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When going to university in a big city like Liverpool, there is an important question that needs to be asked. This isn’t asking which lecture block you’re in, or what time your seminar is, it’s where to find the best student night out.

Liverpool city centre is the first port of call for most students due to its cheap drink offers, big clubs and good restaurants but few people are aware of the other, less publicised, places throughout the city. What better a hidden gem than one that is barely 15 minutes away from Carnatic halls (5 minutes in a taxi), and one which has a great atmosphere and is full of bars, pubs and restaurants. It’s a place that can offer a great night out which is different to the usual town scene that most students will indulge in almost every night (unless you have a 9am lecture)! This place is called Lark Lane which has everything a student could need for a good night out, and is situated just by Sefton Park.

Live music from The Vinyl ‘basement bar’, good food from Maranto’s, and great drinks from the Negresco bar. But that’s not all; there are over 20 bars and restaurants to choose from along Lark Lane, with food varying from Turkish at the Elif Turkish BBQ Restaurant, to Thai at the Chilli Banana. As well as the Vinyl bar and Negresco, there are many other bars including Keith’s wine bar and Maranto’s balcony bar (which some nights has great live, acoustic music) where drinks range from beer to extravagant cocktails. Lark Lane is a lively hub of entertainment which caters to every student need and a night out there can be as expensive (once student loans have been received) or as cheap as you want.

As mentioned earlier, Negresco is one of THE places to drink along Lark Lane. Negresco was created by the Korova Corporation (the same people who brought us Alma De Cuba) and provides an entertaining yet suave atmosphere. The decor in this bar is dark and somewhat mysterious but overall it has a very welcoming feel to it. Negresco is often packed with students and who can blame them with that most infamous of drinks, absinthe, being readily available! Of all the places to drink along Lark Lane, Negresco is my favourite and is by far the best place for students. Its combination of great atmosphere, cool decor and fantastic drinks come together well to make a fun filled (and probably drunken) night out. 

The BBC has an online article entitled ‘Are there too many bars on Lark Lane?’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2008/10/21/lark_lane_bars_feature.shtml). The answer to this question from a student’s point of view is simple; there can never be too many bars! Lark Lane, with its many bars and restaurants and excellent atmosphere, is worth trying. You may fall in love with this quirky alternative to the city centre as I have, or you could find that it just doesn’t measure up to the crazy nights out in town that we all enjoy. Either way it’s worth a try!