Kirkstall Brewery

For anyone who has lived or is living in Kirkstall Brewery, What did you think of,

1 Surrounding area
2 Accomadation
3 people you were living with (Were any of different nationality? did they do the same or similar course?
4 noise
5 social atsmosphere


Thanks for any replies.

I lived there in Warehouse, in an en suite, in the academic year 2003/4.

Hmm. What can I say... Kirkstall Brewery is an acquired taste.

The surrounding area... its on a hill - if you go up the hill, into Bramley, its quite rough and should be avoided, however there is no need to ever go up the hill so this shouldnt be an issue!! There is a huge Morrisons and petrol station two minutes walk down the road, which is really convenient. There are also bus stops 2 minutes walk away for buses into the city and Headingley. However, you will need to use these buses because there is nothing else at Kirkstall, apart from a few pizza shops on the main road which are probably best avoided, they are a bit intimidating!! Oh there is a public swimming pool 5 minutes walk away if you like swimming!

Contrary to the prospectus it is not really walking distance to the Headingley campus - its a good 30min walk, all uphill on the way there (which encourages you to stay in bed when you have 9am lectures lol!) and you have to cross 2 fields, and again, a not-very-nice area. You wouldnt be able to walk alone and feel safe. If you go the road way, its about 50 min walk. The bus comes every 30mins into Headingley, then you would have a 10-15min walk. If you're at city campus, you would need to get the bus from Morrisons, there are about 4 an hour I think and it takes about 10 mins depending on traffic.

If you drive, you have to pay for a parking permit within Kirkstall - it was 100 pounds a year when I was there, but I assume this will have gone up as the rent has! If you dont get allocated a space, (because they do get allocated very quickly and run out) then you really cant take your car - there is nowhere else to park, no roads or anything - there is a layby across the road that fits about 4 cars, but it is always full and they got constantly broken into - literally everyone that parked there got broken into into.

Accommodation - its quite good actually, by uni halls standard! Kitchens are a good size, (well mine was!!) and there is a diner area with a table and chairs, but no lounges. As the building is converted, and is listed, they could only make limited changes, so you will find that the room sizes, both of kitchens and bedrooms, vary HUGELY yet everyone pays the same rent!! My bedroom and our kitchen was literally twice the size of my friends' in a different building, yet we paid the same - so its luck of the draw as to how big the rooms will be. Bathrooms for en suite are tiny, but who cares, it just for you, and having your own bathroom is such a luxury!! Regarding facilities, the gym was pathetic, the laundry was good to have on site, and the bar was excellent - cheap and fun, pool tables, quizzes, events, etc. Security were helpful and friendly as well. Shop very expensive, but you only have your own laziness to blame if you use it as Morrisons is so close!!

People in my flat were on law, PR and business. (although I originally applied for PR then swapped to law, so technically we should all have been on PR or business) I dont know if this was a coincidence or not. Foreign students all tended to be allocated in the same buildings. I loved two of my housemates, still two of my best mates, but had issues with the others over noise, drugs, mess etc. But my situation was pretty extreme, I very much doubt thats the norm.
Noise is a massive massive issue at Kirkstall. Its non-stop party central. I put that I wanted a low noise level on my application, yet got allocated with people who put `high`, so that was a wasted exercise. Every building is pretty much the same from what others said though. Fire alarms are set off virtually every night by drunken students, and they evacuate every room and check, so you will regularly be standing outside shivering in your pajamas for 30-40mins at 4am. (unless you ARE the drunken student) We had 143 (if I remember rightly) fire alarms between coming back from Easter and leaving in the summer. However, whether the noise, (EVERY night - the whole time I was there I never slept through a night without been woken up by other flats, even ones across the canal!!) bothers you or not is a personal preference - these halls were wrong for me, but if you have loads of money, stamina and no regard for your studies, you will love it here - always a party, always things going on, great social life if thats your thing!!

You must be honest with yourself if you can hack Kirkstall before you go, otherwise your first year will be ruined like mine was.
But if this sounds exactly what you want out of your first year, and you're willing to face the inconvenience of not being within walking distance of Headingley, City, Uni, then you will love it.

I know one person, she's an international student.

Hi ellewoods,
I'm writing this from Sugarwell at the moment and honestly, the noise level is minimal. Sometimes there's the odd drunken student shouting something but that's at like, midnight, and happens about once a week or something...

Just my 2p!