Loughborough is a town of obvious places to enjoy yourself be it the park in town, the cinemas or eateries, but it is full of hidden gems you can only experience by breathing in this vibrant little town
On 10th August 20
Loughborough is a town of obvious places to enjoy yourself be it the park in town, the cinemas or eateries, but it is full of hidden gems you can only experience by breathing in this vibrant little town
On 10th August 20
Living in Loughborough
The small town of Loughborough (or ‘Lufbra’, or even ‘Loogabarooga’) is very much geared towards student living, which is great news for you!
Top 10 Tips for Students in Loughborough...
1. Shop around. Wilkinsons in town is a good shout for getting set up in your new accommodation. However, you might do well to visit the less obvious laces such as Home Bargains, or the quirky little local discount store “Bonkers”, which happens to be right next door to Wilkos.
2. Discount. Get yourself a “Love Loughborough” card for a whole host of special offers around town, such as 5% off at Wilkinsons, BOGOF at Pizza Hut and loads more. Check out their website for current offers.
3. The Sock Man. You’re sure to find this out eventually, but a random photo with the locally loved landmark “Sock Man” (a rather comical looking statue in town centre) is pretty much obligatory at some point during your stay in Loughborough.
4. Visitors? When the parents come to visit, take them for a walk in Bradgate Country Park and then on to one of the cute village tea rooms opposite the car park on Bradgate Road.
5.Fancy dress. Theme nights are big, especially during Fresher’s week. Get ahead of the game by visiting Masquerade Fancy Dress near the train station, or for a more creative and much cheaper alternative check out the charity shops in town.
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6. Market days. Stock up on cheap fruit and veg at the market in town centre on Thursdays and Saturdays. You can really bag some bargains if you turn up towards the end (about 3-4pm).
7. Eat out. The Noodle Bar is a popular eatery among students and the impoverished. However, for a lesser-known gem of a cheap diner, try the creatively named “Grill House and Shisha Lounge”, where you can fill your face with generous portions of delicious middle-eastern food (and reminisce about your gap yah), without breaking the bank!
8. Travelling? Being close to the M1, Loughborough is pretty well-connected with regular Megabus and National Express services, which often cost no more than a fiver if you book in advance. Plus you get 10% off with an NUS extra card. So you can afford to visit the parents after all!
9. Shopping. Fashion-conscious freshers, fear not! For clothing you can afford on a student loan, there’s a Primark in town centre, as well as TKMaxx, New Look, Next and a few of the usual Arcadia Group suspects such as Topshop/Topman. Don’t forget to use that student discount!
10. On-the-go. If you’re living in the student triangle, St. Peter’s Centre on Storer Road has just started running a handy little café on weekday mornings. Stop off for breakfast, or pick up a coffee on your way to morning lectures. There’s free WIFI too.
On your to do list...
- The Cheese Cake Shop: Deep creamy luxury desserts at friendly student prices. Like Heaven, but edible.
- Beacon Hill: This hill is just outside the town with a car park at the bottom. Even the laziest student can make it to the top, and the view back over Loughborough is pretty great. For those who like their hills a bit craggier, or enjoy being chased by deer, the expansive Bradgate Park is just 10mins down the road.
- Sock Man: You cannot be a Loughborough student without visiting Sock Man. He is a statue in the middle of the market square, and something of a local mascot. Why is he so chubby? Why is he green? Why is he naked apart from one sock? Nobody knows...
Getting about
- Bus: The blue and yellow Kinchbus runs a circuit between the train station, town centre and university. It’s not the most punctual bus in the world, but it’s very handy when you’re laden with shopping.
- Taxi: ADT Taxis.
- Car: Not really. Loughborough is easily small enough to walk through and buses to Nottingham and Leicester are fairly regular.
Read Loughborough Reviews
I will definitely miss loughborough. A small town with just everything you need
Nice town everything there. Nice countryside around it.
Loughborough is a town of obvious places to enjoy yourself be it the park in town, the cinemas or eateries, but it is full of hidden gems you can only experience by breathing in this vibrant little town
easy transport, but not much to do here. Better off going Leicester or Nottingham for a night out with friends.
Haven’t been on a night out so can’t say much, but the restaurants are really good.
- It's relatively cheap to live in Loughborough, you have the staple shops such as Lidi and Aldi. - Very limited as to where you can eat. But there is a Nandos in town. Shopping is terrible thus one would have to go to either Leicester or Nottingham.
Loughborough has good nights out, cinemas, bowling and places to eat. There are lots of nice bars and restaurants- chains as well as independents, and easy links to cities like Nottingham and Leicester. Also very easy to get to the airport and London.
The only problem I had was using the bus, which did not seem to run on posted schedules
Nice town, but can be quite quite out of Uni term time. Enough resturants to keep you going but much more on offer in Nottingham and Leicester which are pretty easy to get to.
