Studentville

For the last 2 days I have been here - The Queen of Hearts pub in Fallowfield, Manchester. If you don't know Manchester, Fallowfield is studentville - just down the road from Rusholme (curry mile) and in the middle of loads of uni buildings on different campuses. I've never been before and i didn't get to see a great deal but it seems like a nice area, lots of great old terraced houses, bars, pubs, clubs and takeaways. Basically everything on your doorstep.

It struck me how much of these places must have sprung up in the last 10 years, probably most in the last 5. Manchester has always had a good university but has definately gained in popularity in the last few years. When I was applying for University (back in 1994! eeek - where has the time gone) Manchester was a bit dodgy. I actually went to look round the uni in Manchester, I liked the course but I found Manchester grey, bleak and depressing and I got followed by a wierdo - I took it as a bad sign but even so I made it my third choice.

Manchester in the mid 90's was a city on a downwards slide - the media called it Gunchester

- gang wars, shootings, robberies and violence were in the news all the time. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as they made it out to be but I think that's why little student communities such as Fallowfield really blossomed - safety in numbers.

And boy has the student population grown - this week they've been out in force. It's been freshers week so thousands of fresh new students, first time out of home have descended on Manchester.

It's amazed me what a big business opportunity it has become. Everyone is clamouring to get their brand seen, their product promoted or their venue / clubnight out there - even religion gets in on the act. Stalls at the freshers fayre cost upwards of £500, domino's give out free pizza, coffee shops free expresso and cake and big trucks drive round with massive sound systems blaring, advertising everything from clubnights and gyms, to furniture stores. It's mindblowing.

We couldn't resist getting in on the act so when we were asked to have a little stall at a vintage market - we thought - why not! We often can't do these markets as they're usually at the weekend when we already have commitments - it's always tricky organising everything for these events but we pulled it all together at the last moment. I had a great couple of days, met some lovely people, heard some great tunes, promoted the shop and most importantly made a little bit of money - you never know it might even be enough to pay the VAT bill!