How costly is living in Glasgow?

A recent article from the The Tab found that Glasgow was the ninth most expensive university city in the UK and second in Scotland.

A graph in the article shows average monthly night out prices in Glasgow are the most expensive in the UK and I beg to wonder how this has changed since I was in Glasgow only two years ago.

Housing and Bills

To give you a run down, the last time I rented a flat, long-term from a landlord in Glasgow was in second year (thanks miss Rona). It was a two bedroom flat, just across from Paesano’s and it cost me about £445 a month to rent. Bills were, of course, much cheaper now than before but that’s a given (thanks Putin).

Now, after a recent search on Rightmove, a two bedroom flat in Glasgow is over £525 a month. I had SAAS and that would never have covered me for food and bills and rent? How do they expect students to afford this?

Nightlife

So, my friends and boyfriend would argue I’m a bit of a lightweight. My usual spots were Beer Bar (obviously), Bank Street, Hillhead Bookclub and sometimes Grosvenor Cafe. If I remember rightly, back when I was in third year (three years ago) a Pint of Fun was £5.25. I couldn’t ever have over three if I had a hope in hell of remembering my night and not getting into precarious situations. I’ve now heard that a Pint of Fun costs you a whopping £5.75. That’s almost a bottle of cheap wine, which would potentially get you slightly more intoxicated and avoid a vodka hangover, however a Pint of Fun is HIVE and Beer Bar tradition and you’ll never NOT have one.

In terms of general nightlife Glasgow came first which in comparison to London and Edinburgh I’m quite shocked about. My top tip for nights out in Glasgow is to pre HARD and then find student nights and you know, HIVE Thursdays are great value for money 😉

Transport

I suppose one of the really good things about living in the West End is the fact that you don’t ever need to get public transport to get to classes. You are always a maximum forty minute walk away (if you live in Maryhill) and if you live in the middle of the West End you can walk into the city centre if the weather is nice. The subway is also not that expensive but why would you want to go into the city centre when the West End is so nice?

If you have any stories you want to share about nights out, experiences flat hunting or about your experience of rising cost of living prices then please send us a message @thetab_glasgow on Instagram.

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