Lancaster

I expected somewhere more like York and I was most disappointed.

It is fantastic, lots to see and do, great pubs, good for students (the Uni Campus is unbeatable), within easy reach of the lakes, Preston and Manchester for shopping and Blackpool – tacky but wacky

I have lived and worked in Lancaster for four years now. It’s not a bad place to live, though the night-life and shops are not brilliant. It’s in a great location though. If you climb up to the castle and priory, or to Williamson Park you can see the Lake District Hills, and if you go 5 miles out of the city to the east you can be in open fell country with views across to the Isle of Man, South to Wales and East to the Pennines. If you want great shops, Manchester is an hour away by train.

Lancaster has quite an alternative ethos, with a couple of very nice alternative and vegan food shops and cafes, and some great real-ale pubs. It has suffered a bit over the years from lack of jobs and investment, but is trying to regenerate now, and the university seems to be expanding all the time.

Nice shops, lovely architecture. And Williamson Park is fantastic!

So i wouldn’t recommend coming here for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s cold and it’s wet 24/7. The city centre of Lancaster is fairly primitive, although it has the usuals such as New Look, Topshop, Boots, Bay Trading etc., they’re all on a fairly small scale so shoppping in Lancaster can get a bit dull after one or two trips. There are no decent music venues, The Sugarhouse is probably the closest we’ve come with Ordinary Boys playing here recently and The Coral expected to play this month…(however, they’re not exactly the most exciting bands this country has to offer!). Secondly, as you probably know this place often smells because of the exceptional number of fields around (but if you like that sort of scenery then I guess you could do worse than Lancs). Lancaster university is ok. If you can get accomodation in Alexander Park then you’ll be better off than if you took residence at one of the older colleges. However, if you want to party hard and relax during your first year DON’T COME HERE! You’ll have to take three subjects in your first year, which from personal experience i can tell you is time consuming and ridiculously boring. However, if you think you can juggle 3 subjects and still have a good time, Lancaster does have a pretty good nightlife with this being a densely populated student town and the people are friendly. But there are definitely better places you could be, so make Lancaster more of a last resort.