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Uni of Leeds or Uni of Sheffield for student life?

I’ll be doing English lit. Both courses are good. I’m also interested in Journalism. Both unis have excellent student media. Both pretty affordable. But which one has the better student life?

Additional info: I’m not into D&B or the drugs scene which Leeds is known for. More into Sheffield's Indie rock, but there’s bound to be indie clubs in Leeds. I like somewhere lively.

Reply 1

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

Hi!

I can only speak from a University of Sheffield perspective, but I can tell you some of the things that are great about Sheffield re student life. 🙂

The SU here has been voted No 1 Students Union over the past few years in the WhatUni awards until 2024 and in 2025, the Student Crowd awards. It is a really active, popular SU and has lots going on, including clubbing nights on most evenings. They're really popular amongst students as student-only events, and have a different theme every night. We have 'Leadmill Fridays' at the SU which are mostly centred around indie rock music, which might appeal to you! It also hosts lots of gigs too (which happen prior to the club nights later in the evenings), so it's pretty good from a live music perspective.

Equally, the SU is busy throughout the day and has lots of study space and good food outlets to choose from. It also has it's own student bar which is open through the day and evening that serves food and does lots of different events ranging from quizzes to beer festivals.

We have lots of societies and sports clubs at Sheffield for you to get involved in. I didn't play any sports before Uni but joined a couple of sports clubs during Uni to start learning from scratch and it's definitely been a huge part of my Uni experience! You can check out the different societies and sports clubs here: https://su.sheffield.ac.uk/activities/find-student-groups

The Peak District is right on the doorstep too, so even if you're not super into walking, it's nice to go for a day trip, and the public transport routes are pretty good to get there and back too! I've found it's a really nice way to decompress with friends, especially with a picnic after exams in the Summer!

In terms of clubbing, there is The Foundry (student club) as already mentioned. West Street is full of clubs and bars, alongside Carver Street. There are other clubs dotted around the city centre elsewhere too, including Corporation which are good for Indie music. There are lots of new bars and clubs that seem to be popping up in Sheffield centre more generally, so there are lots of options! Sheffield has lots of great casual pubs in the student areas too, especially Crookes and Broomhill (which are near to Endcliffe village, a popular first year accommodation).

Outside of this, the food scene in Sheffield is great with lots of independent cafe's and restaurants- I've still not completed them all and I've been here 6 years! Cambridge St Collective ( a huge award-winning foodhall) has opened in the last couple of years and this is defo one of my favourites at the moment!🙂

I hope this has summarised a few bits about the student life at Sheffield. Is there anything you were particularly wondering about student life at Sheffield? Happy to answer any other questions you might have!

-Alicia, Final Year Medical Student + Intercalated BSc in Medical Research Sciences

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 2

Adz2042

Whilst I can't speak from experience having never gone to either uni, (went to Wolves), both Leeds & Sheffield are reasonably close by.
I would visit both. Go to the open days, speak to students who are studying there, speak to the lecturer's on the courses that you're thinking of studying, and put yourself in the shoes of a student - eg: fake going to a class, leaving the lecture hall, walking the corridors to the cafe, navigating the city centre, walking to the halls.
Imagine you actually study there, and if you feel like 'Yeah, I fit in, and enjoy this atmosphere', then you have a good idea whether that uni is for you.
If you don't enjoy it, or you get a weird vibe about the place, see how you felt at the other uni of choice.

If it helps, this is what I did when I chose Wolves. I did ICT, and for me, Wolves' IT building was within the main campus. I liked the fact I could leave the IT building, and be amongst all the students and the atmosphere of being at a university in a city centre. My other choices at the time were Staffordshire, Birmingham City Uni, Worcester and Coventry.
Nothing against the other uni's at all, but their IT buildings were nowhere near the city / main campus, and I knew that if I studied there, I would feel cut off from the rest of the uni 'lifestyle', I suppose.

Reply 3

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by Anonymous

I’ll be doing English lit. Both courses are good. I’m also interested in Journalism. Both unis have excellent student media. Both pretty affordable. But which one has the better student life?
Additional info: I’m not into D&B or the drugs scene which Leeds is known for. More into Sheffield's Indie rock, but there’s bound to be indie clubs in Leeds. I like somewhere lively.

Hi there!

I know you have heard from Uni of Sheffield, but after living here for three years I have some good insight into Sheffield as a city!

The nightlife in Sheffield is ( in my opinion) great! There are loads of great bars and clubs - I love going out on West street as it is one street full of bars and it is always busy and always full of students. Most are free to get in so it is always fun to go in and out of different places for the night and you always end up seeing someone you know! They have also just recently opened a Cosy Joes which I love as I love a bit of karaoke!

There are lots of other great clubs too. Unfortunately the Leadmill has now closed as I think you would have liked it, but I know they have merged some of the nights with the Uni of SU! In general the night life here is really fun.

There are also lots of great pubs too, and I love a pub trip. Around Broomhill/Crookes/Ecclesall Road there are loads of great pubs and a pub crawl around here is always fun.

I also like in general how green Sheffield is. We have Crookes Valley Park, Endcliffe Park, Weston Park, Botanical gardens all around 10 minutes from Uni of so this is always nice to know, especially in the summer when everyone is out having picnics/bbqs!

I would say the best thing to do is to go to the open days for both universities as this is how you will get the best feel for them and then see which is best for you. I am sure both are great it just depends which you get a better feel from!

I hope some of this helps,
Lucy -SHU student ambassador 🙂