Owens Park

Owens Park in 1975, approximately ten years old

Owens Park is a large hall of residence located in the Fallowfield district of the city of Manchester, England. The hall is owned by the University of Manchester and houses 1,056 students.

The hall, designed by Building Design Partnership, and built in 1964-6, is most notable for its 61 metre-high tower, which is a local landmark. It has a fibreglass relief, Cosmos I, by Mitzi Cunliffe, at the base. Plans by the University of Manchester to demolish the tower have been abandoned as a result of protests by current and past residents. In 2005 a refurbishment programme was planned; no action has yet been taken..

Owens Park is a significant part of the Fallowfield Campus of the University of Manchester. The terms 'Owens Park' and 'Fallowfield Campus' are sometimes used interchangeably.

Organisation

Owens Park comprises five main residential blocks (Tower, Tree Court, Green Court, Little Court, and the Mall), an entertainment block (referred to as "The OP"), where the weekly Owens Park BOP ('Big Old Party') used to take place before it was moved to Jabez Clegg from September 2009, and an administration/library block. It also contains a computer cluster available to all students of the University.

The residential blocks are internally sub-divided into 'houses', each now housing approximately 30-40 students. In the past, Tree Court was exclusively female, whilst the other blocks housed only male students. Now all block are of mixed sex, though any given floor in a house is single sex with exception to the tower. Each house has a supervising tutor and a common room. Each floor in a house has its own bathroom and kitchen (though the kitchen closest to a common room is often used by the whole house rather than its intended floor). The halls are catered during the week.

There are generally rivalries between adjacent houses and other halls of residence, these can be contested in sporting events such as football as each halls of residence generally have a team. Football matches are held each Wednesday and the occasional Saturday (for cup matches).

The current Owens Park Student Association (OPSA) positions are filled as follows:

President - Jacob Glass; General Secretary - Harold Busby; Junior Treasury - Anton Potter;

Communications Secretary - Amy Newton; Publications Secretary - Jim Johnstone; Social Secretaries - Sean Archard, Lily Risby; Sports Secretaries - Josh Morgan, Craig McCoy; Welfare Secretary - Eve Hazlett; Arts & Charities/Culture Secretary - Zazie Clarke, Zedi Thomas

Notable residents

Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien was a resident during his time at university in Manchester. The Chemical Brothers played their first gig at the Owens Park BOP. The comedian Jack Whitehall also lived in the Tower.

The Bop

The BOP has now been moved to Jabez Clegg. It is claimed by some that this was the original home of the BOP, but this is untrue as the BOP has been operating since the 1960s whereas Jabez Clegg opened in the early 1990s. This move was due to University of Manchester management (notably Dr Brendon Jones) deciding it was no longer an option for the bar. Despite this upheaval it is still proving to be a massive success with the new format still selling out every week despite the large capacity increasing from 860 to over 1200. Due to negotiations between OPSA and Jabez Clegg the traditional BOP drinks such as the Green Monster and Cheeky Vimto are now stocked at the bar. Entry is £3.50 with a ticket beforehand from the BOP street team or £5 on the door. The new format has meant that the infamous 2-hour queues are a thing of the past and an alcoholic milkshake bar outside has proved popular.

Prior to September 2009 Owens Park BOP (Big Old Party) was a night held in Owens Park every Friday in the Owens Park tower's ball room for students of the University of Manchester. The BOP generally had a theme and from September 2008 charged £1 entry to residents, which had caused some outrage amongst residents as previously it had been free. It had a charge of £3.50 for all other entrants. Only students were allowed to enter the BOP and a student card must have been presented upon entry.

The BOP was a popular student night out due to its low cost on drinks and transport as most of the BOP's customers were residents of local student halls of residence, however Owens Park residents had been known to become disgruntled at the high level of students from other halls of residence coming to the event due to the large queues this created to gain access.

The BOP usually had a theme each week such as a western theme or a dead celebrity theme causing large numbers of students to dress up for the occasion.

The BOP was set out very much like a classic school disco except with the inclusion of the sale of alcohol. As a customer entered they were greeted with the main tower bar with its own DJ and a vast amount of seating, however the main draw of the BOP lay in the large hall upstairs. Upstairs there was a second bar and a foyer-like drinking area, and next door there was a large conference hall. The large hall had a disco-like atmosphere and professional DJ on the stage, with small amounts of seating at the sides. The BOP was generally open from 8pm till around 2am, however times had been known to vary.

The BOP was run by the Owens Park Student's Association Executive Committee (OPSA). Responsibility for running the BOP had more recently been transferred to private promoters due once again to the campus management no longer wanting OPSA to have anything to do with it. The Committee is also in charge of running all other hall activities such as the pub quiz, karaoke, sports, and hall pub and club outings.

The BOP is known on a larger scale for being the venue of the Chemical Brothers' first gig.

External links

• Owen's Park Tower from http://www.skyscraperpage.com
• Accommodation page written by students
• University accommodation page
• The Bop Photo Gallery