The Student Room Group
Student working at the Cole Museum
University of Reading
Reading
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Northcourt House?

Hello
I will be starting at Reading in September 2010 as a postgraduate student and I have been offered accommodation at Northcourt House. I can find no information about these halls on the Reading website and when I rang the accommodation office they gave me basic details like location and price, but I want to know what they are like to live in.

I will be living with my partner who is a non-student and we want to live in halls for the instant social life but as we are both in our 20's we have a lot of stuff between us (and a car) and don't want to cram it into a small student room.

Has anyone lived in these halls perviously or knows anyone who has? The address is 12 Nourthcourt Avenue.
Reply 1
It's not in halls - non-students aren't allowed to live in them. It's part of the dedicated family accommodation and is most likely to be a self-contained flat.
Student working at the Cole Museum
University of Reading
Reading
Visit website
Reply 2
You are amazingly lucky - there's 14 rooms in this place and by pure chance I'm in one of them. The rooms are NOT big enough for you to bring all your stuff, that I can assure you. I do not have anywhere near enough space for only me, and the double rooms are not much bigger and do not have loads more storage. You will have one wardrobe, a chest of drawers, a small table with a couple of chairs and a desk. The kitchens are nice but not big if everyone wants to cook at once (unless you are on the top floor there are 5 rooms to a kitchen, and if some of them are couples rooms thats a lot of people) and there are again space issues in terms of food storage. It is exactly the same as living in ordinary halls except quieter and the rooms are a bit bigger.

It is right next to St Pat's - I pretended to be a fresher and joined in all their halls stuff and no one minded or noticed, I met a lot of my friends that way. NCH is very quiet, but people are friendly enough, most of the people that live here are American and most others are European. I wouldnt expect any sort of social life to come from this house, so you will probably want to look to people on your course/societies in terms of a social life.

Just to clarify what Grotbag said above: non-students are allowed to live here, we have several non-student partners floating about here, and it isn't part of dedicated family accommodation. Most of the people here are single postgrads and the occasional couple (one per floor I think, maybe 2) - there are no children.
Reply 3
Thanks for the details! That's definitely given me something to think about. We have been offered a double room but I don't think one wardrobe and one chest of drawers would hold all our clothes, not to mention various pieces of sports equipment.
Do the rooms have bookshelves? And if not would anyone mind/notice if I put up shelves and then discretely removed them at the end of the tenancy?
Most importantly though - is there a good pub within walking distance? I can put up with all manner of discomforts for a good local.
Reply 4
Sorry yes there are bookshelves, and yes they would mind very much if you put up bookshelves. There is however a good local, the Queens head is just around the corner :smile:
Reply 5
I have one more question. Does anyone in the building have sky tv? I asked the accommodation people about tv aerial sockets in rooms and they told me there were no sockets and you can't put dishes or aerial on the outside of the building. However, I can see from google earth (!) that there is a dish on the front of the building and an aerial at the side. Am I looking at the wrong building, or have the accommodation people got it wrong?
Reply 6
No one has Sky TV as far as I know, I've also never seen a sky dish, but I will go outside and look later if I remember. I don't have a TV, but I do have an aerial socket in my room. :smile:
Reply 7
So I take it all the rooms must have aerial sockets as they surely must have all the same facilities? I find it very strange that the accommodation people don't seem to know anything about it - you have been really helpful though thank you!
Reply 8
I've been offered an accomodation in these houses too. I've been told that i must arrange internet connection by myself, is that true? No internet in these houses? I'm interested in TV too, so Sky TV is possible or i'll have to opt for standard TV.

The second option is a flat in Creighton Court. Any information about this place would be great. There the internet is available throuh university networks, but i'd like to know if it possible to arrange a stand alone broadband connection with some other operators.
Reply 9
Hi!
I am going to Reading in october only for two months. And my girlfriend comes also to do a stay of research. So it will be difficult to get accomodation from the Uni.

