Not going to lie, but are we taking it a bit far with pre-pre-drinks?

Pre-drinks are understandable, but pre-pre?


As a student of not just Newcastle, but England, you naturally assume your role as a heavy drinker at least some point in your university career. In fact we are so renowned for our excessive drinking habits that we are now not only known for “pre-drinks” but now we face “pre-pre-drinks”.

This phenomena has always been around, it’s just that nowadays we’re millennial enough to give it a name. Perhaps it is just another cog in the mysterious machine that is a student night out. Another piece of the unsolvable puzzle of why night after night, even if we promise ourselves we will, we fail to pace ourselves.

As if you’re going to turn up sober at, what is essentially just someone else’s kitchen, listen to whoever’s phone is on the aux and chit-chat about how tough work is and how little of it you’ve been doing, classic. Pre-drinks is essentially a small house party before your night out, and everyone knows the worst 30 minutes of a house party are the first. Let’s just eliminate the 30 minute stagnation period by turning up “a little bit waved” already.

Whether it’s a glass or two with dinner, while getting ready or while scrolling through social media – only stopping to ask “you out tonight?” – it’s only 10 o’clock and you’ve already polished-off the bottle of wine you had saved for pres. But not to worry, the late opening hours of local supermarkets come to the rescue as you re-re-supply for the pre-drinks which you’ve already pre-drank for . So now you’re pre-pre-drunk holding your new pre-drinks drink, one eye goggling the woman in Tesco asking to see some I.D. whilst your other attempts to read her name badge. You exit the shop still successfully pre-pre-drunk and en-route to pre-drinks with your re-re-supply of pre-drinks drink, you wonder why someone would name their daughter All-lice.

The result of this tale is one of two options. Option one, you have yet another great night on the Toon which you’ll foggily remember until it blurs in to every other drunken night in Sinners. Option 2, end up on your arse (or worse, draped over a toilet with someone saying “no spray, no lay” every 30 seconds) dreaming about your bed. I suppose this risk is the one every pre-pre-drinker is willing to take.

Unbeknownst to some, you can actually go out being able to see straight and still have a very enjoyable evening. Being just sober enough to cling on to your best friend and your over priced ‘final wave’ club ticket is not the only way, but alas it seems students will never learn. Is it possible to actually enjoy a night where you don’t drink your way from your flat in West Jes to your mates house in Jesmond and then tipsily into the Toon? Apparently people used to just drink when they were out! Unbelievable.