Drink up UCD students, the college bar will soon be no more

Try not to take this news too badly UCD students, but the university have been forced to call time on the student bar because of long-term financial difficulties.

As in a lot of universities, the college bar in the UCD campus was one of the staples of college life, particularly in a campus as big as the UCD one in South County Dublin.

According to a report in today’s Sunday Independent, however, the student union have had to call closing time on the bar due to long-running financial difficulties.

The Sindo reports that the bar’s management, made up of students and college staff, were in last-ditch talks over the summer to save the bar and the jobs of the nine full-time employees, but couldn’t cope with huge debts which had spiralled out of control over a number of years, with the Students' Union itself owing €90,000.

To make matters even worse for UCD socialites, the other bar on the UCD Campus, the Forum Bar, remains closed pending refurbishment and it is not yet clear when or even if it will re-open.

"We are frustrated at the prolonged negotiations with the bursar and the inactivity of the college on this issue," Students' Union president Rachel Breslin is quoted as saying in the Sunday Independent.

A university spokesman added: "The UCD Student Club closed on June 15 and a new bar called the Sports Club House, associated with the new student centre, is currently under development."

While the closing of the bar is bad news for the students in need of some refreshment between lectures, there was better news for the more active members of the UCD community with the opening of a €50 million student centre housing an Olympic swimming pool, a huge gym, a cinema, a sauna, a steam room and a jacuzzi.

Named after the late ex-Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald, free access to the centre will be granted to all students apart from in the pool area, where students will have to pay €4 a pop or €100 for unlimited access over a one-year period. Members of the public, meanwhile, can access the facilities but will have to fork out an annual fee of €800 to become a member.

The opening of the centre is great news, of course, but the demise of the bar will still be lamented by many members of the current UCD student population.

Guess it'll have to be back to cans in the gaff then.