I am looking for info about accommodation in Reading. It would be great to find a studio, flat or some little house shared with not many people. Do you know about any flats or studios for students? Do you know if landlords are used to make an agreement if we cannot go to Reading until last days of September?

Would you recommend me to talk with some estate agents? How much does it cost to find accommodation through an estate agent?

Thank you very much if somebody can help me with my questions!!!
Reply 10
Economicus - at Northcourt House they told me there was internet connection in all bedrooms (bills for this are included in the rent) and this is also connected to the university network.

I was in Reading on Tuesday to visit my department and went to find Northcourt in the afternoon - there were tv aerials on the roof but I couldn't see a Sky dish. I spoke to Sky on the telephone though and they said they can fit a dish - my girlfriend will not move house without Sky so this is excellent news.

As for short-term lets in Reading Juanf, I think you would best contacting local estate agents. I think the cost of private rent is quite expensive though, that is why I opted for university accomodation. Your best option might be to contact the university and find out if they offer short-term accomodation in halls. Good luck! House hunting is a pain in the arse.
Reply 11
Hi guys,

I used to work for halls at uni so may be able to clear up a few points about Northcourt House...

Internet: All rooms have a data connection to the internet and the uni network.

Aerial Sockets: As the building is old not all the rooms are identical, so some will have aerial sockets and some wont.

TV in your room: Reading has a connection to FreeWire TV that will allow you to watch TV on your laptop. TVCatchup also streams live channels. If you choose to use either, you'll need a TV licence.

Sky: You are definitely not allowed to install a dish on the side of the building.

Shelving in rooms: Again, you are definitely not allowed to remove or add additional shelving that is fixed to a wall. Doing so may result in a large fine.

By the way, this is Northcourt House:
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Reading,+Berkshire+RG2+7HB,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.44157,-0.955376&spn=0.002692,0.005509&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.441481,-0.955497&panoid=BnlI3xfEH4rFF09y7xoM1Q&cbp=12,262.36,,1,1.72

Hope all that helps!
Rhys
Yeah, you definitely can't put a sky dish up. Your girlfriend will just have to live with it - this is university accommodation, you can't just go around making changes to the building!
Hi,

I haven't made my final decision yet, but I will probably start my PhD next October in Reading. I might go to Northcourt House with my girlfriend. Where can I find some photos of the rooms? Is it quiet? Which is the average age?

Just would like to know about your experience there, and as well in reading as a graduate student.

Thanks!
Reply 14
Hi,

I am going to do a grad program this fall and my partner will be coming with me. Can anyone comment on the studio's/flats?

Thanks!
If you get accepted to 14 Northcourt House . DO NOT ACCEPT. There are 9 rooms, on three levels. It is an extremely old, run down, cold and disgusting house. The rooms are horrible, nothing like they look on the reading accommodation website there was mold and mildew in both, the carpet was dirty and ripped up and coming off of the floorboards and the old windows were so drafty they were almost pointless. The whole house is very dark, cold and gloomy. The rooms are not well furnished and have been poorly maintained. I do not think they have been updated since the 1940s or 50s. There is one kitchen on the main floor, it is extremely dirty, run down and the stovetop and oven took extremely long to heat up( It took me 15 minutes to get my frying pan hot enough to make scrambled eggs) The fridges are located down a long , mudded hallway and the cabinets and facilities in the kitchen were extremely dated. It looks like a kitchen from the early 1900s. The internet throughout the whole house is very slow and difficult to set up.The absolute WORST part about this house are the bathrooms. The bathrooms were disgusting, almost unlivable. They were freezing, the tubs were dirty and looked atleast 30 years old and the water did not mix. So you either had freezing water or boiling water and no shower head! You had to use a bucket to wash yourself and it was extremely uncomfortable. There were bugs in the bathroom and kitchen and evidence of rats as well.I am writing this only as a warning to students considering living in 14 northcourt house!

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