- Bars:
- Here's where Newcastle uni gets quite tasty. Along with the fact that the city has a pub and club scene to rival any of the UK's big cities, the Union Society provides some excellent facilities for the students. Where many city unis will sit back and complain that it's just too hard to compete with a buzzing local area, Newcastle's union works very hard to ensure that it remains one of the students' preferred venues. There are several independent venues in the main union building which is located, as is pretty much everything, on one site in the centre of the city. The Bassment is probably the most important. During the day it acts as a meeting spot for students where they can get together for café style fayre, in the evening it plays host to a range of different functions. With a capacity of around 1200 it can handle major events and live acts, including the famous Real Ale Festival.
On the first floor there are two bars. The Cochrane Lounge is a non-smoking bar and on the same floor is the Mens bar. As I'm sure Newcastle union staff get tired of stressing, it's not just for men, the name comes from the university motto. This is really the focal point of the union and students will often meet here before a heading on to functions in The Bassment or a night in town.
On the very top floor there is The Global Café, a smaller venue but still popular. There are also tables on the roof in a sort of pseudo-beer garden effort.
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- Functions:
- Thgere are a range of functions at Newcastle and here's the pick of the bunch.
Wed - Traditional sports night for clubs
Fri - Classic cheese
Fri - (In a seperate part of the Union) Drum and Bass
Sat - Eclectic, a mixture of different types of music as its name suggests
Newcastle also runs Global Warming every Friday afternoon where aspiring DJ's have access to equipment to show what they are made of. Although other unis do provide a good platform for DJ talent, few seem as organised as Newcastle. This is an excellent idea and worthy of a big gold star from us.
Licences during the week run to typical pub hours with 2AM on Fridays. The local council are pretty compliant so extensions are common.
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- Major Social Events:
- The Union plays host to several major social events. Arcane is an all-nighter run once a term and always sells out. Universal is a straight friendly Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual night on every month and Turbulence is a club night, mostly playing dance.
The Daddy of all functions however is the Graduation Ball. It is normally held in nearby St James Park with pre-drinks in the union. Where Newcastle differs from other unis is that this includes a sit down dinner. It is much smaller than most grad or summer balls but a fair amount classier. The down side is that with a capacity of just 1000 many of the graduating students will miss out.
There is talk of putting on a larger function but there are very few venues big and convenient enough to take the numbers.
Whispers across the Tyne/Tees area have suggested that an ultra-function involving students from the 5 big North East unis might come to fruition but this is likely to be some time away and, let's face it, a total bastard to organise.
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- Clubs & Societies:
- Traditional sports such as tennis, hockey, football and rugby all do well and The Boat Club punches well above its weight. Durham provides the derby opposition and, although a very traditional uni with a strong and established boat club, Newcastle have taken the odd and extremely satisfying victory from them in recent competition. The uni also boasts a couple of top skiers and a creditable ski club.
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