FRESHERS GUIDE TO BELFAST

With a whole city centre, hundreds of pubs and thousands of things to do it can be tricky navigating the beautiful Belfast. Lucky for you though, we have made a little guide to help figure out where to go, on what night whether you’re a big drinker, or fancy a bit of sober socialising.

On Monday nights you have a fair few picks for drinking venues. A fantastic place for students on a Monday night is Fourteen Tomb Street with its six6six promotion –and there is a reason they’ve named it after the devil – with 60p spirits, 60p bottle and 60p shots alongside some of the best trance northern Ireland has to offer it is truly sinful how cheap it is, and you will definitely feel like your in hell on Tuesday morning. If you don’t want to be THAT drunk, but still fancy a boogie you could head to Warehouse – it offers a little bit ravey vibes and has a bus that picks you up from various locations in the City Centre to take you to the venue that is just a little bit outside the centre. If you are new here, or have made new friends here or are just a bit unsure of what vibe you fancy head over to Scratch Mondays at Limelight. With a lovely blend of rave and cheesy music it is perfect for groups that have a varied music taste – or just like a bit of both. For Tuesday night, you have Karaoke night at Cuckoo, a bar that also hosts a variety of quiz nights, pool and has an arcade, with so much to do, you can’t possibly get bored. ‘Oh but what if I’m not much of a singer’, that’s kind of the point. Karaoke nights at Cuckoo are so shameless that it is more about the craic than the harmonies. Speaking of Craic though, Tuesday nights are also the night for Craic’s 90 at Filthy McNasties with lots of drinks promos. It also boasts beer pong tables outside so you can show off your skills or laugh with your new mates at the lack thereof – plus a bit of healthy competition can help break the ice.

Filthy McNasties (lovingly dubbed ‘Filthies’) is also open on a Wednesday night for Remedy Wednesdays, so if you love it on

Tuesday, you’ll love it even more on a Wednesday. However, if you are fancying a change, new night new place, you can head over to UFO Wednesdays at Limelight, UFO is perfect for the ravers among us but both venues do super deals for students, so either is a solid choice. There’s a reason Filthies and Limelight are a favourite of students, cause they both have another event on Thursday Nights! Filthies hosts DSQO and Limelight hosts Babba – both have excellent tunes and excellent drink deals – maybe just pick the one you’ve been to least this week?

Friday, the weekend is starting, you’re done with lectures for the week and you are ready to party. But where? The Queens SU club is the place to be for Students on a Friday night with £5 cocktails and tasty food this night out gives you a fairly decent bang for your buck – but then again it is a student union, cheap and cheerful kind of comes with the territory.

Saturday night you may feel like venturing a bit further into the city to Revolution at the Kremlin – this is also a gay bar, so you never know you might find the love of your life – or just of the night. It is a bit of a hike for most students but it is insanely worth it and plus, once you’ve got your alcohol jacket on you won’t feel the cold that Belfast is famous for. If you aren’t feeling the dander however, you can always head to Cuckoo where you can take advantage of the amazing drink deals – or potentially rock, paper, scissors your way into a free one – and yes that is actually a thing.

Sunday funday as they say! For those of you that can’t go out on a Saturday Night due to part-time jobs or sports or whatnot don’t worry! Sunday is every hospitality worker’s night out –ask your co-workers. (and the people going out aren’t mainly students so you’ve a better chance at scoring free drinks ). The Hatfield is always a good shout for a Sunday night party, hosted weekly by Micky Quinn and showcasing some of the best live music.

For those of us that are not big drinkers or just fancy a night or two to recover – don’t worry there is still so much Belfast has to offer!

For starters, Belfast has an amazing comedy scene! Monday nights you can take your pick of the bunch with shows being hosted at the Pavilion, Laverys or the Monday Night Comedy club on the Ormeau Road, among others. If you’re busy Monday, don’t worry because on Tuesday you can head to the Comedy circuit at The Empire. It has great drink deals on as well so it’s perfect if you aren’t a drinker, but your friends are or visaversa.

For the rest of the week, feel free to mix and match as many of the activities that tickle your fancy. If you’re a fan of ice hockey (or watching fit men slam each other into walls and wishing it was you) the infamous Belfast giants do cheap ticket deals from time to time during the season. I can’t tell you when because it is never preannounced but if you can snag one it’s definitely worth going – even if you aren’t a big sports or hockey fan. The atmosphere is electric, you get to have a fun little sing song and as sports go it is really easy to follow even if you don’t really know the rules.

Uni stressful? People pissing you off on the daily? That one flatmate that just will not do their flipping dishes? Go throw some axes at Black Axe throwing co or Axe Yard and get the anger out – or just do it for fun, or picture your ex, you do you it’s your life.

Not a fan of violence? How about some wholesome mini-golfing? There are multiple places that offer both indoor Mini-golf at the Lost city and or head outdoors at Dundonald’s Pirates Adventure. A healthy bit of competition is always a great way to bond with newfound friends – or old friends for that matter. If you’re in Dundonald anyway you could always nab an activity package and go for a round of Bowling or Ice-skating too and make a day of it. When you have finally finished your day of fun you can simply dander across the road where you’ll find a whole host of delicious restaurants where you can refuel before heading home.

Escape rooms are also a fantastic activity, and they are also littered in and around the city centre. As we all know it’s better (and cheaper) with a bigger group so round up your flatmates or course mates and head off to stop the titanic sinking or save Hogwarts or stop a deadly virus taking over the world – whatever tickles your fancy. It’s also a great icebreaker if you struggle to start conversations, and often ends up with a fair few funny stories or inside jokes.

For a wholesome Sunday activity why not grab some of your mates, hike up Cavehill and take in the beautiful landscape of our wee city – bonus points if you bring a picnic –extra bonus points if everyone makes it up and back down not caked in mud.

Finally, I cannot write a guide to Belfast without telling you to visit the Titanic museum and the docks, so go visit the titanic museum and the docks – it has the iconic movie staircase and who doesn’t want to see that.