Formal (university)

In some colleges, formals may be held every night, and are simply a second sitting of hall at which gowns are worn and grace is read.

Generally, though, they are known as: Abbreviations of the above terms tend to be either formal or, at St John's College, Cambridge, hall.

In some Cambridge colleges, Smarties are used as an alternative, due to the request of the kitchen staff (pennies apparently being a problem in dishwashers).

Almost all Bristol, Durham, Leeds, St Andrews, Royal Holloway, Dublin, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge college formal halls include a high table, exclusively for the senior common room of the college and their guests, with students eating at the lower tables.

At Manchester halls, which do not have a close academic connection with the university and have always been largely undergraduate institutions, the executive committee of the junior common room sits at the high table.