With nine on-campus bars, it should be a matter of fact that Lancaster has all of the right places to go for a drink with friends, a game of darts maybe, or to catch up on some work. With each college having its own bar offering a unique service, quirks and drawbacks, it is only inevitable that some will be more popular than others. Fylde comes out on top when it comes to sporting events, and Grizedale’s claim to fame is hosting some of the best cocktails on campus. And no doubt we all have our favourite, but which, as a uni, do we frequent the most? Which make the most money, and which fall slightly shorter? Well, the operating surpluses for the 18-19 academic year can tell us just that.
It’ll probably come as no surprise which comes out on top. The bar with coveted food, every sporting event you could want, and plenty of spaces to either work or chill, Fylde beat the rest with over double the surplus of second place. With a surplus of £26,713, almost half of the £68,951 overall surplus campus-wide, The Mill is loved by students and staff alike.
One student, when asked about Fylde bar, said, ‘The atmosphere during match day is unbelievable, many an hour is spent with friends there.’
Second up is Grizedale, the cocktail hosting bar. With its food not being such a selling point as is for some of the other bars, Grizedale’s surplus £12,976 last year says a lot about its cocktails. Another one loved by students for its chilled out music and bar sports.
Following on from Grizedale is Graduate bar whose surplus was £10,070 last year, and
After that comes Barker House, the home of the Sunday Roast on campus, with relaxing music and a Starbucks right next door. The food is always a win, and the comfy sofas and homely feel create an atmosphere unlike any other space on campus, and despite being down on South campus, it is often a hit with everyone. Yet, it falls quite low with its surplus of only £6,175.
Tiny Trevor came fourth from bottom with £2,077, but many would put this down to size rather than bar quality or what it offers. The bar itself offers one of the broadest range of gins and other spirits, as well as the standard beers and soft drinks, but the lack of seating space and overall room size might explain why its surplus is only 8% of Fylde’s.
The bottom three surpluses then must be Pendle Rooms with £1,950, Bowland with £1,034 and Lonsdale with £948.
These values are as close that we can get to a ‘profit’ by definition because they don’t take into account overhead costs such as space and utility charges. However, they do give us a good idea of where we, as a university, go for our need for socialisation.
