IT’S only days until freshers’ week kicks off at universities around the country.
And skint students flying the nest for the first time are getting prepped for a boozy introduction where there will be cheap drinks and party shenanigans aplenty.
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But out of everywhere in the country, few towns and cities will be able to say they offer anything cheaper than Newcastle – where freshers “hitting the toon” will be downing three trebles for under a tenner and playing games such as “p*ss bobbing” when the fun begins next week.
Students in the infamous party city are set to take advantage of two major universities running raucous events with cheap deals to make even the most seasoned of drinkers paralytic.
Loose Crawl will see hoards of new undergrads guided round a total of 20 pubs and clubs with a drink in each.
Meanwhile, SKINT Freshers Welcome Party at The Points in Newcastle’s rowdy Bigg Market will be selling three trebles for just £9.50 – a mere £1.05 a shot.
At Messy Tuesdays, hosted by TupTup Palace, students will be able to buy doubles for only £2.95. At the same time, Blue Tuesdays at The Cut will be selling Jagerbombs for £3.
For two weeks in the city, freshers at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities will be descending on nightlife hotspots Collingwood Street, the Bigg Market and Osborne Road in Jesmond.
On Saturday September 26 more than 3,000 teen undergrads will crowd into the club Digital for the Tropiloco in the Warehouse event.
Osborne Road, a strip on the outskirts of the city which is lined with bars, is heaving with undergrads ahead of pre-freshers week which begins on Monday September 14.
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And few know what the freshers have in store for them than the second and third year students who told us about shocking initiation ceremonies which involve freshers dipping their heads in buckets of urine in an attempt to lift out an apple with their mouths.
Friends Evie Wales, a 19-year-old fashion undergrad at Northumbria University, and pals Sophie Barrow and Isla Watkins are enjoying drinks in a bar as we chat.
Isla, 21, also a fashion student at Northumbria University, said: “I can’t really remember what I did during freshers week.
“Pretty much, people go out and get drunk.
“Osborne Road is more of a chill place. Students come here for pre-drinks before they go into town.
“There is thing called Two Pound Tuesdays, so along this strip all the drinks at £2. A lot of people come for that – but it’s casual here.
“Freshers week is crazy. People get ill. Everyone goes out and they get sick from it. It’s called freshers flu, but people are just poorly from going out so much.
“Everyone pulls at some point during the week and at the end of it, they are so hungover, they are so ill.
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“And people don’t eat very much. I didn’t know anything about Newcastle before I came here. It’s definitely a party city. It’s so fun.
“There are social nights on Wednesdays and all the societies go out to Howlers. It’s normally really, really crazy.”
Sophie Barrow, 19, a student of psychology at Northumbria University, added: “My freshers week is a blur. When you are going out every night, everything kind of merges together.
“It’s relentless. You get to day five and you think, oh bloody hell.
“We went on the Loose Crawl. It’s a massive pub crawl with all the freshers and it ends in a club.
“It was about 16 different places. The concept was to have a drink in every place, but we did skip a few.
“The deals are quite good, you can get three trebles for under a tenner.
“Freshers miss a lot of things because they are hungover. I didn’t go to the freshers fair because I was too hungover. Lectures are really easy to miss, no one notices.”
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Tom Allingham, student money expert at Save the Student, said it wasn’t a surprise students were after the best deals.
“The cost of living crisis isn’t going anywhere,” he told The Sun.
“Students have been hit harder than many other groups in society.
“The price rises we have seen affect lower income individuals more than higher income individuals.
“But on the other side, maintenance loans have fallen well short of inflation.
“So costs are going up while the money they’re coming in isn’t keeping up.”
Unsurprisingly, Newcastle regularly ranks within the top three university cities around the country for student nightlife, according to surveys.
Though students studying in Newcastle are in for a treat, it is far from the only university city in the UK where freshers will be left reaching for the bin come the morning.
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In Leeds, the 19-pub-strong crawl known as the Otley Run is an infamous right of passage traditionally done in fancy dress.