Nice town, but can be quite quite out of Uni term time. Enough resturants to keep you going but much more on offer in Nottingham and Leicester which are pretty easy to get to.
Not the greatest town scene with very average clubbing and nights out. Nottingham, Leicester and Derby are nearby, but realistically you'll be stuck with the same 5-6 locations for going-out. The Union is pretty massive to make up for this, but I found myself missing bars and decent pubs.
Very affordable small town, with places to eat and go out... filled with mainly students. Not much shopping to be done but the location is close to Leicester and Nottingham so its never far on the train for those occasions.
Very good town for student living here.
Amazing quiet town Very good for students
This is a very quiet town with a small population, but the people living here are very friendly and suitable for retirement.
Quiet and safe small town. People are good, always taking smell.
Perfect！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！
the environment is very safe and beautiful. everything you need can get quite easily.
Despite being a place with a small city centre, it has all the facilites, shops and bussiness that a student needs on a daily bases. Leicester and Nottingham are quite close from the train station or by bus, so bigger tasks or shopping can be made without taking a lot of effort and/or time.
There are no shopping malls in loughborough and the school is relatively far from the city centre. Public transport is convenient, but often not on time.
Loughborough is a peaceful town that good for studying and creating artworks, people here are nice and gentle
Nice location, friendly atmosphere, everything is close by and can be gotten to quickly. Not too busy and overwhelming.
barely any shops. nights out are rubbish
My overall experience was okay as they had good lecturers. However, the University saw me as a money-making opportunity. Due to circumstances, I had to commute from Birmingham to uni every day. Only when I got there I hear they were charging hefty fees. So I decided to park outside campus away from the uni. One day when I visited my friend I got a warning from the unis or shall I say frauds that I parked in a no uni parking zone. However, I was visiting a friend to do some group studying. They let me off saying I shouldn't park there. But where else should I park when I visit my friend? Then halfway through the year, another friend said that he lives in a house just outside the campus and said that its a private road where I can park if I liked. So I did this and then the uni made me pay a fine of £50 even though and denied my appeal saying its because I missed a deadline. They didn't consider how busy I was commuting and managing work. They did this after charging me £14k tuition!!
the nice little town and good commute system to Leicester and Nottingham
Good but not many shops and buses can be slow
The town isnt the nicest, although it has everything you need. It's more than sufficient for a student lifestyle.
Very good. Only problem is that town is too small
Nice town, clubs are limited though
It has all of the entertainment needed to enjoy your evening/weekends, however, Loughborough isn’t a city and so the same extent of options cannot be expected!! Luckily, Nottingham and Leicester are easy to reach by train/bus if you occasionally want a little more choice.
The town is like most smallish towns, have most things you want in terms of shops, gyms and so. Lacks any restaurants if you are looking for a culinary experience but several places you can get a great lunch for 5-6 quid.
The public transport here is pretty poor. Buses don’t come too often and it’s expensive to travel on them. However, because Loughborough is so small - you can walk most places anyway! Loughborough town centre is like any other small town a it has the basic shops, restaurants and 2 cinemas but most students take a short 7min train journey to Nottingham or Leicester for a day out, as there’s slightly more on offer!
A clean, beautiful student town.
Great town, small but has everything you need
Small town easy to manage a busy life with distances however nothing to do u get depressed in the long term
Sprinty bois will save your life. Night's out are decent for the first few years then you'll get bored, but it's only a short journey to Notts!
Nice, small town. Not too much to do but easy to get to nearby cities Nottingham & Leicester.
i will never return to this awful place
Loughborough is not a bad place to be, town is okay, enough to do.
Always walk to town and only get the bus back if you have heaving things to carry. The £2.10 bus fee is ridiculous.
Loughborough is very cheap, it is a town built around students and you can see this in the prices. Since updates to the town have been made there are a lot more places to eat out, albeit they are big chain restaurants. Nights out are varied and a great fun. Shopping is the bare minimum for essentials. Tonnes of charity shops. The quick links to Leicester and Nottingham make up for this though. It is not as small as people say it is and this should not be a reason people are put off by Loughborough.
Cost of living is very cheap, ideal for a student budget. When you do want to treat yourself, there is some good options to eat out in the centre of town (Pizza Express, Centro Lounge, Nandos) although there could be more variety - in the past few years a lot of change has gone on so I expect the options to grow and lots more places if you venture further out. Night life is good, something for everyone - r n b, techno, drum and bass, pop etc, something on most days of the week every week. Shopping is the weak link, some okay places but lets be real, you can buy anything online now. Transport links are good, train station in town, great taxi service specifically for students available on and off campus, good bus links to campus and beyond.
Loughborough is a quiet town that is full of amazing social activities targeted at students
Town is quite far to walk and trains aren’t direct as it’s a market town. Cheap to live though
The Kinch bus is expensive and late a lot but is very useful. Food and nightlife is awesome
Pretty cheap to live, reasonable nights out, great links to anywhere
A good student town, good value for money in terms of rent etc. Lots of nice places to eat out or grab a takeaway and the town is always vibrant.
