Mocktails galore: Here are the best venues across York for sober students

Your guide to having a blast without booze

3 months ago

So, you’ve moved in at York and are in the midst of Freshers’ Week, meaning that you have no doubt started to think about the fun of the semester ahead of you. Freshers’ Week often involves many alcohol-fuelled nights of drinking and dancing at nightclubs, downing your drink when someone nominates you in Ring of Fire, or stomaching cup after cup of beer as a result of your opponent’s expert aiming of the ball in beer pong.

If you’ve never touched a drop of alcohol and you don’t want to, or you’re curious about cutting back on alcohol, Freshers’ Week can seem very daunting. British uni culture is centred around drinking alcohol all throughout the year, but this is definitely exaggerated during Freshers’ Week. As a student who doesn’t drink alcohol, it can feel intimidating when offers of cocktails, spirits, shots, and alcohol-centred club nights stare back at you when looking at the Freshers’ Week timetable.

As a teetotal student myself, I know all too well the feeling of having to trawl through the depths of the venue websites before you visit, in search for the mocktail or non-alcoholic menu that is often hidden at the bottom of some obscure webpage, or worse, in some instances, doesn’t exist at all. The inevitable consequence is that, if a venue doesn’t cater to sober students, you’re forced to resort to lemonade or water on every single night out there, which can become very boring very quickly (trust me, I’ve been there).

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Which is why I’m here to save you all of that trouble, and offer you a guide to the best venues across York that cater to sober and sober-curious students. A fun trip to one of these bars and lounges will ensure that you have a blast on your next night out, no booze necessary.

Evil Eye

Located on Stonegate, and popular with a student crowd, Evil Eye is a quirky cocktail and mocktail bar which describes itself as the home of the bizarre, weird and wonderful.

When it comes to its extensive mocktail menu, Evil Eye certainly lives up to being wonderful. The venue has a dazzling line-up of 26 deliciously eccentric and tasty £5 mocktails. They range from the rum-tinged lime of the Fruit Daiquri-Ain’t, to the raspberry indulgence of the Angel Cooler, to the gin-like citrus of Like Clockwork Orange, to the classic ginger and grenadine of the Shirley Temple.

As well as sipping on your new favourite mocktail, there is plenty of fun to be had at Evil Eye, with a host of events held every week that range from York’s only Tuesday karaoke night, to Wednesday quizzes with cash prizes, and the venue’s Thursday open mic night, the longest-running night of its kind in York.

The Botanist

The Botanist on Stonegate is a sober-friendly venue that boasts a flavoursome and floral-inspired mocktail menu to cater to non-alcoholic tastes. It also serves up some delicious food and hosts live music.

The mocktails that are on offer include the vibrant and fruity Tropical Tonic, a strawberry, elderflower and apple mojito, a rhubarb and blackberry cooler, and the venue’s very own house lemonade infused with elderflower cordial.

Slug & Lettuce

The Slug & Lettuce chain of cocktail bars boasts two venues in York, on the Riverside and Swinegate.

At these venues, there is a two for one offers on all cocktails, and this includes tasty mocktails! These range from the Elderflower Fizz to an alcohol-free Italian spritz, as well as fruity passion fruit mocktails. If non-alcoholic beers, ciders and gins are more your thing, Slug & Lettuce serve up the non-alcoholic counterparts of Heineken and Guinness, Old Mout cider, and Gordons gin. Soft drinks including J2Os, Appletiser, Coca-Cola and Fanta are also served at the bars.

Bora Bora

The exotic Bora Bora brings its own French Polynesian charm to York at this premier cocktail bar on Swinegate Court East.

Highlights of its Fancy Mocktails menu include an apple and mint mojito, the classic pineapple zest of a Virgin Colada, and the Blue Fruit’s infusion of watermelon, apple, pineapple and orange – all guaranteed to delight your tastebuds with their tropical flavours despite the zero alcohol. Soft drink alternatives offered at the venue include Pepsi, lemonade, energy drinks, and a range of fruit juices.

Cosy Club

York’s Cosy Club, located on Fossgate, serves up an extensive range of refreshing and tasty non-alcoholic cocktails to satisfy the taste buds of teetotal students.

Cosy Club’s offering of Teetotal Tipples range from the vibrant tropical flavours of the Pineapple and Rosehip Punch, to the exotic berry and citrus infusion of the Raspberry and Orange Blossom Tonic, to the orange, strawberry and ginger glitz of an Italian Spritz.

Also heading up its menu is a list of soft drinks, which includes ginger beer, Sicilian lemonade, berry smoothies, a lemon, elderflower and mint Morning Cooler, pink lemonade, and a tasty watermelon and basil cooler.

Manahatta

The glitz and glamour of New York’s sleek and elegant bars travelled to York across the pond and arrived at Manahatta on Little Stonegate. Beneath the glittering disco balls of the bar, the upmarket cocktail and mocktail venue serves up delectable mocktails including the famous clean passionfruit martini, the spiced indulgence of a ginger spritz, a refreshing berry cooler, and a non-alcoholic blood orange beverage.

With its glamorous decor, a visit to Manahatta is sure to delight your eyes, as well as delight your taste buds with its delicious alcohol-free menu.

Vudu

Just down the street from Manahatta, Vudu Lounge on Swinegate also channels the glitz of New York and has brought it to the York that we know and love. Vudu’s reputation as a lounge serving amazing cocktails doesn’t mean that the venue doesn’t serve the trusty non-alcoholic counterparts of famous and beloved alcoholic beverages.

On your next visit to Vudu, don’t be afraid to ask the bartender for an alcohol-free version of your chosen cocktail. On my last visit to Vudu at a society formal, the bartender made me a non-alcoholic passion fruit martini from scratch, demonstrating the venue’s commitment to catering for sober students.

As you can see, there are plenty of sober-friendly bars, lounges and venues across York awaiting you in Freshers’ Week. So, when you’re planning a fun night out with your new friends, how about suggesting a visit to one of these sober-friendly venues? As these venues cater to both teetotal students and those who prefer to drink alcohol, you can be sure that your nights out are inclusive and fun for everybody, regardless of whether you love alcohol a little too much, or you’ve never touched a drop and don’t intend to anytime soon.