People will tell you "Stoke is a shit hole" etc. Wrong. As we all know, "Chav" is word that is overly used. There's alot more to Stoke than people know. A few people who have now ridden Stoke were all abit "errr i dunno, Stoke's abit rough, dunno if i want come". They've come down, found out the riding is great, i think we got police trouble once and i can't recall any chav trouble. The chavs round here are all mouth. If they start mouthing off, Just say to them what there not expecting, for example " Oi mate, Give me a fag" you reply "No" they go "You beter give me a fag or i'll stab you" you reply "Go on then"...They will walk off. As for your bike. Just keep your eye on it. Simple as that, same everywhere really, if people see an unattended bike, they'll take it. Nightlife. Nightlife is good, Loads of clubs in Hanley, More clubs than pubs in my opinion. As for the sugarmill what Mr_Ailsbury reffered to a few posts above, Its good if you wanna' go a full on scremo death pit, One room with Dance ? LOL. I don't recall that. There's also Newcastle Town centre, Which is a 10 min bus ride from Hanley, again, Nightlife is great, More pubs than clubs in Newcastle though, Better riding also, Much more peaceful than Hanley town centre, Less chavs about. I can't comment on the university because i've never been, well i have it's where i learnt all my Karate, But that was a while ago. But from what i can remember, It's nice. So yeah, the whole "Stoke's a shithole" is bollox. I've got you on msn Benny if you wanna discuss anything Danny.