I find rent expensive here in relation to salaries but socializing and shopping is cheap enough. There is a lot of choice for eating out. The shopping, whilst cheap, is not very interesting though. The public transport is really good here.
Nice, quiet town but really small. Almost has everything you need but not much choices.
Small, no need for public transport.
Link bus service is fantastic! Refurbishment has made town look very pretty and nice to spend time in. Everything you need, but could use more variety of shops/things to do.
Quite a small town but pretty cheap for whatever you want to do and if you know the places then can find great food and a good night out.
Loughborough in generally pretty cheap to eat out and go out in. However it's shopping and nights out are limiting. The sprint busses are fantastic and regular.
A very student town. There are many areas that are student housing dominated, meaning a busy and student feel to these areas. The housing type ranges massively and so do costs, you can pay from 60 pppw up to 100+. The nights out are alright, but the SU takes priority with many. Shopping isn't great, however with Nottingham to the North and Leicester to the South you can go shopping there. Public transport is good, however, being such a small town you can walk everywhere!
Loughborough town has the bare minimum of things you need, but as it's so small everything is in walking distance from the Uni. There are decent nights out but just beware of the locals!
Pretty cheap, good number of clubs and bars for size of the town, very student orientated town, not much to do during the day!
Really small town so it's easy to go out. But the fact it's a uni town means the nights are always going off! The shopping isn't great though
The locals are dodgy as hell but the price of housing and food is pretty good, echoes on a saturday is also pretty good!
Small town so no danger, relatively cheap but no shops neither something special in town
For awhat there is it's great but its a small town so wish there was a bit more of everything. But luckily Leicester and Nottingham are near by for more of a city scenery
Shuttle buses go from campus to train station via town centre and it's cheap to do so (less than £2). Town has some of the best, authentic food to offer including The Basin (Thai/Chinese/Japanese), Peter (Italian) and World Buffet 108 (Mixed cuisines) which are all good value for money. Some great clubs which have great deals for student nights, e.g. Mansion (Mondays), Vodka Revolutions (Thursdays). Huge Tesco on edge of town, only 10-12 mins walk from SU and most high street shops nearby (Burton, Next, SportsDirect etc). Leicester and Nottingham both very close by train (10 mins) for days and nights out.
Loughborough is a wonderful town with many great shops.
Small town made for students! Great links to Leicester and Nottingham makes up for the lack of shopping.
Actually a really nice town to live in, has everything you need
Loughborough has everything to offer for its students and accommodates for everyone's styles (and budgets!!) From shopping centers to the cinema, from coffee shops to pubs and clubs! It has everything you could possibly need!
Shopping is a bit limited and there isn't a lot of daytime entertainment but there are some nice places to eat and a couple of really fun nightclubs
Theres not really a lot to do in the town, especially for shopping, there aren't many clubs, although the ones that are there are good
Loughborough town is pretty rough/grotty in areas, we had a few break ins by the locals trying to thieve things (this happened in other areas of the campus too). The nightlife is good, you can go out pretty much any night and the place is always full of students! I have visited friends at other unis that are situated in cities (e.g. Sheffield) and the general vibe is a lot better and there are lots more clubs to go to at night. However this doesn't really detract from the Loughborough experience so don't let it put you off!
small town. Great transport links to leicester and notts for shopping
The town has everything that is needed within walking distance of the university including a range of restaurants and shops
The town is not as bad as I expected. It has everything you need but as it's not a buzzing city so you can feel like you are missing out on that sort of student life sometimes
It has all the basic places you require, nothing lavish but it gets the job done which i can cope with. Being student dominated, night outs are insane and constantly feels like freshers when you have an event going on! Compared to anywhere else I have ever visited, the buses are quality, literally 5 minutes is the average time you'll have to wait. Campus is so much fun I can sacrifice a fancy city.
Small town so not much public transport is needed but there are good regular buses and the train station is not far away.
I enjoy living within Loughborough. I like the size of the town, not too big or small.
Loughborough
Lots of supermarkets, farmfoods etc. Nightlife is electric due to loughborough students running the town. Very close to nottingham which is a great night out, especially stealth.
Cons?
Can argue its a fairly quiet area off campus with little activity other than the XMAS fair.
Quiet Town
Students Union at the University is fantastic for a night out Easy to get around, well connected via buses and trains
Cons?
Shopping could definitely be better - same experience as any other small town in the UK
Living in Loughborough
Everything is in walking distance. It's a perfect size between too big and too small. Student dominated. The town has everything you need and if it doesn't then Nottingham and Leicester are really close. A great town market.
Cons?
Unless you want to go to London the train journeys are a bit of a pain.
Student dominated.
Very windy.