Alcuin Bar

Alcuin bar changed dramatically in the Summer of 1995.

From aja101@york.ac.uk (Ant)

Alcuin bar used to be rather like Wenty bar, but with the same seating as it has now. The food counter wasn't there, and the slot machines which are now in Alcuin JCR used to be in the bar by the dart board.

During the year 93/94 the satellite T.V arrived, but this was soon followed by admin suggestions that the bar may have to close (along with Wentworth I think) because it wasn't making enough money. An excellent bar it was, in which to drink, chat, and watch football, but it wasn't exactly a crowd puller once autumn week 1 had passed. There was lots of campaigning against the closure during 93/94 and 94/95. During the summer of 95 it became Americanised. Whilst I hate the American tat that's littered around the place, it certainly works in filling the place up!

If anyone wants to see the Alcuin bar of the past then go in at 6:45 when it's just opened on a saturday night, and ignore anything referring to Marilyn or covered in red and white stripes.

Richard Clegg

In the late 80s early 90s when goths still walked the earth it was the favoured meeting place of the Goth Hippy Groovers society and was known for having easily the best juke box on campus (Sisters, Bauhaus, Mary Chain, Cure, Cult and associated bands).

And Pete Fenelon said

The mid-90s revamp of Alcuin Bar wasn't the only one. It had previously been "done up" over the summer of 1987. Prior to this refurbishment the games area was to the left of the main entrance, the bar area was mostly decorated in rather shabby green/orange/brown. The games/darts area ('87-95) was formerly a small, quiet and (usually!) chilly room known to its denizens (it was the sort of place that had denizens rather than customers) as ``the office''.

Jean and Sandra used to pull the best pints on campus, and definitely knew all about just how much blackcurrant to put into a pernod and black.

Alcuin cared about its customers. In his first year, Graham Taylor lived in Langwith D block. His bedroom window was visible from Alcuin Bar. He was much addicted to a particular Star Trek game that had a predominantly blue screen, and you could see the colour go out when he'd finished. It got to the point where his first pint of cider was always being pulled when he was on his way over the Alcuin/Langwith bridge!

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