30,863 discussions, 145 guides
Durham University
30,863 discussions, 145 guides
Durham University
The University of Durham
Old Shire Hall
Old Elvet
Durham
DH1 3AN
Tel:+44 (0)191 3742000
1832
Purple FM
The standard of Purple FM varies from term to term. It's quite good fun but people mainly tune in to hear their friends on air. The best offering from last year was during a political show when the DJ invited the head of the young conservatives and the young labour party to an on air debate. (slanging match)
Palatinate
Named after the colours awarded for sport at Durham, the newspaper comes out fortnightly. It has a rolling editorship but maintains a good standard all the time and contains news, ents details, scoops and scandals. It was recently judged best Varsity newspaper in the Guardian media awards. Beware though, there is quite a close community at Durham so the stories are likely to concern people you know or you!
There is also two sites worth ckecking out- one called Durham21 and the other called the Durham Shallot. Durham 21 is a very useful resource for freshers. The information is clear and well presented and there's plenty there to assuage fears before arriving. The union also claims that the website is used by students all year round for finding out what's going on at the uni and in Durham and Newcastle. Defintely worth the time.
A big science park, a new college and a postgrad hall of residence.
Jonathan Edwards - Triple jumper
Mo Mowlam - MP
Nasser Hussain - England Cricketer
George Alagiah - BBC Correspondent
Gabby Yorath - ITV Sports Presenter
Minette Walters - Mystery Novelist
Jack Cunningham - MP
Jeremy Vine - Broadcaster (BBC's Newsnight)
...and a pretty large collection of worthies.
Durham is split into 15 colleges. You live in college but most teaching is done outside. Realistically they are a glorified hall of residence but they do all have a strong individual identity. The collegiate system lends itself to a series of dull small bars which all try so hard to be interesting that they can't help but be bland. You'll probably frequent your own bar more often than not because it'll be the shortest walk. The sense of overall university identity seems better than at other collegiate institutions so Durham students get the best of both worlds in this respect. Although people are usually proud of their college and will cheer away at sports events, they will quite happily go elsewhere to drink and socialise.
There are basically two groups of colleges, Bailey and Hill. Bailey colleges are usually older and more pretty, wheras hill colleges are newer. (as in 60's) You will probably end up drinking in all of the bars, but some are a bit of a way away so should be reserved for bar crawls, which are quite regular.
University - The bar in this castle, founded in the 11th century, is called The Undercroft and is situated in the basement, or dungeons as some students prefer to say. It is a good size and is one of the best bars at Durham. As with most college bars it has a juke box and the usual bar games and it closes at 11pm, except on special function nights, which come around about 3/4 times a term. It's due for refurbishment in the near future.
Hatfield - Without a doubt the worst looking bar. Diabolical 80's diagional wooden slatting is the nicest thing we found to say about it. There is a famous raised corner though which is very popular with sports teams who drink themselves into a stupor and then light each other's farts. On student said, 'Hatfield is only good if it's the interval at the Assembly Rooms theatre over the road.
St Chads - A small and quiet bar that has murals of The Little Mermaid and The Simpsons all round the walls. Sofas are the biggest attraction aside from the converted S&M dungeon feel.
St Johns - Another small and quiet bar, much like St Chads often closed to outsiders.
St Cuthberts - The college is made up mainly of locals and mature students, so it's not quite as debauched as some of the others but the bar is lively and popular nonetheless. It offers the most pub-like atmosphere, the cheapest drinks, (usually) and absinthe, for those who like hallucinating. After exams, it's also open from 11am, as if being open from 1pm every day wasn't enough for the rest of the year.
St Aidans - The college on top of the hill is its popular name. It is pretty cramped but busy in the evenings. Not that many people go there as its a bit of a trek and all uphill.
Van Mildert - The bar looks like a 70's school gym. It also has the curtains to match. If you can pick your way through the crash mats and Mr. Gibson doing situps then you'll find a lively bar which has great acoustic jam sessions.
