Chichester Reviews

Living in Chichester

The market town of Chichester (or ‘Chi’ to the students) is compact, close-knit and quiet, but it’s certainly not in the middle of nowhere and students will quickly find that it also has all the necessary mod cons.

Actually only half of the University of Chichester is here - the Bishop Otter Campus. The other half is twenty minutes down the road at seaside town of Bognor Regis, but there are still close links and regular buses between the two.

The shopping’s not bad, and there are two cinemas here; one is your standard big screen multiplex at the Chichester Gate leisure park just outside the town, which also has gyms and bowling. The other is the independant Chichester Cinema which shows the same big titles, but also the indie films, the foreign films, the nostalgic classics, and all the other little movies that the big cinemas think nobody cares about. Shows how much they know! The pubs and bars outweigh the clubs, but you will find a few good ones if you look, and student night is normally Tuesday. Most of this is based in the area around the cathedral in the town centre

The area does well for entertainment, holding several festivals every year including the Goodwood Festival of Speed (a celebration of all things motoring - the faster the better) and the ROX Music and Arts Festival in nearby Bognor which involves not just music but art, dance, drama and comedy too. The Chichester festival Theatre is well-renowned and has drawn some prestigious acts to the town

Sussex is officially in the UK’s sunniest region, and it also sits neatly between the English Channel and the South Downs National Park so staying indoors is just not an option. There are beaches less than half an hour away from you, and open fields within ten minutes, which puts an endless list of land and water-based sports right at your fingertips.

No lectures this morning?

• Nature: Get away from your desk and visit Kingley Vale in the downs, or Pagham Harbour on the coat. Both are nature reserves with some amazing scenery.
• Science: The South Downs Planetarium is just the other side of the railway tracks, and can show you the skies at night whatever the weather is doing outside!
• History: Fishbourne Roman Palace is on the western outskirts of Chichester. There are some remarkable finds here, like mosaics which are still completely intact after spending almost 2000 years below the ground. There are usually tours round it to help you make the most of your visit.

Good to know

• Bus: There’s an inter-campus bus operating five days a week during term time that links Chichester with Bognor Regis.  The local service is run by Stagecoach.
• Car? Not really. The campus is so close to the town centre, and everything else in in easy reach by public transport.
• Train: The trip to Portsmouth will take you about 40mins if you need to get some extra shopping done, and London Bridge, Waterloo and Victoria stations can be reached in around 90mins.