Bath, Exeter and Leeds students - help please?

Hi, can you guys answer any of these questions for me? I've done a lot of research and reading online but I want honest opinions.

General questions:

-What's the nightlife like?
-How friendly are the people at your university?
-Is it LGBT friendly/roughly what % of the uni is LGBT? (Difficult question ngl)
-How big is the city? Does it ever get boring?
-How good is the general social life at your uni?
-What's rent

Hi, can you guys answer any of these questions for me? I've done a lot of research and reading online but I want honest opinions.

General questions:

-What's the nightlife like?
-How friendly are the people at your university?
-Is it LGBT friendly/roughly what % of the uni is LGBT? (Difficult question ngl)
-How big is the city? Does it ever get boring?
-How good is the general social life at your uni?
-What's the rent/living costs like?
-How easy did you find it to make friends?
-Are you satisfied with your course and the uni? An economics student might be more suitable for this question but any answers are welcome!
-How expensive is it for a night out?

Bath:

-How often do students go to Bristol? Be it day or night
-Does the small city life ever get boring? Might help to know that I'm from London so I'm used to a big city

Exeter:

-Is the campus small?

Leeds:

-How diverse is the city?
-Would you say the city is really large?

Thank you guys in advance! If there's anything else you'd like to add, please do so.

I don't go to University but I know Bath quite well. Bath is generally quite a boring place, and quite expensive. Although, it's quite a historic city if you like that kind of vibe. It's very touristy, so there's a few too many tourist shops for my liking, and the general shopping scene isn't amazing, certainly not a patch on Bristol. That being said, Bristol is around a 15 minute train journey, so that's a positive.

Bath is a small city, especially when compared Bristol, so it is easy to get around the City Centre, about a 10 minute walk from one end to the other. From what I'm aware of the student accommodation (Unite students) is a fair way out from the centre, so most students need to take the bus, unless you can be bothered for the long walk! I'm not sure whether that is for Bath Spa or not though?

There aren't many nightclubs in Bath, and I don't have much knowledge on the bar scene, but there are a few. The nightclubs aren't very big either, so bare this in mind. It's a "pretty" place and I must say I do feel quite safe in Bath, but other than that it's not an amazing city for students in my opinion, especially if you're after the buzzing social life.

I have heard Leeds is amazing for nightlife, and someone has compared this to Bristol as in the whole vibe of the cities are pretty similar. Bristol is amazing, so Leeds sounds promising.

edit: Just seen that you are from London, in which case you will DEFINITELY find Bath boring!!

I went to the Leeds open day and the city was great, pretty large compared to others i had been to. the campus is really good and the accommodation looked very good, lots of prices and choices to choose from.

Thank you guys in advance! If there's anything else you'd like to add, please do so.

Hi! I'm a Londoner who moved to Bath for university (Uni of Bath not Bath Spa).

You can go as often as you like to Bristol, it really easy and quick to get to by train and about an hour on a bus. I've gone their on a few day trips to do a few things you can't do in Bath like bowling. And they also have more diverse food shops in Bristol which has been a life saver (I'm Caribbean) especially when you can't find certain ingredients in a supermarket.

I'll be perfectly honest with you. I hated Bath when I first moved, I chose the university because it was one of the best in the country for my course and it offered a placement (I was actually choosing between Leeds and Bath). It took some getting used to and I did find myself feeling very claustrophobic and bored very quickly. There isn't as many options as London for sure but Bath has it's own unique charm which I now love. I'm on placement back in London and I do miss how easy it was to walk everywhere.


-What's the nightlife like?

Not like London, but tbh London nightlife isn't amazing. Way too crowded in central London and sleezy men grabbing everywhere eugh. There are several clubs in Bath and most if not all do student nights during the week. Most of the music is house/dance and takes some getting used to (was not my cup of tea, but now i'm like house every weekend). Moles is a more indie vibe, they do live music gigs sometimes and they also have a cheesy night on tuesdays, as well as old school rnb on wednesdays. Bridge is the go to on Mondays and Fridays, a mixture of house and rnb depending on the day you go. There's also zero zero, ponana's, komedia and khoosoosi (if doesn't get renamed for the billionth time) to choose from. There's also so many bars and pubs in town also which is great if you wanna have a chill one with some friends and some do student discounts.

-How friendly are the people at your university?

Everyone is really nice. It's a campus university so I really feel like there is more of a community feel as opposed to a university which is all spread out. There's plenty of societies and sports club to join and meet new people too.

