For students, Tuesday is the new Saturday in Southampton (From Daily Echo)

For students, Tuesday is the new Saturday in Southampton

4:44pm Monday 16th November 2009 in In Depth reports

I DON’T think I’ve ever spent a sober night out in town and on walking into Vodka Revolution in Bedford Place and seeing a banner with the slogan “I love vodka”, I realised why.

I do love vodka.

And it’s not only vodka, I will quite happily knock back your average ghastlycoloured alcopop and occasionally even a beer.

Well, how can a girl say no to bars where drinks are £1 with a free shot on entry?

I give you Tuesday night Southampton.

For anyone with a day off on Wednesday this is the new Saturday, which became even more apparent to me, revisiting the Bedford Place area as a graduate.

When I was a student, particularly in my first year, the only place I’d be expected to venture to on a Tuesday night would be the library, where I’d at least pretend to study.

These days, however, I daren’t miss a Tuesday night out on the tiles.

What has struck me most about the shift in popularity to the midweek is the ever-growing competition between the venues.

Anyone who has ever joined a Facebook group for a bar or club would only have to log in to the social networking site to realise this.

Aside from being faced with a barrage of emails from Bedford Place watering holes boasting a long list of drinks for as little as 99p, you are then met by a wall of promoters stopping you in the streets, waving flyers in your face.

Before long, I find myself with a wad of vouchers for guestlist, free entry and even free spirits.

I create what looks like a rainbow of coloured coupons in my hands and eventually find myself visiting them all.

Alongside hundreds of partygoers, I end up making a night of it and let me tell you, a very cheap night at that.

However, the early morning start at work was a constant reminder for me to drink responsibly, which really hits home now I’m no longer a student.

Hayley Eustace