We asked a Brookes graduate what our uni was like 35 years ago

Pandas running for SU president and 50p pints


Turns out, my mum went to Oxford Polytechnic 35 years ago (before it became Brookes), so we found out what it was like to be Brookes in the 80s.

What was a night out like in the 1980’s?

A lot happened at the main Headington campus. We had bands in the main hall and discos in the SU bar. We’d sometimes frequented the cocktail bars of Oxford city Centre, Raoul’s on Walton St & The Duke of Cambridge, Little Clarendon St. Eating in Browns restaurant on Woodstock Road.

There was a lot of being pushed back up Headington Hill in shopping trolleys, trying to crash discos at the Oxford colleges, five legged fancy dress pub crawls for rag week, toga parties (animal house, the most excellent film had been out a few years). We didn’t do much on Cowley Road area as there wasn’t anything much there.

Rag week, 1983. Outside the Sinclair building.

Cowley wasn’t there?

There were two very dodgy Indian restaurants. That’s about it.

What were the prices like at the time?

Rent was £20 a week, and a pint was about 50p. The SU ran a night called 50p Bops. I don’t really remember much else.

How was the SU back then?

The Student Union was fairly active, it had an office by the SU bar. It was bit left wing, lots of supporting the miners strike, not buying food from South Africa. There was lots of scandal about whether it was watered down beer sold in the SU bar (I’m fairly convinced it was). They held discos in the SU bars.

We tried to get a stuffed Panda elected once. He did quite well, was represented in hustings and everything. We were eventually asked to withdraw but we did quite well.

Ladies and gentlemen, your new SU president

What were halls like back then?

There were very few halls and they were tricky to get into. Cheney (think it was smaller), Morrell (now non-en suite Clive Booth), Lady Spencer (Wheatley). No such thing as an en-suite at any of them. We had fun. I was at Wheatley for a term and a half. Made some good friends there. Lots of bed hopping. Too many people sleeping over in a room. Drinking too much, sitting around discussing the meaning of life. I don’t think that has changed too much. Untidy.”

How about drugs in halls?

I stayed away from that scene. I was aware of some people smoking weed, which made them idiots. It wasn’t too prevalent with my gang. Obviously there was some stuff going on.

The drug trends have changed over the years.

They sure have.

Is there anything that hasn’t changed?

Sinclair is still there, but with the main hall gone not really. Do you still have RAG week?

What’s a RAG week?

My God you’re missing out. It was like Fresher’s but happened in the middle of the first term, and you raised a lot of money for charity. Seven legged races, pub crawls, that kind of thing.

What was getting around like?

Most students walked or had bikes. Some had cars. Then the Sloan rangers handbook came out & suddenly Oxford poly got very popular (think made in Chelsea types) student car park full of Golf GTis, students who had better cars than the lecturers. I had my mums old mini for a couple of terms.

Any thought on rising tuition fees?

I graduated with no significant student debt. A boon for getting on the housing ladder!

Actually I graduated with no debt at all, but it makes me sound too boring.