It’s official: All 16 college bars ranked from most to least expensive for the 2024/25 year

Keen to work out which college bars would be the cheapest for a bar crawl, The Durham Tab collected data for the prices of six different drinks in every college bar. The six drinks are: The cheapest pint, a pint of Guinness (or equivalent), a 750ml bottle of wine (for formals), a standard double and mixer, a VK, and the college drink (in the case of multiple college drinks, the most popular).

These six criteria account for the most popular drinks in college bars, and should be a strong indicator of how far your money goes in each bar – to define our rankings, all six prices are added up to a combined total.

Not all colleges serve pints of Guinness – St. Chad’s and St. Cuthbert’s serve Camden Stout, while South serve Forged Irish Stout (they do also have Guinness cans). John Snow and St. Mary’s serve 500ml tinnies with nitro surge, and St. Hild & St. Bede serve regular 500ml tinnies without nitro surge. It’s also worth noting that many colleges only serve bottles of wine for formals, so you won’t necessarily be able to go in and buy one.

The results show some large discrepancies between colleges – the cheapest comes in at almost half the price of the most expensive, and the notion that bailey bars are more expensive has largely been put into question. Anyway, here we go, from the most to the least expensive.

16) St. Aidan’s: £35.30

£4.90 for a Guinness, £3.00 for a VK, an almost completely empty bar and you can’t even chop. Not a good showing from Aidan’s. The only saving grace was the cheapest pint (badger lager) being an alright £2.80.

15) Josephine Butler: £34.80

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Jobo has been a little bit shafted here by its wine clocking in at a much higher than average £16.50. Excluding this, the prices weren’t too bad: £2.60 for the cheapest lager, £3.90 for a Guinness and £2.60 for a VK. Bonus points for genuinely friendly bar staff who accommodated us, despite a busy postgrad formal taking place on the night.

14) St. Hild & St. Bede: £34.75

Hild Bede’s bar has temporarily moved to Rushford Court with the rest of the college, setting up in a barquee style similar to Grey a couple of years ago. Drinks are on the pricier side, and Guinness is unfortunately only served out of a can, but friendly bar staff and a large social space make up for this.

13) Van Mildert: £33.50

Cheaper than most for pints, more expensive than most for anything else. At £3.60 a pint, this is a good place to go if you like Guinness. The bar was also absolutely buzzing for a Monday, with great décor and plenty of TVs making for a top drinking atmosphere.

12) St. Mary’s: £33.10

Mary’s renovated bar is awaiting a health and safety inspection, meaning that for the next few weeks drinks will be served at a temporary bar. Moretti at £2.70 is an absolute steal, but £4.80 for a double and mixer is far more expensive than most.

11) Trevelyan: £32.90

Pretty much the opposite of Mildert – much worse than most for pint prices (the only college without a pint below £3.00), decent for everything else. £3.50 for the college drink is probably the best value on the menu, £4.20 for a double and mixer isn’t dreadful either.

10) Castle: £32.55

£2.65 for a Birra Murano isn’t bad, but that does mean you have to drink Birra Murano. Worth noting that Castle don’t actually serve full bottles of wine, but a 375ml bottle comes in at £6.50, meaning that a whole bottle would cost you £13.00. Brilliant maths from a history student.

9) Hatfield: £29.50

I apologise for the bad photo, but it’s difficult to get a good snap in a place that looks like an airport lounge. Hatfield has a pricey cheapest pint at £2.90, but performed strongly in other areas with a VK costing £2.55 and a college drink £3.75.

8) Stephenson: £29.00

Stephenson scores the third cheapest pint at the uni, with a George’s Goblet costing £2.50. A Guinness at £3.80 is perfectly reasonable, and a wine at £11.50 is much better than most. Slipped down the rankings largely due to a £4.50 cost for a double and mixer, but fairly consistent across the board otherwise.

7) Collingwood: £28.55

Slightly worrying that I don’t have a picture of my own college’s bar, but Collingwood has performed well nonetheless. £2.60 for a pint is very good, and £11.00 for a wine is even better. The bar only places as high as it does due to the college drink costing £4.85, which feels fair when considering that only Hild Bede’s college drink has more units of alcohol. Bar staff also have the best chat in Durham.

6) Grey: £28.50

Grey has the cheapest VK on the hill at an impressively low £2.30. While the next two hill bars score slightly cheaper overall, due to their further distance from town and lower variety of pints on draught, Grey seems like the best hill college to have a long pre’s session at.

5) South: £28.40

Not the best selection of beers on tap, but what it does have is very fairly priced. Double and mixer comes in a bit expensive at £4.75, but £3.20 for a Forged Irish Stout and £2.50 for a VK more than makes up for it. South also appears to have kept prices consistent to last year, a difficult task, and deserve a lot of credit for the effort being made to improve their bar turnout and college culture.

4) John Snow: £27.85

Technically speaking, the cheapest college bar on the hill – however, it must be remembered that the £3.10 Guinness does only come out of a can. Great bar staff who served a large queue in quick time and a very cheap wine at £11.00. If you’re up at the top of the hill, this is probably the place to go.

3) St. Cuthbert’s: £26.70

We’re now approaching the territory of genuinely cheap bars. Good atmosphere and service, cheap pints (£2.60), and it’s managed to reduce the price of some drinks this year. As ever, a very good spot to kick off a bailey bar crawl. Worth noting that these prices are for the Bailey Bar, I would assume that the Parsons Field site has similar prices but cannot guarantee it.

2) St. John’s: £24.40

The first of two independent colleges, St. John’s has a little more autonomy over how they operate than other college bars. £2.40 for an Amstel is superb, and premium pints such as Neck Oil are reasonably priced too. £8.50 for a wine, £3.60 for a double and mixer, and £2.40 for a VK are all absolute bargains.

1) St. Chad’s: £18.60

I would love to know how Chad’s is this outrageously cheap – I still can’t get my head around a bottle of wine costing £5.00, but I suppose that’s what having your own cellar offers you. Chad’s is also home to a two-floor bar, and is widely considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing drinking spot in Durham. Durham’s smallest college also boasts cheapest pint at the uni in the form of a £2.20 Theakston’s. Easily the best boozing spot on the bailey, no debate about it.

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