Mid-2000s fashion. Classic.

Ten years. Yes folks, it’s ten years or more since many of us turned up unkempt, spotty and wide-eyed on the streets of Preston.

Now we’re all sensible folk and no longer out on a Saturday night it’s time for a trip down memory lane.

As you’re pushing 30 (or over 30 in many cases), we’re going back in the mists of recent time and remembering what it was like to be a student at the UCLan (University of Central Lancashire) in the mid 2000s. Or mid naughties as media pundits like to brand it.

1. Your seven days were like this…

Monday was quiz in the Hog’s Head (not the Guild, or whatever it is called now), followed by an evening in Squires/New York New York. Tuesday nights was The Warehouse. Wednesday at Tokyo Jo’s (not Lava, not Evoque) followed by a 3am Subway sandwich. Thursday was quids at Adelphi and then Promo at 53 Degrees. Friday was never quite sure where it was heading. Saturday nights was Source for all the cool kids who didn’t go home. Sunday was Roper Hall for end of the weekend drinking. And repeat.

2. It’s The Ship Inn…

And it was purple and then orange. It’s now called Ships’n’Giggles. Yes, really.

3. Popadom Palace or Mick’s Curry Pot is where evenings ended

They’ve knocked the Palace down now, it’s being replaced with student accommodation. And Mick’s recovered from a fire a few years back, it’s now just The Curry Post. Not sure what happened to Mick.

4. You spent ages watching this place being built but never got to go in

This is where our tuition fees went boys and girls. It’s pretty swanky. It’s called the Media Factory, but looks like a giant Lego building.

5. Vernon Building was inhumane

Why was there a building so detached from everything else? Lecturers should know better than to put 4pm lectures on a Monday in a lecture hall which might as well be in Bolton it was that far away.

6. Going to the Docks was like going to another world….

The sun setting over Preston Docks

… it was our idea of an exciting day trip. Going to Odeon, Chiquitos and going ‘oh, doesn’t Preston look okay next to this expanse of water’. Which was always green and smelled.

7. Dilshad was always a good idea at 2am.

Always.

8. Student shopping lock-ins are a curious thing

Why did we queue to get into a shopping centre? The deals were never that great. And it still goes on to this very day.

9. You had no Students’ Union for a year and a bit

While they built the metal box that is 53 Degrees, the Union was run from a small office in Kirkham building.

10. We had decent bands

Kasabian, Jamie T, We Are Scientists, The Subways (many times), Annie Mac, Dizzee Rascal. The list goes on and on of who came to play at 53 in its heyday.

11. Plungington living

Sharing with five other people and paying less than £200 a month in rent seemed like a brilliant idea. Old terraced houses, decent sized rooms (apart from someone who always got the box room), and no arguing over the bills. Ever. Sod those swanky people in their fully-serviced halls (Moor Lane, Warehouse, Foundry Court and co had only recently been built). And you could get the bus straight to Asda.

12. You watched films in lecture theatres

There was no Netflix. So watching the latest films cost £1.50 in the Greenbank lecture theatre instead of going to the cinema.

13. “I don’t study at Lancaster”

You spent ages clarifying you didn’t study at Lancaster. Central Lancashire, not Lancaster. And not UCLA either, no matter how much we’d have loved to.

14. You adopted Preston North End

That play-off final against West Ham. Painful.

15. You went on a Carnage night out

Before they were banned.

What do you remember of studying at UCLan? Any of these memories ring true? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below