Others will make friends for life at a large UV neon party going by the name of “F*ck me it’s Freshers”.
Meanwhile in Sheffield, students heading to Corporation – affectionately known as Corp – last week, for one night only, were able to take advantage of drinks starting at just 70p.
But those who missed out need not worry too much – because when they’re back to their usual price next Monday they’ll still only cost 90p.
Back in Newcastle, Lucy Sidebottom and friend Aimee Jacomb are enjoying drinks at a neighbouring bar.
Lucy, a 22-year-old politics student at Newcastle University, said: “It’s chaos. It’s mental. There’s something every single week, every single day. There’s pub crawls.
“People will do Northumbria and Newcastle, and do both weeks, and keep on going all the way through.
“Especially if you join a sports society you will keep on going. We’ve just actually been talking about initiations.
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“There’s something called p**s bobbing. They fill up a a bucket with piss and the freshers go bobbing in it. If you can’t get the apple, you get p**sed on.
“We have never done anything like this, but this is the stuff we hear of. It’s mostly men, they show off. They have to do it to get into the society. You have to bring a bottle of wine, or a 12 pack and you have to chug it before the initiation. It’s disgusting.”
Leading from Newcastle’s quayside to the city’s ancient castle keep there are several steep staircases, badly lit and a danger to those who’ve had one too many to drink.
Lucy describes how some of her friends create a stomach-churning gauntlet, placing a glass of something abhorrent on every fourth step for students to down.
She added: “They will put a glass of someone’s sick on the step, that you have to drink, or you will have to eat an onion, or you have to down a whole bottle of wine.
“They basically just want to make you sick. I know someone who is in the medical society and he was telling me that as a punishment for not turning up to events, or going home with the wrong girl, silly stuff like that, you have to do what’s called a Three Pint Chop.
“You have to down the pints one after the other without taking a breath. That is going to make you throw up. No-one gets through a Three Pint Chop without throwing up.”
Lucy’s pal Aimee Jacomb, 22, a recent English literature graduate at Newcastle University, said: “It is total chaos, but Newcastle is a really fun city.
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“As long as you feel safe with the people you are around. During our freshers weeks we went to the Bigg Market. There’s Feral Fridays at Grey’s club. And Tropiloco on Mondays at the Social Club is massive.
“It’s a great place to be a student. We all want to stay in Newcastle because we love it so much.”
At yet another bar on the strip Will Allen, a 21-year-old business management student, said: “In Newcastle you do both weeks, for Newcastle University and Northumbria University. You take advantage of them both.
“If you do not know anyone it’s a great way to make friends. The Bigg Market is class. There’s a place called the Social Club that do events, that’s great for freshers.
“You have Two Pound Tuesdays on Osborne Road as well. People do get into states, but you look after each other.
“Even before you make friends, you get looked after. Everyone’s in the same position.”
His friend Owen Anderson, 20, who is doing the same course, added: “It’s class in Newcastle. You’re out six nights a week.
“You see a lot of fresh 18-year-olds who’ve never been out before, going wild away from their parents.
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“Everyone mingles with everyone. We’ve heard lots of stories about initiations.
“There’s the jelly one. They made a jelly and at the bottom of the jelly is a QR code. So after the person has eaten the jelly, they are taken to a video of someone masturbating into the mix.
“I wasn’t part of that society. It’s disgusting, but you hear it goes on.”
Oliver Youd, 20, is enjoying a night out with Renee Seff, 19, on Collingwood Street, a major strip for nightclubs in Newcastle.
The international business with finance student at Northumbria University said: “The craziest thing I’ve seen is probably just people very drunk.
“People do get absolutely hammered. It will be drinking games.
“Mixing drinks, like pub golf, where you have a different drink in each pub and you have to neck it. Collingwood Street and the Bigg Market are the best places to go.”
Renee Seff, 19, who is studying occupational therapy at Northumbria University added: “There’s loads of clubs along here that do student events, they do deals, like three trebles for under a tenner. I enjoyed my freshers week, it was good.
“There was a lot of drinking.”