What do Outsiders Think of St Andrews’ Nightlife?

Caroline Judelson responds to Bristol’s stereotyping of St Andrews.

“What Everyone Actually Thinks About Your Uni’s Nights Out” is an article published by The Tab, in which students from various universities express their opinion on the nightlife of others. Despite its comical approach, the article questions how much students from other universities can really know about St Andrews when they haven’t experienced the Bubble for themselves.

Out of the forty-four universities featured, it is no surprise that St Andrews was painted as the “posh” school.  A student from The University of Bristol reviewed St Andrews nightlife as,

“Very, very posh with lots of balls and fashion shows full of fit people. Everyone buys champagne with Daddy’s money and gabs about golf. They all wear gowns, tail coats and laugh like ‘hoh hoh hoh hoh.’ Someone is always playing a violin in a corner while everyone talks about their parents’ family farm and the newest Barbour range.”

Photo: St Andrews Charity Fashion Show

While events such as FS and May Ball confirm this stereotype of St Andrews, the Bristol student reviews it in a negative light. Little known to those outside of St Andrews, events like these are charity events aimed at raising money for an extensive line of good causes. The student’s comment fails to mention other highly respected events thrown at St Andrews such as On The Rocks, which is the largest student run arts festival in the UK.  Nor does it have any mention of the average week-to-week events thrown here, such as the much loved Sinners and the BOP.

One third-year St Andrews student commented, in reference to the article, “much of the nightlife at St Andrews does seem to be repetitive as there seem to be fewer and fewer places to go to as my time here has gone on.”  The closure of The Lizard, and the replacement of Ma Bells Tuesdays with Truth at the Vic, confirm this statement.

Photo: Alive Campus

The main places to go seem to be the Rule, the Vic, and, of course, the Union.  While it is true that these venues tend to get repetitive, one second year St Andrews student expressed that “the launch parties for some of the big events at St Andrews, such as Don’t Walk and Szentek, mix up the average night at the Vic or the Rule.”

Since our community is part of a small town, and not a city like Edinburgh, one cannot expect to find many big nightclubs or bars.  There is something pleasant about a pub night with friends or cooking dinner for your academic family.  St Andrews is also academically challenging and students are not expected to go out every night of the week.  But what is true is that no matter what day of the week it is, there are bound to be people out and about; partying in ways very different to the stereotype laid out by this Bristol student.

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43 thoughts on “What do Outsiders Think of St Andrews’ Nightlife?

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