Stars Heading To Campus

Student bar Campus is merging with venue company Wylam Leisure later this year in a move that could bring acts like Katy Perry, Arctic Monkeys and The Saturdays to Wearside.

Wylam Leisure, the company behind The Glass Spider and Ttonic, are helping to put the city on the music map by revamping Sunderland University’s Campus bar.

Campus and Wylam Leisure will be working together to boost the popularity of the American style bar by incorporating an upstairs VIP area and increasing the capacity.

As well as attracting big names from the world of music the venue will also be a stage where local bands can have their chance to shine.

The bar will still host student nights on Mondays and Wednesdays but bar manager Angus Duncan hopes the changes will appeal to city centre drinkers. He said: “Campus is still going to be Campus but it was always our intention to be a live music venue.

“The changes that we are making are going to be for the better and having Wylam Leisure on board will bring more to the table.”

We asked students at the University if they think the changes at Campus will make a difference:

Dionne Pearson, 19, BSc Sports Studies, Newcastle
“I have never been to Campus before because it’s too far away from the city centre but, I would probably go if there was a decent band playing.”

Rebecca Stewart, 19, BSc Sports Studies, Newcastle
“I’ve never had a night out there but I would make the effort to go over if there was someone good playing.”

Jonathan Hindmarsh, 22, MA Pharmacy, Sunderland
“I already go to Campus but not because it’s a unique place to drink, it’s mainly because most of my friends drink there. I probably would go more often if there were more live bands on.”

Charlotte Clawes, 19, BA Dance and Drama, Barnsley
“I would go more if it was a live act venue. I don’t go at all at the moment because I don’t think it’s very good and nothing ever happens on there.”

Chris Wilkinson, 21, BA Law, Durham
“The Glass Spider is already renowned for bringing live acts to Sunderland so it would be good if Campus could do this too. I tend to go over to Sunderland more often but if Campus had live bands on I would definitely go there instead.”

By Ruth R. Aiken, Nicola Porter and Amy Watson