-Is it LGBT friendly/roughly what % of the uni is LGBT? (Difficult question ngl)

I'm not sure what percentage is LGBT but the campus is very LGBT friendly, there are societies in place that you can join.

-How big is the city? Does it ever get boring?

Answered above

-How good is the general social life at your uni?

You get what you put in, and that's the same wherever you go. If you don't make the effort to socialise and join clubs/societies then you wont have a very active social life. That being said, there are tons of things to get involved with at uni and many clubs/societies organise socials so you can mingle and meet likeminded people

-What's the rent/living costs like?

As mentioned by someone else, Bath is not that cheap. I was paying £450 a month when living off-campus in second year. This was inclusive of bills. However, there is a Lidl in town which means cheaper grocery shopping. There is also a lot of student discounts around if you ask as most of Bath is full of students, especially during term time.

-How easy did you find it to make friends?

There was loads of things to get involved with at the university so I found it easy to meet people who I could click with. First year was a bit hit and miss, as everyone is new and wants to make friends with any and everyone. But by second year I knew who my real friends where and who I actually wanted to spend time with. Which I think is most of the case when you first join uni. You'll end up meeting loads of people but only click with a few.

-How expensive is it for a night out?

Most clubs entry is £3, however bridge is £6/7. Drinks are fairly priced except in Bridge where it's ridiculously over priced. Zero zero do £1 jaegerbombs on certain nights. So it can be a cheap night, especially if you pre-drink well prior.

Yeah, Bath is a promising uni with very good rankings but I'm quite worried about the size of it and being bored, especially because I get bored quite easily & I'm from London! The only reason why I'm still considering Bath (aside from academics) is because of how close it is to Bristol, which is why I was asking about how often students visit Bristol. I fell in love with Bristol the last time I visited, but I can't attend the uni because I don't have the required subjects. Thank you so much for your reply btw!

Hi! I'm a Londoner who moved to Bath for university (Uni of Bath not Bath Spa).

You can go as often as you like to Bristol, it really easy and quick to get to by train and about an hour on a bus. I've gone their on a few day trips to do a few things you can't do in Bath like bowling. And they also have more diverse food shops in Bristol which has been a life saver (I'm Caribbean) especially when you can't find certain ingredients in a supermarket.

I'll be perfectly honest with you. I hated Bath when I first moved, I chose the university because it was one of the best in the country for my course and it offered a placement (I was actually choosing between Leeds and Bath). It took some getting used to and I did find myself feeling very claustrophobic and bored very quickly. There isn't as many options as London for sure but Bath has it's own unique charm which I now love. I'm on placement back in London and I do miss how easy it was to walk everywhere.


-What's the nightlife like?

Not like London, but tbh London nightlife isn't amazing. Way too crowded in central London and sleezy men grabbing everywhere eugh. There are several clubs in Bath and most if not all do student nights during the week. Most of the music is house/dance and takes some getting used to (was not my cup of tea, but now i'm like house every weekend). Moles is a more indie vibe, they do live music gigs sometimes and they also have a cheesy night on tuesdays, as well as old school rnb on wednesdays. Bridge is the go to on Mondays and Fridays, a mixture of house and rnb depending on the day you go. There's also zero zero, ponana's, komedia and khoosoosi (if doesn't get renamed for the billionth time) to choose from. There's also so many bars and pubs in town also which is great if you wanna have a chill one with some friends and some do student discounts.

-How friendly are the people at your university?

Everyone is really nice. It's a campus university so I really feel like there is more of a community feel as opposed to a university which is all spread out. There's plenty of societies and sports club to join and meet new people too.

-Is it LGBT friendly/roughly what % of the uni is LGBT? (Difficult question ngl)

I'm not sure what percentage is LGBT but the campus is very LGBT friendly, there are societies in place that you can join.

-How big is the city? Does it ever get boring?

Answered above

-How good is the general social life at your uni?

You get what you put in, and that's the same wherever you go. If you don't make the effort to socialise and join clubs/societies then you wont have a very active social life. That being said, there are tons of things to get involved with at uni and many clubs/societies organise socials so you can mingle and meet likeminded people

-What's the rent/living costs like?

As mentioned by someone else, Bath is not that cheap. I was paying £450 a month when living off-campus in second year. This was inclusive of bills. However, there is a Lidl in town which means cheaper grocery shopping. There is also a lot of student discounts around if you ask as most of Bath is full of students, especially during term time.

-How easy did you find it to make friends?

There was loads of things to get involved with at the university so I found it easy to meet people who I could click with. First year was a bit hit and miss, as everyone is new and wants to make friends with any and everyone. But by second year I knew who my real friends where and who I actually wanted to spend time with. Which I think is most of the case when you first join uni. You'll end up meeting loads of people but only click with a few.

