Boston Students Fuel its Nightlife
What about the rest of the city?
10 p.m. is approaching, the lines are growing and the dance floors slowly filling at Ned Devine’s Pub in Faneuil Hall. The small handful of middle-aged Bostonians keen for a night out seem like fish out of water in the sea of 20-something-year-olds escaping their student responsibilities.
With 35 colleges and universities yielding around 152,000 students in the Boston area, the nightlife business relies heavily on the student population, according to Hannah Huke the head at Ned’s marketing. “We love our student guests,” she says, adding that Ned’s business would be impacted negatively if it weren’t for them. Ned Devine’s is one of a slew of similar joints downtown. Often referred to as ‘Ned’s,’ the bars inside echoe with indistinct chatter, college ‘bros’ toasting with beers, the ‘gals’ sipping cocktail straws all looking their best.
On one side of the dancefloor however, there are a few with grey beards or bald heads who have no choice but to keep to themselves if they want to go out in a city swarming with college students.
Nevertheless, Ned's award-winning chowder and location attracts all ages before the nighlife comemences. “Tourists visiting Faneuil Hall, local families stopping by after going to the Greenway or Aquarium, locals for happy hour from the Financial District,” says Huke, “everything from cornhole tournaments to weddings.” But as 10 pm nears, the “nightlife revelers” as she calls them, line up outside.
Anna, one of the bartenders tells me that almost everyone she serves in a night is a student. She adds that Ned’s also caters to the influx of young nightcrawlers with their live performances and DJ sets playing music almost-exclusively relatable to millenials. Every Friday and Saturday, Ned’s hosts cover bands and DJ’s that play classics like The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside”–a staple of early-2000’s childhoods–and some of Kesha’s or Drake’s hits for example, winning the hearts of the students. "We always seek feedback on our music offerings and pay attention to music trends and tastes in styles” says Huke. Those who missed the bandwagon by a couple of decades have to bite the bullet and dance along if they want to partake, but at Ned’s they seem to enjoy being the black sheep.
Sun Park, who has lived in Boston for 20 years, stands in the corner by the bar clasping a Bud Light with his hands crossed. His shy grin radiates from across the dance floor as he sways to the beats and the colorful flashing lights reflect off of his glasses. Park doesn’t mind that he is 43. “I know it’s a lot of students coming here, but I just come for the music. I love the young music” he says. Although he truly is one of few, the age gap does not hinder him from going out and having fun. He likes to come alone because “I don’t really come here to socialize and meet my friends,” unlike the majority of students dancing and chatting in their cliques. “My friends are all home right now” he laughs.
According to college graduates however, there is a happy medium between bars filled with students and those for the ‘adults’ of Boston, although it remains drastically young for Park. Annie F. graduated from college in 2016 and moved to Boston where she immediately noticed the high ratio of students infiltrating the nightlife. “I have to make an effort to go to older bars” she says, which she describes have “more rich people nearing their 30’s than students.” Annie also purposely stays away from big crowds, and gravitates “towards more low-key places because there are less college kids.” Although Annie is 24 years old, she has been turned away for looking too young: “I got kicked out of a bar the other week for my ‘fake id,’” she shares in a testament to the level of students who have forced bouncers to be extra careful with young patrons.
Danny Mortimer on the other hand, is a Northeastern graduate who still lives in the area. “Yes, I’ve definitely felt ‘too old’ at times when going out in Boston since graduating, but it’s not the norm,” he says. This is because, like Annie, he avoids the student scene since he now lives in Somerville where “I haven’t noticed a ton of students. There are definitely some from Tufts but it’s not as noticeable as downtown Boston,” he says.
