The University of Kent is said to be spending £7k a month on a closed bar

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00:00The cash-strapped University of Kent is paying £7,000 a month on a student bar which served

00:07its last drink more than five years ago.

00:10The former cargo bar unit in Liberty Quays in Gillingham is believed to be setting back

00:16the uni which is making staff redundant due to debts and falling student numbers £84,000

00:23a year.

00:24It says it shut the bar due to a lack of financial viability and that it is looking into alternative

00:31uses.

00:32But students living in Liberty Quays say the money should be better spent.

00:36I think it makes me very upset, you know, I mean, nothing's going on inside here, you

00:41know what I mean?

00:42Give it to people in need, people that need it right now, you know?

00:44I think it should be put in better places, you know, maybe, I don't know, maybe student

00:49events, you know, maybe some encouragement here and there, you know?

00:53Maybe give it to charities, you know, better options, better options.

00:56I definitely think that they should put the students at the forefront of their, you know,

01:02their thinking and although maybe this was maybe a good call once upon a time, it may

01:07no longer be the best use of the money, so they definitely should think about the students

01:11who need the money more, so yeah.

01:14Did you know the cargo bar existed before you had a chat with me?

01:17Honestly I didn't, I honestly didn't and the fact that it's actually that much money to

01:20something that's not that popular or well known around the area, for me, you know, speaks

01:25to its importance and stuff like that.

01:28So you guys spend a lot of money on tuition fees, how does it make you feel that a chunk

01:34of that money is being spent on something that hasn't been opened since 2019?

01:37How does it make you feel about your money basically going into that?

01:42Well, not happy, of course, you know, landlines quite a lot, what, most of it goes to the

01:46rent, not most of it, you know what I mean, a chunk goes to the rent for that empty building.

01:51Maybe they're opening up for something that would be nice, yeah?

01:53Yeah, no, I agree, it's a lot of our money and, you know, we are going to be in debt

01:58by the end of it and I'd rather that money goes to something that would be useful rather

02:02than something that's just been shut the entire time.