► About UBU

The University of Bradford Union (UBU) was established in 1966 when the University was given its charter. The aim of the Students' Union is to provide a wide range of facilities for students, from advice and support to sports and societies, from media to entertainments.

The UBU was originally located in the Richmond Building before most of its services moved over into the 'Staff / Student Communal Building' (now just 'Communal Building') when that was built in May 1976. The rest of the Union offices joined them in October 1993 when the extension was built.

The layout of the Communal Building has changed over time with the bar expanding over the years (and changing from the name 'The Mainline' to 'JBs' and then to 'The Courtyard') and various services such as the Union Shop, second hand store and radio station RamAir moving locations.

The UBU used to have a bar in the Richmond Building called the Biko Bar, which closed down in 2004 due to refurbishments in that building.

In 2009 the Students' Union moved out of the Communal Building to Kirkstone Halls whilst the building goes under a multi-million pound re-fit, the halls re-named as 'The Student Centre'.

From August 2010 the newly refurbished Communal Building - now 'Student Central' - is the home of the Students' Union.

Some Interesting trivia...

The original design of the Communal Building contained no right angles. Today this is most obvious if you look around the outline of the stage end of the dancefloor, which, to the best of my knowledge retains the original layout. For many years the entire building was protected by an Architects clause that specified that any alterations or further development of the building must adhere to the “no right angles” design specification.

The UBoutique used to be called the ‘Second Hand Store’ and, before that, the room was the office for Kinetic, the precursor to this paper.

The Courtyard, before it was even JBs and the Mainline, used to be called the Quiet Bar and was only half the size it is today. The other end used to feature a travel shop. Before one of its re-fits, the pool room was walled off from the main bar.

Before moving to the Richmond Building, the print shop used to be what is now the female prayer room.

RamAir was originally going to be called ‘CB Sound’ after its position in the ‘Communal Building’. It’s studio used to be on the top floor of the building before moving to its current location.

One of the original ideas was a 3 storey car park where communal building now located... perhaps the design was modified because it does look like that to the casual observer.  Perhaps it is no wonder that it looks like it does.

Communal Building – arguably the most interesting building on the whole campus – has three floors, all of them “ground” floors.

Lake proposed on floor of amphitheatre – included originally but lost when contract changed hands during build

Ted Edwards (the first VC) appears to have exerted considerable influence on the decision to build a place where staff and students were encouraged to mingle - hence communal building.  He appears to have championed the removal of barriers to interdisciplinary working (+learning +social).  At that time other Universities were putting up separate buildings for Student Unions. Bradford bucked the trend.

The Union Shop was originally in half of the Courtyard before moving to Richmond D Floor next to the Biko Bar before ending up in its current location, which used to be a TV room and snooker room depending on the time.

The Courtyard was originally the Quiet Bar, then the Mainline from 1983; then later JBs (1998) before finally becoming the Courtyard (2004).

The UBoutique used to be a sewing room; the laundrette an engineering workshop; the RamAir tech store a photography dark room; the bar toilets a travel office; and counselling TV rooms, plus lots more changes we’re sure.

Photos from University Special Collections.