Freshers week is underway at the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan and the University of Salford.
First-year students from around the country have descended on the city hoping to kickstart their new university life with welcome week activities and freshers’ nights out.
With three big universities in Manchester, there is no shortage of student nightlife and plenty of things to do outside of the lecture hall.
We asked Mancunians what places they recommend to students on a budget and what advice they have for people starting university in the city.
First-year students from around the country have descended on the city hoping to kickstart their new university life with welcome week activities and freshers’ nights out.
With three big universities in Manchester, there is no shortage of student nightlife and plenty of things to do outside of the lecture hall.
We asked Mancunians what places they recommend to students on a budget and what advice they have for people starting university in the city.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 "Just get out as much as possible, because when you're in your mid-30s you're not getting
00:04 out that much, so just ruin yourselves now."
00:08 Freshers' Week is underway at the University of Manchester,
00:13 Manchester Metropolitan and the University of Salford.
00:16 First-year students from around the country have descended on the city,
00:20 hoping to kick-start their new university life with Welcome Week activities and Freshers' Nights Out.
00:27 With three big universities in Manchester, there is no shortage of student nightlife,
00:31 and plenty of things to do outside of the lecture hall.
00:35 We asked local Mancunians what places they recommend to students on a budget,
00:39 and what advice they have for people starting university in the city.
00:43 "I think Manchester as a city centre is as safe as so many other places in the world, so
00:49 just enjoy it. The student quarter has got quite a buzz to it, hasn't it?
00:56 There's some nice, cheap places to eat, and then there'll be plenty of socialising associated with it."
01:02 "Can't go wrong with a bit of Nando, I personally think.
01:05 And then there's also some really great places near Northern Quarter.
01:09 Obviously with the cost of living crisis at the moment, I do sometimes kind of suss out the
01:13 student areas as well, just because I like to go out and have a socialise every now and then.
01:16 Manchester's a great city for it anyway, so there is quite a few, but I know there's a
01:19 few pubs, especially in Manchester, that do some student offers every now and again.
01:24 I've got a place where I work actually called Urban Playground, so adaptation of the Cube Live TV show,
01:29 and I also have Tech & Fuse Mini Golf as well, so that's a good thing to do on a day off,
01:36 a little gathering for friends.
01:37 I think that Manchester is a very diverse city. I think it's very open and very loving.
01:43 Obviously I think that people really thrive here, wherever you come from, whoever you are.
01:49 Obviously we have a very, very huge queer community here, which is good for anyone that's
01:54 kind of living in a small town, as I think the queer community at the moment is very, very
01:58 demonised a little bit, I think, especially trans people.
02:03 So I think if you are coming here as a queer person, personally, I think this is the best city
02:07 for you to come into, because you find a lot of people who are very much like you, and then
02:11 there's a very much like a variety of other people who will help make you find yourself, basically.
02:16 You speak to me, I don't really go out that much.
02:19 So I would say just network with like-minded people.
02:23 The best thing to do is, nowadays we're in the technical age or technology age,
02:29 just use your phone, use your apps, go into different groups, whether that's a Facebook
02:33 group or different other kind of platform group, just to speak to people.
02:38 The main thing is just literally just speak to someone, a human being, and just say,
02:42 "Hey, this is my name, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm studying," and just meet people.
02:46 Bars, restaurants, you're spoilt for choice. There's great places in and around Manchester.
02:51 Walk absolutely everywhere. Explore the northern quarter and now Ancourt,
02:55 because it's all happening over there. There's loads of great food places in Manchester,
03:00 so if they're out and eating tons, then it just supports the small businesses, doesn't it?