Here it is, NME's Student Guide 2006. A guide to all the UK's major cities sits just to your right. Where to drink, eat, shop and watch bands. It's all there.
Alex Hoban is Music Editor of Impact
“You’d be forgiven for thinking that heading for Nottingham means heading for a punch up, given the constant media coverage. Sure, the locals get rowdy at the weekend, but they’re a minority in the face of an abundant leftfield culture that thrives within the city’s walls. A once-dormant music scene is now stirring with life and with loads to do and such a broad, open-minded student population, it’s the UK’s most pro-active city in which to socialise, study and squander that loan.”
University Of Nottingham
Contact: University Park, NG7 2RDWebsite: www. nottingham.ac.uk
Student Union: www.su.nottingham. ac.uk
Number of Students: 32,770
Boy/Girl Ratio: 40:60
Famous alumni: DH Lawrence, Matthew Bannister, Chris Hawkins, Nirpal Dhaliwal.
Impact
www.impact nottingham.comMagazine with a monthly circulation of 6,000 issues, which are distributed around the halls and campus. Priding itself on its pro-active approach to writing, its allencompassing editorial style offers a nesting ground for new talent that is entertaining and personal to Nottingham students, while never shying away from the grander issues. Anyone can get involved, just go along to the weekly meetings and pitch your ideas.
URN
http://urn1350.net/Broadcasting on 1350AM, the uni radio station prides itself on offering “the definitive soundtrack to student life”.
Ice Nine
9-13 Goose Gate, Hockley, NG1 1FE;tel: 0115 9580786
A modern day incarnation of the Old Curiosity Shop, this bazaar is filled with eccentric accessories. Who knows what you’ll find among those fluorescent bongs...
Selectadisc
19/21 Market Street, NG1 6HX;tel: 0115 9475420
The best place to exercise those podgy fingers of yours, you’ll be busy for hours flicking through the racks of bargain price albums and imported rarities at Nottingham’s Number One record store.
Forbidden Planet
19/23 Friar Lane, NG1 6DA;tel: 01159 484 122
Having trouble with the opposite sex? Give up and give in to your inner geek, then immerse yourself in FP’s bounteous trove of movies, Marvel and manga majesty instead.
The Pit & Pendulum
17 Victoria Street , NG1 2EW ;tel: 0115 950 6383
Arghhh! Goths! Everywhere! Nottingham’s spookiest hangout has incredible hangover-defying cocktails.
Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem
1 Brewhouse Yard, NG1 6AD;tel: 0115 947 3171;
www. triptojerusalem.com
Sod all that Robin Hood bollocks, if you want to get old school in Nottingham, go grab a historic ale in the UK’s oldest pub. See, drinking can be educational!
The Bag O Nails
60 Lenton Boulevard, NG7 2EN;tel: 0115-911 1060
Lively bar and the hub of offcampus student activity that attracts the bookish types.
LEICESTER
GigsCharlotte
8 Oxford Street, LE1 5XZ;
tel: 0116 255 3956
The Aliens, Bromheads Jacket and some appallingly-named tribute bands (AB/CD anyone?) are due up this term.
Club
Funky Penguin
Gravel Street, LE1 3AG;
tel: 0116 253 6232
The official De Montfort student night at Zanzibar returns in October. Like an 18-30 holiday on your doorstep, they arrange themed nights, promotions and bar crawls.
Shop
Silver Arcade
Royal Arcade, Silver Street, LE1 5YW
A bizarre collection of vintage shops, including the oddly named clothes shop, Well Gosh.
Food & Drink
Loaded Dog
144 London Road, LE2 1ED
Full of oversized games like Connect 4 and Jenga as well as an air hockey table. This is afternoonwasting heaven.
DERBY
GigsVictoria Inn
12 Midland Place, DE1 2RR
The Rifles! Enter Shikari! And the Antarctic Monkeys! All scheduled to appear here.
Club
Blue Note
14a Sadler Gate;
tel: 01332 295155
Massively popular with students and pretty clued up about their NME-esque indie hits so worth a visit.
