I was referring to your assertion that an influx of students would make the night life 'better!'



I'm not really sure if Wakefield is still considered a good night out any more - it certainly was when I was of an age to be there on a regular basis and it was very much the norm to have a line of coaches at the top of Westgate dropping people off from all over the country. It was rammed from Thursday to Saturday, without fail, with another spike on Monday for 10p a pint night and latterly, the free drinks night across the road.



Thesedays, on the rare occasions I do go into Wakey, it's dead until around about the time I'm going home, when there appears to be an influx of already drunk teenagers; I gather the modern way of doing things is to get drunk at home on cheap supermarket booze, then go out later to a club that stays open til 6am or somesuch?



Kids today etc etc.

Can't blame them at the prices in town, even now I can't afford to go out on the lash in town every weekend far too expenisve, so no wonder the teenagers can't, £20 gets you nowhere.

Ooh you are a crotchety old knacker!!!

What makes you say that?

Well I can't argue there...being a student myself, most of the students I see on a night out could be described with words that aren't acceptable to use on here. I think a load of students were to move to the city, they wouldn't necessarily be going to places down Westgate though, there would probably be a small area around Thornes park or somewhere that would see a few bars springs up and the odd club maybe...a lot of students wouldn't feel very comfortable with a night in Wakey I don't think.



I know what you mean about the drunk teenagers turning up at home time, I'm often guilty of doing similar. Its much cheaper to go and have a few pints in the local then get a taxi into Wakey at about 12 when the average price is about £4 for anything in town and £2.50 a pint in the pub. I wish I had the chance to go out in Wakey about 10-12 years ago when it was really a good night (or so I'm told).



Also, on the student accommodation side of things, The biggest issue would be the student houses, about 3/4 of students live in rented student houses...I'm not sure there would be enough housing in the city to accommodate a university, unless it was very small....

The old rule of thumb for me when going out in Wakefield these days is 'stay off Westgate between Buzz and The Black Swan'.

As far as housing goes, there will hopefully be a large plot of land available for building on soon. Somewhere around the BelleVue area???

Wakefield being a University City would certainly add to its profile,and the influx of out of town and foregn students contributing to the local economy..Most of you know Headingley very well and will be aware that students have always been there ,but in the last 10-15 years they are now probably 85% of the population of the area,and residents who are still there have to put up with student behaviour etc and of course they cant even sell their houses except to private landlords who rent to students.When I visit home and walk round the streets and see those fine houses trashed its heartbreaking.The student accomodation thing really does need looking into whenever a decision is made

I can imagine, living in Bradford I've always been jealous of the student accommodation in Headingley, if I lived in a house like that, I'd want to keep it looking brilliant...too many people not appreciating what they've got.

What you are describing is a problem common to any rental/transcient area not just because the occupants are students. Students whilst often being drunken arrisholes are i would gusess statistically less likely to smash your window in and nick your TV, or do your granny in for her bus fare.

Conversely, I like to do most of my burgling in Headingley thesedays - badly secured houses, occupied by 4-5 almost permanently drunk people, who are out on the lash most nights = multiple TV's, laptops, ipods and phones; gives much more bang for the buck so to speak.

Ha ha ha, true my friend a fair few years ago, was at Manchester Uni and his house was in the Moss Side area of the City and he used to say that when all the new students moved in during September, it was like winning the lottery for the local criminals, open season on the local student population.