University students given town centre taste at exclusive 'Welcome to Burnley' night

The ‘Welcome to Burnley’ night, organised by burnley.social in collaboration with UCLan and BCUC, was held at Illuminati Bar and Restaurant in Hammerton Street.

Thrilled students enjoyed a complementary cocktail or mocktail upon entry, and a free buffet.

Event organiser Luke Pollard said: “This event was to celebrate Burnley’s growing student numbers and we absolutely succeeded in doing that.

"It was originally going to be exclusively for new students but we decided to make it open to all years as previous years had missed out on their own freshers night.”

Luke is the digital marketing coordinator for the burnley.social brand, which aims at supporting the increasing student population and raising young people’s ambitions in the town,

“UCLan has targets of 4000 students by 2025, a target which they are well track of achieving. Friday’s student night was a clear example of how Burnley is transforming into a university town.”