Finding parking as Kinsgton Uni student

As a driver, when starting my first year at Kingston University, I was keen to know where I was able to park! After a year here I would like to share where I have found is good to park (the majority for free).

I stayed at Seething Wells Halls of Accommodation for my first year. I decided not to bring my car when I moved in as I could see online that Seething did not offer parking. After staying there for a few months, I found a road just a 5-minute walk away from the accommodation that had free and safe parking! The road is ‘Prospect Road’ and can sometimes be difficult to find parking as it can get busy, but I have been able to find a space every time except twice. Not to worry if you can’t find a spot on this road this time, just drive another few metres along Portsmouth Road to ‘Ditton Reach’ where there are more free parking spaces.

If you are planning to stay at Middle Mill, then there is free on-site parking! There are enough spaces so not to worry about getting a space. If you have any friends or family visiting, then they can also use the car park if they get a visitor parking day pass from the reception. This is extremely handy sometimes when I wanted to drive to Uni, I could use my friend’s pass at Middle Mill which is just next to the Kingston School of Arts giving me a perfect and free location to park close to Uni.

All the roads that I have found around both Penrhyn and KSA have been residential permit parking, but free parking on yellow lines on Sunday. If you did want to park to go to the university then I would recommend parking in one of the car parks in Kingston and then walking to the universities. These car parks range in price. My favourite car park is the Rose Theatre car park as it is closest to the universities and still a good location for shopping in town. However, I rarely drove to university as the free Uni bus system worked perfectly fine for me. I could get the bus at any time, 5 times an hour, from Seething Wells to either Penrhyn, town, Kingston Hill or Roehampton Vale. If I wanted to study in the library at Penrhyn, which is open 24/7 on weekdays, I would get the bus and then leave the library at 11 pm to make the last bus back to Seething. If I didn’t want to walk and wanted to stay later then I could have the option to drive but the bus was always fine for me.

Clayhill Halls of Accommodation has parking on site which is handy. The KU2 bus goes to Clayhill, Surbiton station and Penrhyn. From Penrhyn, it is an easy walk into Kingston, so you can survive without a car if you don’t want to bring yours!

Chancellors Halls and Walkden Halls Accommodation are right on the doorstep of Kingston Hill campus. Both accommodations have parking on site! Kingston Hill is also a stop on the KU free bus.

Pros and Cons of bringing your car to Kingston University:
Pros- freedom to drive wherever whenever, saving money on Uber’s to places, visiting other areas of London faster without getting public transport, easy to visit family or friends in other areas in the UK without having to get numerous trains that tend to be more expensive.

Cons- can be challenging to find parking depending on where, might be made the taxi driver of your group of friends, might be easier to use public transport for some things.

Overall, from my own experience, I have enjoyed bringing my car to Uni and have found it easy to stick to free parking, so I am saving some money. I love having the freedom to go anywhere e.g., taking my friends and I to the garden centre, out to restaurants, big shopping trips from the big Aldi or big Tesco!!! I would recommend bringing your car to Uni, but you can also do what I did and see how it goes without a car up until Christmas and then you can bring your car for the rest of your time at Uni if you find that you want it!

Let me know if you have any questions!
Yasmin (BA design marketing)

I go to the campus on Penrhyn Road and I’m thinking of driving there instead of transport where would I be able to park?

You can pre-book parking at the Asda on the Evology Parking app

Thank you is the limit still 3 hours or around that? Or can I buy more hours ?

I used it to book a full day

Thank you. I saw it’s a 22 min walk from Penrhyn road campus does that sound right to you? I also saw The Bittoms car park have you heard of that? If you have do you know if I can park there too?

Thank you. I saw it’s a 22 min walk from Penrhyn road campus does that sound right to you? I also saw The Bittoms car park have you heard of that? If you have do you know if I can park there too?

Hi there
Just wondering were you able to get funding after you dropped out of your course in year 1 and started pharm with foundation at Kingston?

Thanks

Yes I was. You’re given only one extra year of funding from SFE

So you usedup the gift year right? So if you need to resit a year then u get no funding?