Trevlyan - An awful bar which is shaped like a hexagon. In fact the whole college is made up of hexagons. No doubt someone won an award for it in the 60's. Chairs are along the walls giving it the feel of a junior school disco. Be sure to use the phrase 'Oi my mate fancies you' then. To be honest outside of bar crawls or if you are actually at them, Trevelyan, Mildert and Aidans aren't worth going to unless there's an 'everything that was horrible about the architecture of the 1960s' revival.
St Mary's - An all girls college. In the first week all the girls go to the other colleges and all the boys come here looking for the girls who aren't there. After that's established it's dead for the rest of the year.
Grey - A very boring bar described as a 'dark hole.' Its also very poorly designed so getting served takes an age.
Collingwood - One of the best bars. It has a very 50/60's retro America feel to it with memorabilia to match. It's a good laugh.
Hild/Bede - It's just been renovated and looks like an innercity wine bar. Not for real ale drinkers. Its also a bit far away, being on the other side of town.
Kingsgate Bar - The SU bar is fun and friendly but given that people can drink in colleges it doesn't get as well used as it should. It also has the same licencing hours, closing at a measly 11pm. On the upside are the pool tables and fantastic barbeques on the terrace in the summer.
DUS Bar - A bar for the debating society members. It is pricey to join so you want some benefits!
Stockton Campus - Some 21 miles away this is a totally seperate site comprised of two colleges with its own union and facilities and might as well be a seperate university.
This is one of the disappointments of Durham. Most coleges organise small functions and theme nights and, although there are some at the union, they aren't all that well attended. The one major success has been Fridays with Planet Sound. This is a big disco night and is popular with everyone. Other than that Mondays and Wednesdays are quite large.
Colleges organise their own major social events. Those that are well managed get good acts and can count themselves along with other unis. St Aidans is particularly good and has played host to Shed 7, Terrorvision and The Lightning Seeds. Most balls start with a formal dinner.
Without a doubt the best is The Full Moon Society who run naked across the green every time there is a full moon. Don't worry, there are plenty of more mainstream ones to suit most tastes!
Traditional sports do well at Durham.
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Accommodation is provided in college and can differ greatly. University College aka Castle, has both the best and the worst accommodation. Moatside is bad, with more than anyone's fair share of damp and dinginess, but the prospect, however unlikely, of living in the Castle itself, and being able to eat in its ancient hall makes this college the most popular for applicants. Unsurprisingly it's heavily oversubscribed so don't set your heart on it. They have an arts week too which is apparently pretty good.
Hatfield College is the most Oxbridge-like college in look and feel; again the accommodation is variable. Rooms in the bailey, and part of the castle itself, are some of the best to be had at Durham but there's always the danger of being stuck across the road and thus stuck firmly in the concreted 1970s. The college is financially very strong and others are probably a little too ready to condemn it as all rah and no trousers.
St John's is a largely Christian establishment, although it is ready to emphasise that all are welcome. At times it's a bit too cosy and insular, it overcomes this with excellent facilities for drama and music that are well used by the whole university. Housed in a series of connected buildings it is a warren that is easily navigable with practice.
St Chad's College, with its impressive foyer, hidden quads and chandeliered dining room is another small college which attracts little attention despite being a bit special.
St Cuthbert's Society is a college in all but name, which benefits from extended bar opening hours and from a diverse mix of students. The only distinctive characteristic of residents is a slightly rah tendency. Most people live in large labyrinthine houses on the Bailey. Accommodation, which was once amongst the worst, is now patchy, but excellent in places. A word of warning however; this is the college where most rooms are shared. Balance this with the fact that it is probably the easiest Bailey college to get into, and it does have the best bar.
As Durham developed as a university and expanded in the 60's more colleges were built. Traditionalists attacked the drop in standards that brought about the new Hill Colleges, everyone else thought it was a great idea. These colleges contain some of the best accommodation in Durham; en suite, on line, comfortable and occasionally well-thought out. Though, some of these rooms do come at a premium. The story is actually fairly similar for all the colleges: Trevelyan, Mary's, Grey, Van Mildert, Collingwood and Aidans. Apart from their differing bars (see social section) they offer a range of accommodation, the best is probably to be found at Collingwood, the worst is fairly evenly spread. St Mary's is the all-girls college. It has various nicknames, none of which are polite, and more of which are inaccurate. Van Mildert has an attractive lake in the middle, but the hill colleges are all much of a muchness, with their character changing year on year.
