Lancaster's small and friendly!
By Hannah L
I started university in Lancaster in 2004. I decided to take a year out after my first year which turned into 2 years out after when I found myself working in a city center pub which I really enjoyed. Working in a pub in the middle of Lancaster, you don't exactly meet the nicest people all the time, and in the evening it can become very difficult with big groups of people, especially the big groups of men who go out drinking.Having said that the lovely people ive met through working in a pub far outweight the not so nice people.
In general people here are very kind and welcoming, although I have found that there is alot of hostility towards students, mainly from the people who have lived here a long time and dont understand why they should share the city with people who aren't from Lancaster. In a way these people are what makes Lancaster quite unique. I find that the worst groups of people tend to be some students who are in university sports teams who go out drinking and can be really rude and vandalise property. Working in a pub I have witnessed some really unpleasant behaviour from them, and I dont think this behaviour helps the negative image some locals have of students in general. I think the uni should take more responsibility for incorporating the student population into the local population in Lancaster. The uni is very insular. There is a noticeable divide between the two which is such a shame as theres no reason why everyone shouldn't get on fine. Theres alot of people who seem never to have left Lancaster so its still got a really strong identity and most of these people are really keen to tell you about Lancasters history - what the buildings used to look like, and what it was like before the uni became big.
Lancaster is one of those places you can walk around and recognize lots of familiar faces and people to say hello to. Ive lived in Lancaster for over 4 years now, and although I dont really want to live here forever, its a nice city to live in and seems more like a town really! I went back to university just over a year ago and graduate from Lancaster uni in 2009. Im also getting married next year at the Ashton Memorial to my fiance who I met in Lancaster. If Lancaster wasn't such a nice place to live with such welcoming people I wouldn't have stayed and continued my studies!