-How expensive is it for a night out?

Most clubs entry is £3, however bridge is £6/7. Drinks are fairly priced except in Bridge where it's ridiculously over priced. Zero zero do £1 jaegerbombs on certain nights. So it can be a cheap night, especially if you pre-drink well prior.

Yeah I think definitely from what you've just told me then, Bath isn't the place to be. I mean it's a nice place, but there's not much more to it, and it's quite snobby in my opinion. Bristol is a stones throw away to be honest, but the public transport link to Bath via bus aren't great for late night/early mornings, like if you were to go out clubbing in Bristol. Taxis will also be particularly expensive. I don't know much about the train links at these times, but when you're drunk the walk from the City Centre/Park Street is long and you probably won't be bothered or it'll take a very long time to walk there. Also, traffic in Bristol is so crap, in the day on the bus it could easily take 1.5 hours from Bath to Bristol and vice versa. Because of those points I have mentioned, I would probably assume that the journeys to Bristol may not be that frequent because of the s**t public transport. If you can afford the taxi back, and share the cost it would be less of an issue, but the blue taxi drivers in Bristol try to take the pi** when it comes to charging people, especially when they're drunk.

I'm sorry, I don't want to put a downer on the situation. But if you're after a vibrant city, with decent nightlife, Bath just doesn't come close to most other places.

Exeter, Awful! i always lived in big cities so Exeter was like a town. only one LGBT club which is more expensive than rest we went there thinking drinks will be cheaper (like london) rest cant tell u for sure. some posh people and so many wannabees. Devon is beautiful but people from Devon are very different, to say the least. depending on city i would pick Bath, its beautiful & is so close to Bristol and trust me living in that area u will need to go to Bristol a lot! hope it helps

I’m in year 12 but I’ve lived in Bath all my life so I can answer a few of your questions:

- Nightlife is alright, there are some good clubs but most people I know tend to go to London or Bristol

- As long as I’ve lived here (16 years), I’ve never heard any homophobic slurs nor have I heard of any city-wide support groups (there may be some in schools, there was one in mine), so Bath is pretty neutral. The people here are pretty conserved and polite and there are very little chavs.

- I personally find that the town (shopping centre) in Bath is really good and there is a MASSIVE variety of shops and resources and I tend not to go to Bristol or Swindon often unless I want to go to big stores such as Nike factory or Street.

- No, I have never thought that I wanted to move to a big city such as Bristol or Manchester. I love the ambience of Bath, it’s history and beautiful architecture and landscapes. I love living here and it honestly has everything you could need. Besides, it’s so easy to go to Bristol, just catch a bus which would cost like £4 to have an all-day ticket.

- I mean, I think renting would be more expensive here in Bath because it’s a generally more expensive city in terms of housing e.g. my four bedroom house costs £800K whereas my cousin’s four bedroom in Coventry costs like £350K.

I had my suspicions that Bath wasn't the place for me, but I guess I wanted to confirm with someone who actually lives there and I didn't want to arrive at any conclusions without trying it first. Both of you guys just saved me from a very expensive mistake, thank you! I guess I'm not after a large city like London but I also don't want to settle for some place tiny like Bath. Places similar to Bristol will probably be the best.

Thank you for your reply! I guess the expensive house prices are down to the fact that it attracts a lot of tourists. When people visit London for the nightlife, do they tend to stay here or..? How does it work? Also, I find it quite interesting how you consider Bristol a big city where to me it's a fairly small place, I guess it's down to where we've both been brought up.

If you have a gut feeling that you won't be 100% happy in Bath, don't go. Obviously the degree and the University you choose to study at is definitely important. But you are going to spend the next 3/4 years in this place, and the City Centre in Bath just doesn't have much too offer! Which is a shame, but it's a lovely place in other aspects.

I think give Leeds a second look. I used to work with someone from Leeds who went to Bristol for University, and they couldn't express enough how similar Leeds and Bristol are and how much they love it there as well!

Good luck!

If you have a gut feeling that you won't be 100% happy in Bath, don't go. Obviously the degree and the University you choose to study at is definitely important. But you are going to spend the next 3/4 years in this place, and the City Centre in Bath just doesn't have much too offer! Which is a shame, but it's a lovely place in other aspects.

I think give Leeds a second look. I used to work with someone from Leeds who went to Bristol for University, and they couldn't express enough how similar Leeds and Bristol are and how much they love it there as well!

Good luck!