Aside from all this, there is The College of St Hild and St Bede. This combination of two elderly colleges teaches loads of education degrees as well as the more conventional ones. Slightly out of town in a different direction, it tends to be quite a close community. There is also Stockton Campus which is down the road and has courses in Business Studies, Business Finance, Sport Health & Exercise, Psychology, Biomedical Science and Medicine among others. It's a bit weird as they overlap some courses with the main site so it is pretty independent and has a very different atmosphere, perhaps more appropriate for non-traditional students. The campus is formed from two colleges, George Stephenson College and John Snow College. As an addendum there's the Graduate Society, for graduates funnily enough.
There is also a new college opening next year called Josephine Butler. There will be more colleges and departments moving to Stockton in the future.
Generally students live in for the first year, out for the second and then return to college for the third. Finding accommodation in the city centre can be a little tough, so we advice that you leave plenty of time. However, the Students Union Accommodation Office can be very helpful in finding that dream house and should certainly be your first port of call.
For students who don't mind living a couple of miles from university, consider the village of Bowburn where there are plenty of houses and rents of around £35 - £40 per person, per week. To live centrally you will have to pay a lot. The Viaduct is a good area to look. Avoid the Sherburn Rd Estate.
Durham is one of Britain's most beautiful cities and a pleasure to live in. The University is a very big part of town and supplies a decent chunk of the local population. The locals are friendly and most students really enjoy being there.
With so many cheap bars in colleges the need to drink elsewhere isn't great. If you do then The New Inn is very popular. There are three nightclubs and all are dark sweaty holes, in fact Durham can rival Guildford as being the town with the dodgiest clubs in England. Klute is cheesy, has three floors and was recently voted worst club in Europe by FHM. Students love it, though. DH1, known in student circles by its former name, Rixies, has some excellent drum and bass and good DJs but a shit name. Café Rock is seldom open and best avoided if it is. All this criticism should be taken in the right way though. With a tongue-in-cheek attitude Durham students will happily queue outside to get in and in some there are queues to get onto the dancefloor.
On Fridays and Saturdays residents from nearby Newcastle often come up to Durham. This is a high unemployment area and Durham is a relatively posh uni so the flashing of money and plummy voices aren't looked upon amazingly favourably. All this basically means is that you should take the same care at the weekends as you would in any major city centre. It's not rocket science.
What's available is permit based, even when you rent a place in town. The city is small so its probably not worth bringing a car. They aren't really welcome in town either.
Durham students should never complain that they can't get access to a bank, because every major bank has a branch within a thirty second walk from the SU. In detail:
HSBC - One opposite the SU, one in the city centre NatWest - One "under" the SU, one in the city centre - the Market Place Barclay's - One opposite SU, one in centre Lloyd's TSB - One opposite SU, one in centre Co-operative Bank - One in the city centre Halifax - One on the other side of the river to the Market Place
Hearing and sight impaired students have some facilities and wheelchair access in colleges is not bad. Bear in mind that some of them are very old buildings though. The hilly nature of Durham doesn't help either.
There's a general shop selling stationery and groceries in the union. Anything more complex will have to come from the local area.
There are two branches of Waterstones in the city, one of which specialises in academic titles.
Absolutely everything you could ever need. Pitches and courts for all sports. Sport is taken pretty seriously and there is plenty of money about. It would be quicker to list what there isn't. A climbing wall. There you go.
A nightbus but nothing else.
Being such a compact city there aren't huge expanses of green. The area around Durham is quite countryfied though and is made up of loads of small villages. There is a green in the city centre.
Well over a million books. There are four main libraries and various college and department collections. Access is good.
Facilities are either in college or in computer rooms. Access and numbers are fine until dissertation time when you might need to camp out to get a machine.
A student health centre and a stack of counsellors make up the good welfare facilities. Anyone would think they were expecting things to go wrong!