Shop
Reveal Records
63 St Peters Street, DE1 2AB
With a huge catalogue of every genre imaginable, from ragga to IDM, and mail order via the website, as well as gig tickets, this is all you need in a record shop.
Food & Drink
The Brunswick Inn
1 Railway Terrace, DE1 2RU
A microbrewery with over 20 guest ales, you don’t have to be a connoiseur to appreciate.
Rescue Rooms Vs Stealth
Masonic Place, Goldsmith Street, NG1 5JT;tel: 0115 988 1889
The big one. Rock and rave go head to head every weekend in Nottingham’s biggest alternative club night until 6am. You’ll look like shit in the morning, but it’s well worth it.
Demo @ Blueprint
509-511 Alfreton Road, Radford, NG7 5NH;tel: 01159422050;
www.demoproject.co.uk/
Do your conscience a favour and get down to this charity monthly club night. Eclectic sounds in a peaceloving, Fair Trade atmosphere – keep smiling drunkenly and you’ll get along fine.
The Cookie Club
22 St James’s Street;tel: 0115 950 5892;
www.cookieclub.co.uk/
Three floors of entertainment. Wednesday nights are student indie nights and you know what that means – cheap drinks, fit people and the best chance to sweat the hair gel out of your crap scenester haircut.
Rock City
8 Talbot Street, NG1 5GG;tel: 0115 9412544;
www.rock-city.co.uk
A metal mecca in the 1980s, today the venue plays host to streams of cross-genre touring acts, from Primal Scream to Pendulum.
The Social
23 Pelham Street, NG1 2ED;tel: 01159505078;
www. socialnottingham.co.uk
The best venue to catch new bands, it’s a cosy place to meet people, although the bar is expensive.
Junktion 7
6 Ilkeston Road, NG7 3GE;tel: 01159116959;
www.junktion7.co.uk
Where ace local acts like The Grave Architects and Yo Chomsky! find their audience. Punk to funk to rock to rap, who cares what’s on the bill? You’re bound to have a great time.
Psyrex Soundlab
397 Hucknall Road, Sherwood, NG5 1FW;tel: 0115 841 3184;
Youth-friendly recording studios with a down to earth approach, that offers cheap rates for noisemaking students.
The Music Inn
28-34 Alfreton Road, Canning Circus, NG7 3NG;tel: 0115 978 4403;
www.themusicinn.co.uk
Independent music equipment store with a personal touch.
University Of Nottingham Band Society
Portland Building, University Park, NG7 2RD;www.bandsoc.net
If you want to form a band, here’s where you’ll find your bandmates: the Band Soc. Weekly meetings and dirt cheap practice rooms for hire, with this lot available you have no excuse.
Chris Urbanowicz, Editors
“Nottingham’s gone through a lot of changes over recent years. It always used to be a bit of a quaint, indie town. They’ve added loads of bars now though, I think there’s more bars per square metre than anywhere else in the UK. Also I think the whole girl ratio thing helped the student scene – in my day it was about five girls to one guy! The university’s one of the biggest growing ones. I left for three years to get a job, and when I came back it was had all changed. It’s quite compact – there’s a couple of cool areas, couple of chav areas, couple of quaint areas – so it’s easy to get your bearings.”
“When I lived here properly, I spent more time in The Social than I did on my own. The gig venue upstairs supposedly holds 200 people and it’s constantly packed. Always wicked gigs.”
“It’s the subsidiary of Rock City, but it’s a cool indie place to be. It puts on gigs, there’s a decent bar, and it’s a good place to go and party after work. They do great pizza as well.”
“One of those quiet, word-of-mouth places that no-one really knows about. Down an alley, up some stairs – it’s kind of a hippie place, but really nice.”
“Of course, you’ve got to go see one-time European Cup winners Nottingham Forest FC at their ground.”
“He’s a bit like early Beck. He appears all over the place, singing with a mini disc player and all his songs are about 40 seconds long.”
