Night Life/General living/Going out

I'm from just outside of Leicester and the nightlife is pretty average. I mean it's alright but I'd personally expect better for a city of it's size. Granted when You're with the right people, pretty much any night can be good and leicester has plenty to offer in particular with small music venues in my opinion, Firebug is ace. In truth it's just the bigger clubs that let Leicester down and the fact it can be a little quiet sometimes. I never really go out on student nights nor am I a student in Leicester and students might give different perspectives and tell you more student centric things. I don't think you'd be too disappointed by leicester (depending on what you are used to) but it's nothing special. Now I have friends at uni in Birmingham, I go there much more than Leicester and it is far better but I guess that is to be expected. Nottingham is also a fair bit better than Leicester despite being a similar size. So obviously if you fancied something different then those two cities aren't far away if you really wanted.

Any other questions on Leicester then just ask

Well I live in Cambridge which has not got a good nightlife at all so anything can be better really.

Is Leicester big then I had the impression that it is very small, especially the city center. Which I do like I am not really someone who wants to go to a big city for UNI my top 3 choices are quite on the mall scale, Leicester, UEA and York

When it comes to going out I don't just mean clubbing because while that is fun I always find it becomes boring overtime so is it possible you could give me more info on the music, events going on, maybe live shows and so on as well?

I guess it is quite subjective because friends of mine have told me Nottingham is terrible for nightlife and have to travel on the train to some of the bigger cities such as Manchester and Leeds because the nightlife there is much better.

Yeah sorry I rushed it a bit last night without thinking.

Well I'm never sure what you actually class as the city
centre, I mean by day the centre is focused around the Highcross shopping centre and clock tower but you could argue it stretches up to the train station but yeah I guess it's not that big. It's bigger than York and Cambridge but I wouldn't know about Norwich cos I've never really been. In terms of population, Leicester is the 10th biggest city in the country and 2nd biggest in the midlands(I think) but I wouldn't say it feels like it. The main first year accomodation is in Oadby which is on the outskirts, about a 20 minute bus ride into the centre.

There's no big venues for the big acts so they all go to Nottingham and mainly Birmingham. You do have the O2 academy which is also the students union I do believe. Kasabian did do an intimate homecoming gig there and The Courteeners are there tomorrow
Then you have De Montfort Hall which has a range of things on. You get some music acts there, for example Paloma Faith is there tonight. You also get a few comedians and some shows as well.
The Curve theatre is the main place for shows in Leicester. It gets quite a few west end shows that are touring but also has smaller productions as well as a couple of comedians.
The Phoenix is a small cinema and theatre kind of thing. It's basically a place where arty people gather for arts stuff aha.

Leicester does have a decent smaller music scene in my opinion. That obviously depends on what music you like. Firebug is the best in my opinion, a decent bar anyway and can be really good when some acts are there. Foals and Frank Turner have been there in the past and it does get some decent national touring bands as well as local. It is mostly indie/alternative/rock. The Musician is similar and has a real mix of acts and genres. The Shed is good for upcoming acts mainly from around the midlands, Kasabian often played it when they were starting out. Basement Bar has more urban, hip-hop acts etc.
It all depends what music you like, there are plenty of small music venues in Leicester but I would say it is mainly geared up for indie/rock or acoustic single acts but there are definitely places for other kinds of music it's just I'm not entirely sure on them myself.

If you're in to sport then obviously you have the football and rugby. But Leicester also has a decent basketball team, a useless cricket team, an elite league speedway team and there's also the racecourse for horse racing

As for events, well the diwali festival is the biggest outside of India and is really good. Brings the whole city together with plenty to do and lots of food and a great atmosphere. Really worth going, especially as a group of students. Also the comedy festival every february/march is great. As for other events, I can't really think of many as most are summer things which students aren't around for. Glastonbudget festival would be right at the end of term but I can't think of anything more at the moment. There's always plenty going on in Leicestershire particularly from March onwards but I'm struggling on things that go on in the city itself, oops.

Thanks for the reply. In total from this amazingly detailed post is that it is a great choice for me. Seems to me there are a lot of things to do but it is also a great city for relaxing as well since the bigger events are in larger cities.

I love the cultural vibe of the city when I visited and the city center as in the shops and things was nice. As for the student village it is in a really nice area and I loved it.

Because I am from Cambridge it would be weird for me to go to a massive city such as Manchester and Leeds because it would a difficult readjustment. Leicester felt like a bigger and more exciting Cambridge especially due to culture and everything.

The music scenes seem quite good and I like the smaller music events.

But thanks for the reply it has made me decide that it is not as naff as everyone makes it out to be.

Can a current student give a relatively detailed understanding of the night life and other activities available.

From what I can see is that Leicester is a very friendly place to live.

It is quite small which I like but I am a bit worried that this means that the nightlife is not good.

So what is it like?