“Virtually all students lived in small hotels for their first year, organised through the accommodation department at DIHE. I stayed at Mondello House Hotel, in a twin room. Rates were £27 a week for DBB – a three-course dinner, bed and breakfast (cooked on weekends) with meals served to students at tables in the dining room and an honesty bar. There was talk that this was the best small hotel for students and several never moved out during their whole time at DIHE. There was of course no on-site student accommodation.
“Some of the popular, more up-market restaurants for celebration meals were Fatty Arbuckles and Smikes. Every student I think went to the Academy in Boscombe, which won Best UK Club several times in the mid-1980s with acts such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Sisters of Mercy … and for a student Ball, Gary Glitter. Everyone who was there will still remember his performance of ‘I'm The Leader Of The Gang’!
“For my last year I rented a newly refurbished large house with five others on Wallisdown Road, 10 minutes’ walk from DIHE. The rent was £17.50 per single room per week.”
