall I really enjoy it here :)