We asked the locals of Redland what they really think about students

Earlier this term a leaflet was anonymously posted through letterboxes in Redland, accusing students of bringing “more noise, more cars, more rubbish and more disruption” to the area.

But do the locals really hate us all that much? We took to the streets to find out.

Barman at The Clyde

“All the ones we get in here are cool. We do get a lot of students in here. But never had any problems. I mean yeah, sometimes they can be rowdy, but then so can people who aren’t students.

“Yeah, they’re fine, obviously make a bit of noise. I mean you’re young and you’re having fun and you’re free, why wouldn’t you make a bit of noise? But then again you get the people who like to moan a lot, don’t you.

“That just makes me think the person who wrote [the leaflet] is unhappy. But we could be getting too deep there, couldn’t we…?”

Simon

“Mixed really. Sometimes they let us know if they are having a party, other nights they don’t. And when they have had the party, music goes on until four/five in the morning. One time I knocked, had this girl open the door and say, “fuck off!” This was a couple of years ago now.

“We did have a problem last year but I found the student liaison chap, and he had words with them. The only thing that does upset me is when they come back at four in the morning, singing their heads off, drunk out of their brains. And they do tend to come into our garden and urinate.”

Paul

“Yeah I’m all in favour of students. All in favour of students.”

Claire

“I’m not offended by students, not at all. And I’d say they bring business as well. And in the summer there’s no students at all, and that effects all the businesses around here.

“But no, I haven’t got a problem with them personally.”

Chandos Road Shopkeeper

“I’m not living here but I’ve got a business here.

“They’re nice, good behaviour. In my shop, most of them come in nicely, and for the business side, that’s good.”

Ben and Nick

Ben: “Well it’s the same as everything, some bad ones, and some good ones.”

Nick: “Some of them are spoilt and they’re renting places and they just trash the place.”

Ben: “Its different for us as we don’t have any students as neighbours, whereas I know people who live down these streets who do get pissed off as the students party till five in the morning and they can’t get to sleep. And they don’t care what they do, and maybe its people like that who let the rest of them down.”

Nick: “The university should say: ‘Look when you’re out living in the areas around you, you’re representing this establishment so you gotta behave your arses’. It’s just common courtesy. I mean with some kids, I’m not saying all, but they’re spoilt, they have what they want and everything done for them all the time, they get kind of sloppy.”

Ben: “Bristol university students are generally on the wealthier side of things.”

Dermot

“I don’t like it at all actually. There’s too many of you, taking over all these beautiful houses and turning them into garbage.

“This house here, they have young babies in there, and every so often a student decides to have a party, playing banging techno all bloody night long. Shouting: you don’t just talk to each other, you shout all the time. Out in the streets, smashing glass, shit everywhere.”

“I don’t actually think you should be students half the time. Bristol, in the ‘70s, I remember there were only a limited amount of students, then the Labour party took over and they made people go to university whether they liked it or not. But you know there should be more people doing vocational courses, like normal things, like the skills- that’s what your hands are for.”

“Because a lot of you, you’ll get out of university and go straight on the bloody dole! You won’t be able to pay your fees back and you wont be able to get a mortgage because of that. You’ve all been manipulated by politicians – they’re the ones to blame – and greedy landlords.”

“You’ve been put in little cells just to make lots more money for the landlord. They’re greedy landlords, they don’t care about anything. They’re all in league with the politicians, and the police.”