Freshers Week is one of the biggest nights out (or weeks out) of the university calendar. Whether you’re starting at the University of Chester, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Hope, the University of Liverpool, studying at Wirral Met College, or studying further afield, the first few weeks of term bring new friends, new freedoms and, for a lot of people, a lot of new nights out.

This guide is about making sure those nights out stay fun. It’s not about telling anyone not to drink or not to go out. It’s about giving you the practical knowledge to look after yourself and your mates, whichever city or town you find yourself in this September.

The nights out on your doorstep

Students studying in this part of the North West have a huge amount of choice when it comes to where to go out, and it’s worth understanding the differences before you commit to a night.

Wirral

Wirral sits between the two, and a lot of Wirral Met College students, as well as students who’ve grown up locally and are studying elsewhere, end up socialising here. Towns across the peninsula each have their own nightlife, generally smaller scale and more local than Liverpool or Chester, but no less worth knowing how to navigate safely.

Whichever of these you’re heading to, and whether you’re travelling in from halls, a shared house or your family home, the same core safety principles apply.

Pace yourself and know what you’re mixing

One of the easiest things to lose track of during Freshers Week is how much you’ve actually had. Free entry, cheap drinks offers and the buzz of meeting new people all add up to nights that move faster than usual.

Pacing your drinks matters more than most people think. Your body can only process alcohol at a fixed rate, roughly one unit an hour for most adults, so drinking faster than that just means more of it building up in your system at once. Spacing drinks out, alternating with water or soft drinks, and eating properly beforehand all make a genuine difference to how the night goes and how you feel the next day.

Mixing matters too, and it’s worth being specific about this rather than vague. Mixing different types of spirit doesn’t make you more drunk than the equivalent amount of one spirit, but it does make it much harder to keep track of how much you’ve actually consumed, because you lose the mental shorthand of “I’ve had four vodkas” when actually you’ve had two vodkas, a rum and a tequila shot somewhere along the way.

Mixing alcohol with other drugs is a different level of risk entirely. Different substances affect your central nervous system in different ways, and combining them, even ones that seem to have similar effects, can be unpredictable. This applies to prescribed medication too. If you’re on medication and unsure whether it interacts with alcohol, it’s always worth checking rather than guessing, either with a pharmacist or your GP.

Look after your mates, and let them look after you

Freshers Week is often the first time you’re socialising with people you’ve only just met, which makes looking out for each other slightly more complicated than a night out with old friends where everyone already knows each other’s limits.

A few things are worth agreeing as a group before you head out, not after things have already gone wrong:

Decide as a group that nobody gets left on their own, whatever happens. If someone wants to leave early, someone goes with them or makes sure they get home safely, rather than letting them wander off solo.

Keep a rough headcount through the night. It’s easy in a big venue for someone to drift off to a different room or a different queue and lose the group entirely.

If someone’s had too much, don’t leave them to “sleep it off” alone, especially not somewhere public like a bus stop or a doorway. If you’re worried about someone, put them in the recovery position if they’re unconscious, stay with them, and don’t be afraid to call for help. Ambulance staff and venue first aiders see this constantly and are there to help, not to judge.

This matters as much for new friendships as old ones. You don’t need to have known someone for years to make sure they get home safe.

Ask for Angela, and other schemes worth knowing about

You’ll see “Ask for Angela” posters in a lot of toilets and near bars across Liverpool, Chester and Wirral. It’s a simple scheme: if you feel unsafe, uncomfortable or are on a date that’s gone wrong, you go to the bar and ask a member of staff if “Angela” is working. Staff are trained to recognise this as a request for help and will get you to a safe space, call you a taxi, or ask the person causing you concern to leave, without making a scene. It works in any venue displaying the poster, and staff won’t need an explanation before they act.

It’s one of several initiatives running locally. Merseyside Police and Cheshire Police both work with licensed venues on door staff training, drink spiking prevention and safer night-time economy schemes, and universities across Liverpool have run Bystander Intervention Training with their Students’ Unions to help students recognise and step in when something doesn’t look right. None of these replace looking out for each other, but they’re worth knowing exist, because asking for help doesn’t have to mean making a big scene out of a bad situation.

If something goes wrong: reporting spiking, assault or rape

Most nights out pass without incident, but it’s worth knowing exactly what to do if something does happen, either to you or to someone you’re with.

If it’s an emergency, always call 999. That means anyone is injured, in immediate danger, or a crime is happening right now.

If you think you’ve been spiked, tell venue staff straight away so they can help you get somewhere safe, and get medical attention if you feel unwell or your symptoms get worse, either from venue first aiders, an ambulance, or NHS 111. Spiking is a crime whether or not anything else happened as a result, and it’s worth reporting even if you’re not sure exactly what happened or when. You can report it to the police by calling 101 for a non-emergency, or online through Merseyside Police or Cheshire Police depending on where you were. Some drugs used in spiking leave the body within twelve hours, so reporting and getting tested as soon as possible gives the best chance of the evidence being useful, but it is never too late to report, even days later.

If you think you or someone else has been sexually assaulted or raped, you don’t have to speak to the police to get support. Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) offer free, confidential medical care, forensic examination if you want it, and emotional support, whether or not you ever decide to report to the police. Safe Place Merseyside covers Liverpool and Wirral, and Cheshire SARC covers Chester and the surrounding area. Both can be contacted directly, any time, without going through the police first.

A few things worth knowing:

You are never to blame, whatever you had been drinking or however the night unfolded.

You don’t need to decide immediately whether to report to the police. SARCs can carry out a forensic examination and store the evidence, giving you time to decide later.

Reporting on behalf of a friend is possible if they’re not able to themselves, and support services will talk you through what that involves.

Every university and the college has its own reporting routes too, usually called something like “Report and Support”, which sit alongside the police and SARC options and can connect you with on-campus wellbeing support, academic adjustments, or help navigating a formal complaint if the person involved is another student.