A guide to UCL’s favourite nights out
Obviously Loop made the cut
Your university experience brings many struggles: trying not to max out your overdraft, trying to eat the odd vegetable, trying to pretend you like people in your flat. One of the real challenges, however, is trying to figure out what nights out are on when. Thankfully, we’ve created a brief guide to some of UCL’s favourite club nights.
Roxy
Roxy is alway’s a UCL favourite, and there’s literally something on every night. Whether it’s your back up plan when you don’t get into Sports Night on a Wednesday, or you’re a bit skint and in need of £1 entry on a Thursday, there’s never a moment that Roxy doesn’t suit. The underground club is tiny and the bouncers are aggy AF, but you can get sick pitchers and loads of drinks deals…. so who’s the real winner?
XOYO
If you’re into music that you’d only ever here on Rinse FM, then a Tuesday night at XOYO is the place for you. Right next to Old Street station in Shoreditch, the club has two dance floors and a bass that registers on the Richter scale. Like any other club in London, it’s definitely worth smashing the pre-drinks before heading in because drink prices can eat up most of your maintenance loan and then some. The only downside to XOYO is that the smoking area is really small and can best be described as a rooftop alley-way, complete with a queue in order to get in- that’s right you have to queue to smoke here.
Loop
Ah, Loop. The legendary host of UCL’s sports night. If you like terrible cheesy music and terribly arrogant “athletes”, Loop is where you need to spend your Wednesday. The club is home to the world’s stickiest dancefloor, covered in splatters of cheap jagerbombs and sheer amounts of sweat. Despite this, queues that are borderline dangerous they’re so rowdy seem to congregate every week, so make sure you get there in plenty of time.
The Nest
Based in Dalston, an area of North London that gentrifies by the minute- Nest is renowned for its quality dance music. Tickets aren’t too expensive and finishing at 3am on a Thursday is never a bad thing. However the club is an underground basement and being quite popular with many students, its worth getting there a little bit earlier to avoid queueing for ages and potentially getting turned away at the door- which is kind of depressing.
ULU
With Fabric long gone (RIP x), there’s only one better place to spend your friday night: ULU. The University of London Union may seem a strange setting for a club night, but when drinks are a couple of quid and the music’s hilariously bad, there’s no excuse not to make an appearance. With the night finishing at a petrifying 2am, some consider a trip to ULU more a pres than a full on night out. However, for the faint hearted, it’s pretty good if you’re in need of an early night.
Fire
The only time most UCL students venture south of the river is to hit the late night clubs, and Fire on a Saturday is always a winner. A night out at the Vauxhall-based club is the type of experience that leaves you questioning what day it is and how you ended up in your present mental and physical state. By far one of the best things about Fire are the heat lamps and sofas in the smoking area- seriously a work of genius.
Egg
Probably the closest you’re going to get to a Fabric night out. Entry is pricey, often £20, but you’re guaranteed a lengthy night of good music with Friday night’s ending at 7am. If you’re really keen, you can sort out a student membership to the club (lol) and save yourself a fiver on tickets.