Durham

[mrsrhodgilbert]

I'd love to hear from anyone with recent experience of Durham through their dc. Dd2 loved it at the open day. As a fairly local state school pupil she is on their Insight programme. We are in Yorkshire. This is designed to help/encourage such students to apply not just there but to other 'good' universities. Her school, state but high achieving, think she is a suitable candidate and have a number who go each year, so have some experience.

I have looked through old threads and whilst there isn't a lot of information I am getting the impression that it is very public school. Presumably Durham think this themselves, hence the Insight programme. I think I saw statistics that quoted roughly 50:50 state/public entry.

So my questions, exactly what form does this public school influence take, I've read the term 'rah' and if you have a state educated child did they feel happy there? Similarly if you have a public school educated child, did they choose Durham to be among their peers?

Obviously the choice is hers, I've just heard some negative stuff and would hate her to feel excluded.

Well as long as you weren't the one who kept leaving pint glasses of piss in the corners of the dance floor... klute really was terrible but got a better job in the Swan - still best pub in Durham!
Sorry, OP, big hijack.

Aww, she will definitely be fine with that attitude. I had completely the wrong attitude - I was shit-scared of everything and everyone, and thought my roommate would be an instant best friend.

It took a cat-fight to fix me

Catkisser, we need some Klute gossip please. What was the most annoying thing about the drunks? Did you get hit on all the time?

No I didn't, rubbish!

dh once trophied Marys Bush while on a drunken rugby social .

Don't think I went on 2004. May have been at the boat club ball that year. ... Oh I can't remember. I think that was the year dh and I had split up. I went to something while very pregnant with ds1, can't have been a candlemass though as he was born in January.

OMG no need for that - the toilets in Klute were better than many other bars I've been in. Loveshack, for example, were dire.

Oh yes, The Swan is pretty. Genteel and an early evening stop, so not much trouble there! All the postgrads would haunt it.

The most drunk I've ever been was in Klute, but that wasn't because of the quaddies or Barbie Girl music - it was the homemade vodka punch my housemate and I experimented with beforehand, and then a quaddy.

If you ever found a shoe and a jacket that night on the dancefloor, it may have been mine! I bloody loved that jacket.

I heard a local once pissed on the bar and so all locals were banned from there for a few years.

Sorry, OP. this is an insider's view if ever there was one...

She sounds pretty awesome, she will be fine .

The nightlife in Durham confuses me now. There isn't supposed to be choice! You have klute or rixies. No alternatives. Though walkabout was there at one point. and actually since I took bloody ages to finish my degree love shack opened. But in my head there is still just klute and rixies.

I'm going with DD to the open day at Durham tomorrow so am curious as to what colleges are 'hill'. She wants to self cater so will look at Butler & St Cuthberts, any advice?
She's limited to Uni choice for course choice as wants to be close to home, we're in Yorkshire too, but has good a2 grades.
Bit concerned now as also state educated!

Ha! Is Mary's Bush some massive euphemism?

I never went to a Boat Club Ball but heard they were very good, along with Sportsman's Balls.

[is very tipsy, and gigglesome]

you had to be drunk to go to klute. It was the law. Then you had to go to the dirty shop.

Walkabout was utter shite. Rixies though I loved, and Studio was OK.

Right, Trevs, Collingwood, Van Mildert, St Aidan's, Grey, Mary's and Butler are 'Hill'.

The rest, except Ustinov (postgrad) are 'Bailey'.

Butler has very nice accommodation, and comparatively new. A very good bar, too!

The dirty shop, selling chips that were still frozen in the middle? Bllleergh, even the night I lost my shoe I was never drunk enough to enjoy their food.

Sugar quill - there's not a huge amount.

The biggest memory was the manager, Let's call him Andy, cos that's his name and I'm sure if you were a regular you know what he was like. wanker. Even though when I worked there it was student only, one night there were two older, non student guys in there who hung around the upstairs bar all night. Drinking "quaddy voddies" and being quite funny. At the end of the night, they gave me £20 and thanked me for a great night.
My delightful boss witnessed this and as soon as the men left stuck his hand out. Like a twat I gave it him. He always did this with tips - some of the rahs were very generous when pissed!

Could also mention the hygiene standards but wouldn't want to make you vomit.

Not that again the hill colleges if you look on the map are any that are off the road up to the science site so grey, aidens, marys, van mildert etc. but for self catering she is limited to butlers mainly as others are catered.

marys bush referred to the bushes they had planted all down the path.

I don't think many of the old Mary's jokes work so well now they have boys .

Nonotthatagain please don't have any concerns about the state educated thing. It's not a massive issue - it's so welcoming. I would say Cuths for self catering.

second that. It is lovely and welcoming. I love how small the town is, as a student you can't walk down the street without meeting someone you know and having a chat. makes you late for lectures though .

I'm loving the reunion going on on this thread

Cuth's is more central than Butler but at the same time close to the river, so just about 2 mins walk from total peace and quiet.

Omg catkisser- Klute! Blast from the past! Ashamedly, I broke the toilet seat in one of the girls toilets there, shagging my boyfriend on my 21st birthday! . We used to call it 'Klute foot' when you'd come out of there with black feet if you'd worn sandals or flip flops

I was at Aidan's up to 2002, lots of state school peeps there but I think still a bias towards public school. My boyfriend was at Hatfield and that was ridiculously 'rah'. I'm also quite sad to hear that it's done by random ballot nowadays.

iamapaleontologist- THE DIRTY SHOP! For cheesy chips!

Was Andy the same manager who got roasted for allowing the changes to Klute fairly recently?

Rebrand my ass. It didn't need it. I bet as a business manager, he was raking the profits in.

It sounds like it, if he was commandeering all the tips

I would imagine it's the same guy. Military type.
What changes have happened? I get the impression it's not longer student only... But in fairness, the students just aren't going out as much. Weeknight drinking is a thing of the past. No more Mondays in studio, etc! Fair enough really, as they're now paying 9k a year and can't afford to fuck it up!

Ooh another one I remember from Durham (parents of prospective students, don't read)

A certain DSU officer gave a presentation to freshens, I can't remember what it was on, and afterwards, left his laptop while he mingled. The laptop went to screensaver, which was his photo album... Cue the appearance of several photos of him snorting great big lines of coke. He dashed up in a panic and claimed his friends had been having fun with photo shop...

And finally I'm such a loser anyone remember the Van Milder shower Peeping Tom?? That one made the Sun!!

I've just found this review of Klute. I'm not sure whether to show it to dd or not .

That's a great review! The smell is second to none. Although they did end every single night by playing "Amore" which was quite pleasant. I will always associate that song with "thank fuck, I'm nearly done"

DS and most of his friends now live and work in London but were going on a stag weekend a few months back so decided to take an extra couple of days off and go to Durham for a Thursday night out. Apparently they went to one of their old haunts, found it empty, went to another, found that empty too so asked the barman where the "action" was these days only to be told that students now don't drink and party as much as they did so there is very little goes on in the week.

I think the increase in fees and increased competition for jobs has had a big impact on how much work students have to put in

Mildert were abseiling at my first DUCK formal in 2002, I'm afraid.

And yes, I remember Drillman, although I was in Deerness at the time - I lived on that floor of Tyne in my first year though. Did you ever hear the song??