Many people who are not from Bath often perceive the city as a haven for residential care homes and pensioners’ boules clubs.
However, in 2024, individuals in their early 20s made up the largest age group in Bath.
The student population in Bath is substantial, with two universities located here contributing to an already high number of school children.
While those not familiar with Bath may believe that country walks are the extent of activities in the city, former students would beg to differ.
With a touch of nostalgia and lingering embarrassment, here are 11 things that everyone who attended school or university in Bath would have experienced in the city.
Lounging in front of the Royal Crescent
The Royal Crescent in Bath
(Image: PAUL GILLIS / paulgillisphoto.com)
You can’t deny we were fortunate to grow up in Bath.
While other urban students resorted to dank city parks, we had the magnificent Georgian fortress of the Royal Crescent to admire.
Perhaps we didn’t appreciate our luck at the time, but lounging on the green space in summer scratches the pinnacle of student life in Bath.
Spamming Waitrose’s free hot drinks offer
Waitrose’s Bath superstore in The Podium
(Image: Bath Live)
I owe several hundred pounds in americanos to whoever first spilt the secret about Waitrose’s free coffee deal.
After all, £3 for a good cup of coffee is £3 too much for most students.
But once we discovered the free daily hot drink kindly offered with a loyalty card, Waitrose became our local.
The supermarket brought the free-froth era to an end by changing its policy to require a purchase beforehand.
Cramming revision in the public library
Bath’s public library is enshrined in the minds of all Bath students.
Located above Waitrose, most of us have strutted, free Waitrose coffee in-hand, into that hallowed establishment at some point.
In the high season around exams people would tussle over free chairs or risk a long walk of shame to the exit.
Monday night’s £1 pints
(Image: Getty)
Molloy’s was the one place you could find Bath’s entire student population on a Monday night – it was pound-a-pint night.
People bought 20 pints at a time to avoid the queues, which were so long the guy at the back could dip his toes in the Avon.
Chaos ensued when Club XL on Walcot Street started offering £1 Jägerbombs until the eventual closure of both venues.
Browsing vintage clothing in the Yellow Shop
There’s one thing students hunt with the same passion as cheap beer: cheap clothes.
The Yellow Shop on Walcot Street is still one of the best places to forage.
Crammed with sherpa-lined aviator jackets and someone’s grandma’s necklace, the vintage shop has claimed the closets of countless Bath students over the years.
Watching films at Odeon
An iconic brand in every student town, Odeon has been at the centre of it all in Bath.
It witnessed your first date and your last one.
Odeon continues to host new friendships, old friendships, and more-than-friendships in the Kingsmead centre in Bath.
Pumping iron at YMCA
YMCA has always been one of the more affordable gyms in Bath, making it the perfect spot for an amateur student fitness community.
You might have to queue for a set of dumbbells, but YMCA hosted the dreams of many future Schwarzeneggers and Ennises.
Swimming at Warleigh Weir
People in the water at Warleigh Weir
Paddling in cool waters and sunbathing aren’t synonymous with England, but Warleigh Weir made it possible for Bath students.
The perfect place to spend a post-exams Sunday with friends, the weir preserves several good diving spots folded into the Claverton countryside.
Backing the blues at Belushi’s
Often unable to fund a ticket to the Rec, students would make a direct line to Green Street’s Belushi’s on match day.
The atmosphere when the rugger’s on has caused a few Sunday-morning migraines I can assure you.
Skateboarding at Green Park Station
Green Park Station
(Image: Bath Film Festival)
The elderly raised fists, shoppers leapt out the way, but Green Park Station wouldn’t be the same without the skaters.
Youths on wheels may not be the most popular group in town, but their critics’ scowls badly hid their envy.
Maybe you tried your first kick-flip there, never to try again, but Green Park Station has long been an attraction on the Bath skater trail.
Shakin’ it at Shakeaway
A combination of ice cream and chocolate bars fuelled the UK’s milkshake bar surge in the 2000s.
It’s no surprise that Bath’s own, Shakeaway, became the melting pot of the city’s school students.
The milkshake bar continues to inject sugar into the city from Beau Street.
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