Things to do in Stoke on Trent on a Friday night

[Elephant14]

What delights can SoT offer me and my 17 year old DD as we stay in Travellodge or similar, on a November Friday night prior to the Staffs uni Stoke on Trent campus open day?!

We live a v.long way away, train too expensive, drive on day too long and tiring, plus this is one we are really interested in so I thought yay get a £40 room stay over night, have a nice meal and look round the town - after all DD may end up spending 3 years there. I've been looking around the campus on Google earth images or whatever you call it, and it doesn't look promising.

So it will be dark and cold, I will have the car, hoping to arrive late afternoon what can we go and look at? Where should we eat? Tell me there is a thriving arts quarter, restaurant scene and cafe culture? Or whatever, I can take it (not sure DD can though!!)

Get out of there as soon as you can?

I second puppymonkey - get out of there.

Oy, I live in Stoke on Trent and its not that bad!!

Staff Uni campus is near Stoke and there is definitely not a lot there, a couple of nice Indian restaurants and a pub or two but not much else.

You need to head to Hanley which still isn't really the thriving arts quarter, restaurant scene and cafe culture that you mention but is about the closest that you are going to get.

Piccadilly is getting quite good now, you can try The Quarter cafe/bar, that's quite nice. There are a couple of other independent eateries and a couple of craft beer placed down there. The Potteries Museum is also located just off the bottom of Piccadilly.

Nom is not bad for food or there is The Hive which has your usual chains, Nando's. Frankie and Benny's, Coast to Coast etc.

There are a few pottery museums nearby, Emma Bridgewater factory is probably closest to where you are going, if that is your type of thing.

Sorry Hilary , I still have nightmares about getting lost there one sad winter’s night - we must have gone round in circles for two hours with all those bloody bridges taunting us about how we’d never be able to find the proper exit.

I'm scared now.

Sorry Hilary! I too still have nightmares, moved out of there when I was 18, hated it and would never go back apart from seeing family.
For the evening you are better heading to Hanley, there’s now some nice restaurants in the Potteries Centre. Not a lot to do on the evening though.

Don’t be daft it’s fine!!

Which travelodge? We can direct you from there! There are several!

Quality Hotel? Premier Inn Hanley? Holiday Inn Express?

All highly recommended on Trip Adviser.

Can my daughter live here though? If its that dire? No wonder its got the cheapest student accommodation out of all the places we are looking at!!

Sit in a dark room with a bag over your head and wait til it's all over.

It is NOT as bad as some posters are making out.

I wouldn't stay at the Holiday Inn Express, that is a bit far out. The Quality Hotel is OK but I would probably go for the Premier Inn Hanley, just down the road from the Quality but newer and more modern.

As for your daughter, it's only 40 mins on the train to Manchester if she feels the need to escape for a bit

Actually just had a look and I’m guessing you are staying on the one on the A34.

In which case for your one night I would head into Newcastle under Lyme which is near there. Several nice restaurants (do you want recommendations? If so what type of food?). In the daytime NuL is a nice, small town with street markets on certain says (flea and usual!).

In terms of her living arrangements and the campus location there isn’t much other than student land, no! As said stoke itself has some good curry houses, a big Sainsbury’s and a scattering of shops but not much else. The main shopping is a bus ride away in Hanley with all the usual suspects (primark, river island, etc) and all the new restaurants (Nando’s, chiquitos, pizza express, etc)

I also grew up nearby and left as soon as I was 18 because it was a terribly boring place to be as a young person. I also go back as rarely as I can. This was 18 years ago though but I doubt things have significantly changed.

She will meet friendly people and she could have fun at the uni with other students, but the area suffers from a lot of poverty, and not much to do without going all the way to Manchester.

See what's on at the New Vic?

Cry?

Oh yes, N-u-L is a different beast entirely, it's a nice little town.

It's not that Stoke is dangerous as such, it's just really run down, ugly and the general vibe is of insularity. And I love provincial towns.

Actually, maybe 'love' is going a bit far. Just trying to say I'm not a Hoxton wanker.

I'm going with the Premier Inn and we will hang out in Hanley, it thats feasible. I am also going to make 100% this is the relevant course for because it sounds like crap guys, to be honest, it actually sounds even worse than the nearest crap town where we live. There are only 4 UK universities doing the exact course she needs - Stoke, Leeds Arts, Teeside and Stirling, and she doesn't want Teeside or Stirling so we are looking at Stoke and Leeds Arts. We got advice from a professional forum (very niche subject) and they all recommended Stoke, I'm going to hop back on there and say "are you sure?!"

Oh dear!

If I had to choose between Leeds and Stoke I would choose Leeds every time, so much more to do. A miles better art and culture scene by far!
What’s the course?

Seriously OP, get her to choose Leeds.

Don’t know that university but the city is bloody great. I lived there when I was at Leeds Trinity (Or Trinity and All Saints in old money ) 30 years ago.

Oh god, if it's a choice between Stoke and Leeds then there's really no contest - Leeds wins hands down!! Stoke really is a wee bit grim, tbh, whereas Leeds is an awesome place to study and live. So vibrant, with masses going on! I reckon if you visit both places, she'll soon see that Leeds would be the better bet...

Eat an oatcake.

Waving a little flag for Stirling 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 - absolutely beautiful campus uni, amazing sports facilities and pastoral care, plenty of stuff going on in Stirling for students, and also really well connected to Glasgow/Edinburgh. Beautiful countryside a stone’s throw away... everyone I know who went there loved it. Food for thought hopefully.

I went to uni in Stoke (graduated in 2004) and loved it. I had a limited choice of unis for other reasons and going there was definitely the right choice.

Which course is it? And another vote for not ruling out Stirling...it's a fantastic university in a beautiful location.