Talking about university life with my older sister, who went to University in the early 2000s, made me feel like a bit of a square, and like my social life at Uni has been pretty tame in comparison. House parties and club nights seem to have defined her three years and while this will ring true for many of today’s students, I have found myself on half-empty dance floors a few too many times.
It’s quite possible that my sister looks back on her uni days with rose tinted-glasses: the Sugarbabes, the launch of Facebook, and dawn of crazy frog overshadowing the memories of dissertation stress. But The Mancunion article written by Anna Marsden also hints at a decisively playful student voice in the paper with content geared towards nightlife. Papers from the late nineties and early 2000s contain date columns, club-night photos and tongue-in-cheek commentary.
Similarly, there has been a whole host of social change affecting student habits in the last twenty years, and with the advancements of technology and social media, this change is likely more so than any other generation.
After deciding that my social life wasn’t just sad, I was left wondering how different Manchester student night life was 20 years ago? How far have our lifestyles changed? Why do my friends do the park run together, Strava and Linkedin dominating the social sphere, and why have I made hummus … twice?
To undertake such research, I completed a very rigorous, very legitimate data collection investigation by turning to Reddit to ask what social life was like as a student in Manchester in 2005. I got over 100 replies, with half cursing me for reminding them they are old (sorry, millennials).
I have therefore been able to piece together an image of a night out in Manchester circa 2005:
Step 1: Organise in person or through MySpace.
Step 2: ‘Dress like you are going for a job interview’. You won’t be let into clubs in a t-shirt and trainers, so get a white shirt ready for people to stub their cigarettes out in the club.
Step 3: Pre-drinks at home or in town. Reddit users noted there were more clubs and ‘a lot less bars and restaurants’ in the city. However, you could find The Friendship Inn, Courtyard and The Garrett as student hotspots back then too.
One person wrote: ‘I remember once getting a bit arsey when [The Garrett] raised it to £1.80 a pint’. At Bar Rogue you could get a 99p pint on Fridays. And doubles were usually £3. One user writes you could get away with spending £10 all night.
Step 4: Stick to Oxford Road and Gay Village. Avoid walking through Ancoats which was ‘absolute shambles’ and there’s not much point going to the Northern Quarter was pretty quiet.
Step 5: Head to the clubs: ‘Ritz on Monday, Club Trop Tuesday, 5th Av Thursday, Jilly’s Friday. Student life rocked.’ Dance the night away to the popular rock or indie soundtracks … listen to the current 42s playlist for the first time around.
Step 6: Taxi home
Fast forward to 2025, what has happened to these places and students willing to frequent them?
Social Media
‘People weren’t glued to their phones’ writes one of the Reddit commenters and this was a sentiment carried through many of the comments.
Having received a video of myself dancing in 42s I know how self conscious the presence of phones can make you. Seeing myself singing along a bit too enthusiastically to Sam Fender put me off clubbing for the foreseeable.
Abi, a student, recalls people videoing their friends kissing people at the club: ‘Who wants to see that?! For whose benefit is that video?!’ she exclaims. No one wants to see that.
Were nights out better when you could dance like nobody was watching and knew nobody was recording?
Academic pressure
Concern about your digital footprint feeds into increasing worries about academic performance and job prospects.
While statistically unemployment has not risen significantly between 2005 and 2024, testimonies reveal people are finding that having a degree feels like it is no longer enough to get roles that they qualify for. With this pressure more students may fill their time with more CV friendly pursuits than weekly trips to Factory.
Similarly, home students pay over three times the amount as students did in 2005, placing greater emphasis on making university study ‘worth it’.
Health trends
Anyone with an Instagram will have recently fallen victim to the assault of marathon content. Just one strain of the various health trends and growing popularity of wellness culture.
The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) recorded that between 2022 and 2023, employment in licensed clubs declined from 88,300 in 2022 to 68,200 in 2023. Jobs in sporting venues and gyms, however, increased from 409,900 in 2022 to 452,800 in 2023.
Crucially, amongst this turn to health is the increase of young people going sober. YouGov surveyed alcoholic consumption and found 44% of 18 to 24-year-olds consider themselves to be either occasional or regular drinkers of alcohol alternatives, up from 31% in 2022.
Of course there is nothing wrong with this, with the increasing awareness of mental health we know a walk in the park is much more beneficial than a three day bender. But there is nothing wrong with the odd party night too to lift your spirits.
Cost of Living
Much of this alcoholic abstinence is brought by financial pressures. Today, a pint for £1.80 would be a sign you have had one too many and read the card machine wrong.
A 2024 customer survey by the NTIA found that 52% of respondents cited changes in financial circumstances as impacting how often they go out, highlighting the effect of the UK’s cost of living crisis on nightlife. 37% indicated that lower drink prices would encourage them to go out more frequently.
The end of clubs?
Unfortunately the stats support this decline in nightlife. The NTIA reported that from 2013 to 2024 the number of nightclubs in the UK halved from 1,700 to 787. If this pace of closure continues there will be no clubs left by 2030.
Eddie Odudu co-owner of Mcr Lounge spoke to the BBC and said ‘I’m not scaremongering but the rate that they are closing this year, if it keeps going at that rate, that will be it. RIP nightclubs.’
This closure of underground clubs, grassroots music venues, and arts centres will cause a significant decline in the cultural economy.
So, yes, it is very likely that student nightlife has declined since 2005. Comparing my student social life to my sisters seems to be a sign of shifting student culture orientated towards health and fitness, but also due to financial and academic pressures.
While I may be at risk of romanticising the past, I’d like to advocate for a balance of both lifestyles. I think today’s students need to be reminded not to take life to seriously. There’s still value to throwing shapes on a spontaneous night out with friends as there is in the homemade hummus and hyrox classes … What’s stopping you from Strava-ing a night out anyway?
