Grad Ball was a fantastic event, featuring tribute bands, silent discos, and two different fairground rides. Walking in there was a spectacle of lights, music, and good vibes on Redbrick alone. The vibrant lights, the pulsating beats of the music, and the excited chatter of the attendees created an electrifying atmosphere. Stags was full of students reminiscing in the front, and a silent disco was taking place at the back. The Cube featured tribute bands, while the Plant Pot offered a VIP lounge. It looked amazing.
The silent disco was the highlight of the night. Running from midnight to 2 am, there were three DJs, giving you the ability to always be listening to a song you enjoyed.
However, walking around Redbrick, something felt missing, hollow, even with nothing holding one’s interest for more than a couple of minutes. There wasn’t much to truly do. Although it was a good event, several improvements could have been made.
The rides, whilst being fun, had queue times of 30 minutes. The Casino had one poker table and one roulette table. The VIP food left much to be desired. And the time it would take to get a drink was astonishingly long.
Then we move on to the costs of the night. A £1 levy on cups were inconsistently charged, with cases of people being forced into using another cup, and paying again, despite asking for the new drink to be poured into the cup they had brought back. The cup levy was nothing more than a money grab. The food and drink prices were ridiculous; charging £4 for a can of beer or cider that would only cost £1 in a supermarket.
The fault here lies not with the staff, who were excellent, but with management and SUSU itself. SUSU has once again overcharged and underdelivered. SUSU are grappling with the finances this year, having run a deficit of £266,583 in 2023 and a deficit of £15,093 in 2024. It is therefore easy to see why they are tempted to sell tickets at such a high price.
Last year, SUSU spent double the amount on events compared to what they earned in ticket sales. And the bars took a loss of £370,000.
This makes for an interesting question. How is SUSU overcharging and underdelivering while blowing through their reserves? Where is the money going? And what are the problems? It would be nice to hope that they can fix this over the next couple of years, but the general trend of SUSU events would indicate otherwise.
