What is the 'best' self-catered hall?

Hi guys..

Sorry if this has been done before!!

Looking forward to coming to Leeds this September, but there is absolutely no way I'm having my food mass-produced for me! (I've been at Uni before, Nottingham, and whilst I know dinner in catered halls might make for a wider social network I still cannot risk starving to death!)..

So who has any suggestions for me?

During my interview/open day I was shown one self-catered flat on campus.. but it was ridiculously small, both the building and flats themselves. Can't remember the name though!?

I wont be able to make it to this 'Accomodation Open Day' some people have mentioned so..

Any ideas!?

Looking at the Leeds website I like the idea of Bodington and Devonshire. A couple of the others look nice, but they happen to be run by 'Unite' who I've not got a particularly favourable relationship with since my first go at uni in Notts!! :biggrin:

Anyway..

Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

felixGash

Oiii!!

University of Leeds

Leeds

Reply 2

guitarromantic

Dev is known to be a bit 'posh'; Bodington is pretty far out (bus back after uni around 4p-6pm can take the best part of an hour, even though it's only 5 miles) but it has a pretty good atmosphere since it's the biggest. I was at Oxley, self-catered, pretty grounds, and not as far out as Bodington. Same applies to Lupton.

Reply 3

felixGash

Cheers mate..

I dont really want to be so far out. Dont wana be a hermit at uni and never see town you know what I mean!?

How far is Dev from Town/Uni?

Thanks again..

Reply 4

guitarromantic

Err it's not far from Headingley I believe (the main student town area; Lupton is pretty much in the centre, Oxley is a mile away, Bodington is about 2 or 3 miles away). To be honest though, you'll most likely get a bus pass and can get to town pretty easily when it's not rush hour, I wouldn't let that be a huge factor if I was you.

Reply 5

TomJackson

I wouldn't be put off by James Baillie Park because it is ran by Unite - i live there and i've never had a problem, nor have any of my friends. The flats are really nice and very social. With ragard to maintenance - generally things are sorted on the day/day after you hand in the report form thing. Its also in a great location - you can walk to headingley in 10 mins, and to uni in 15mins : its ideal for both study and social things. Town is about 25-30 min walk which is really convenient. Personally i would say it was the best self catered halls...

Some info about the others if you want :

Dev - nice looking, basically same location as James baillie Park, good social things, rooms not as nice as other halls, tends to be inhabited by a lot of stuck up people which i know has affected one of my friends 1st year due to the "posh" environment.

Boddington - long way from uni, some blocks are really dated and not particularly nice, very social, close to sports pitches, you WILL buy a bus pass which sets you back over £150 for the year...

Any others you want some info on?

Reply 6

felixGash

Thanks for the info mate..

With regards to Unite.. there is NO way I will live in a Unite owned accomodation. That's not down to the fact I dislike the flats/rooms themselves, but Unite and I dont see eye to eye at all (!) and I've gone to court (I say it lightly - nothing special came of it) over some problems with them.

Anyway..!

JBP does seem nice though. Shame its ruled out of the equation.

As for Dev being full of 'rahs' or whatever you want to call them.. that doesnt reaaally bother me. I mean, I'm in no sense a 'posh' person. Born and raised in a London council estate! But those things dont particularly bother me. I've got posh friends, and I tend to get on with people regardless.

One thing - the key most important thing! - that interests me, is how leniant, or otherwise, the different halls are with regards to noise?

At Notts I lived in a Unite hall and we had no warden. Infact the maintenance man, who supposedly kept the order aswell, was kind enough to provide weed and other dubious substances to those who wanted them! Point I'm getting at, it was as leniant as you'd get and lucky for us we all got along great - mind, us undergrads were a minority with most students being postgrad or international, no offence, but they were kind of hermits.

I'm not a selfish person and wont make noise on purpose (!) but I have to admit I do like to play my music.. quite loud.. and at all hours of the day/night! Of course I'll take others into consideration and my habits might have to change for a year or so.

But is there any hall in particular you'd say wernt soooo strict? And up for a laugh!?

Thanks mate!! :smile:

Reply 7

MagicNMedicine

to be honest if you are playing music all hours of the day/night then you're going to get more trouble off other students than you are the wardens, the official policies pretty much everywhere say you have to pipe it down after 10pm and although the wardens are never around to enforce that, if there's somebody above or below you who is in uni early the next day and you're playing music at 2am then you're going to get a knock on the door.

I lived in Lupton in my first year, that was a really good hall for a lot of reasons, price, down to earth people, proximity to shops and the Headingley places to go out, ease of transport connection to uni, its hard to speak for others because obviously you only live in one, but everyone I know who was a Lupton is still a big fan to this day.

Reply 8

guitarromantic

You can't really assign personalities to, er, a building, you know? It all depends who goes there. Some students won't have any idea about the 'reputations' of where they apply to and won't be happy if someone is blasting DNB at 2am because they think Bodington is a 'up for a laugh' hall or whatever, you know?

Don't be 'that guy', seriously.

Reply 9

MagicNMedicine

I agree with that one, we had a girl in our block who was notorious for the bass of her speakers constantly thudding through peoples ceilings/floors in the early hours of the morning, her line when people complained was always "if you wanted to go in the quiet block you should have asked". Probably she got away with it because she was a girl, whereas a guy would have got told to shut the f- up. The chickens came home to roost when she was looking for people to live with her in 2nd year though, because nobody from the block would! I pity the fools from her course that took her in.

Reply 10

dawn

does anyone know if nursing/healthcare students are put together in the same halls? just wondered as the courses are longer than others?
if so.....which halls do they tend to put you in?

thanks

Nursing sept 07-University of Leeds-Unconditional Offer Accepted

Reply 11

Fleece

Um...I doubt it....foreign languages and medicine are also longer than the standard 3 years....not quite sure what good it would do to put you in with people who are there a year longer same as you?

I mean, it's only your first year...i.e. what difference will it make to your final year?

Reply 12

dawn

sorry i meant due to placements we would be in halls longer for each year of the 3 year course- i think its like 45 weeks compared to other courses which are less than that??

Reply 13

Fleece

You won't be in halls longer than the max contract anyway...

Some people stayed right until the contract ran out, I know I did.

I wouldn't worry about it :smile: