Manna Ash accommodation review

When I was applying last year for accommodation I really struggled to find out about the different halls, so thought I'd help out 2012 applicants and post a bit about the ones I went for in the end, Manna Ash.

The Area
Location-wise, I'd say Manna Ash are probably one of the best placed, especially for LCC, less than a ten minute walk (or three minute bus ride when you're late!) away, but LCF students at Holborn don't have a long journey either (about 20-30 minute walk or a bus from Waterloo), and although still far away they're the closest halls for students at Wimbledon, who can get a half-hour train from Waterloo as well.
The area itself is okay, not great - it's quite dominated by businesspeople and annoyingly a couple of the pubs/bars are over 21's only to discourage student crowds, not the high prices don't already. Similarly there's a few nice places to eat, but most of them, like Balic, aren't cheap so probably best saved for when your loan's just come in or your parents visit. Luckily there's the Crown just across the away on Blackfriars' which has friendly staff, a student discount on drinks, and £5 meals on mondays.
On the plus side, MA's short distance to Elephant & Castle, Waterloo nearby bus hub St George's circus and Southwark station just round the corner means transport links are amazing, and you should have no problem getting a bus home after a night out (meaning the lack of good places nearby, Corsica studios and MoS if that's your kind of thing, isn't really a problem).
The South Bank, with the Tate, BFI et al is also a short walk and there's usually plenty of stuff on (just before Christmas for example there was a Chocolate festival!) and it's only a little further to hit central london if you don't fancy the tube or a bus.
There's also always people around meaning although there's the odd dodgy-looking person about you don't ever feel unsafe.

The Halls
The staff are okay here, I've never had any problem with anyone personally, although I know people have. Apart from at the beginning of the year when everyone's complaining about their rooms, they're pretty fast about solving problems.
There's a common room with a few sofas, a tv and a vending machine but despite so many people living here almost no-one uses it. You can ask for permission to have parties and stuff in there, but it does get locked at around 11 so it's not that useful.
There's also laundry facilities, but they're pretty crap to be honest. It's £2.50 for a wash and £1 for a dry, but to be able to use them there's a stupid system of having to buy a £3 card from the front desk, top it up with a paypal account online, writing down the code they e-mail you, and then putting this into a machine in the laundry room before you can actually do your first lot of laundry. Afraid to say you have to get used to it.
For pretty much the entire first term, one of the lifts was broken with apparently no attempts to fix it, but finally we have two working lifts again so hopefully that won't be a problem again.
A word on the internet as well, it's provided by a company called Keycom, and it's not great. It's cable (i.e. there's no wi-fi unless you can manage to get a signal from the cafe across the road) and as well as being expensive can be a bit unreliable at times (it went off completely for a bit yesterday). When applying they offer you three prices for three different speeds, but so far no-one has been able to tell the difference, so go for the cheapest.

The Flats
Apart from the small flat on the first floor and the studios, all flats are of 7 rooms or 6 if it's an "a" flat (2a, 5a, etc). Each has a shared kitchen with two small fridges, two small freezers, two sinks and two cookers. Sadly the size of these kitchens is pretty much left to chance, despite everyone paying the exact same - for example flats ending in E have extremely small kitchens, without even enough chairs for everyone in the flat to sit on and a crap view of an office block, while the A flats' kitchens are huge with views of the London Eye and the city.
Space-wise, I can't comment as I was one of the lucky ones to be put in an A flat (meaning there's only 6 of us, and in our case one flatmate doesn't cook freeing up space for us!) but I haven't heard anyone complaining heavily of lack of fridge or cupboard space.
The kitchens themselves aren't very home-y, since they don't have sofas or a TV like some of the other halls such as Bernard Myers, but they're liveable at least. Someone also comes once a week and cleans them, which is a bonus.

The Rooms
The rooms are, by student halls standards, pretty huge. I've turned my bed around so it's against the window and I can get a double air bed on the floor with space to spare. There's plenty of storage space, although some of the fashion students find the wardrobes too small and invest in a separate rail.
The bathrooms are en-suite and fine, though most people have a problem with mould.
Each room has a heater, but whether or not it'll work well is pretty much pot luck, and only some rooms have full-length mirrors so you may end up having to buy one. You'll also need a desk lamp, and a plug extender if you think you, like most people will need more sockets than the four provided.
The walls are pretty thin, so loud speakers might make you unpopular, and be prepared to get to know what your neighbours get up to a little too well.

Overall, Manna Ash are pretty nice halls - but also one of the priciest. There's been a few problems so far such as the hot water going off for a couple of days that have made me question whether or not I'm getting value for money, but still overall they're a pretty nice place to live. This does mean they fill up pretty quickly, so get in applications early if you want to come here.

If you have any other questions (I have friends at Bernard Myers and Julian Markam as well if you want to know about them), feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to help!

Reply 1

mcluvin

what's Bernard Myers like? (I don't know how to PM (noobie))

Reply 2

beccafairy

11

Original post by mcluvin

what's Bernard Myers like? (I don't know how to PM (noobie))

i went for a viewing today at the halls of residence open day, and the rooms themselves are quite standard for student accommodation, a little on the small side but they're all en-suite. the kitchen areas are really nice and spacey though! the flats are really spaced out, one per floor i believe? i can't remember exactly haha, but since they're spread out quite well i can imagine there'd be less noise issues. there's no main communal area, but apparently instead people invite other flats to their kitchens and such. it's really, really close to the camberwell campus as well. :smile:

Reply 3

mcluvin

Original post by beccafairy

i went for a viewing today at the halls of residence open day, and the rooms themselves are quite standard for student accommodation, a little on the small side but they're all en-suite. the kitchen areas are really nice and spacey though! the flats are really spaced out, one per floor i believe? i can't remember exactly haha, but since they're spread out quite well i can imagine there'd be less noise issues. there's no main communal area, but apparently instead people invite other flats to their kitchens and such. it's really, really close to the camberwell campus as well. :smile:

NICE! thanks for that, I went to the open day today too, run out of time to view bernard myers so thats really appreciated :smile:

did you go to Don Gratton? What other halls did you like? :?)

Reply 4

beccafairy

11

Original post by mcluvin

NICE! thanks for that, I went to the open day today too, run out of time to view bernard myers so thats really appreciated :smile:

did you go to Don Gratton? What other halls did you like? :?)

i'd be studying at the camberwell campus so i just checked out bernard myers and brooke hall and had a cheeky walk around the new halls on peckham road, they're so pretty! brooke hall wasn't the kind of thing i'd be after - every room is self contained and there's just one communal room for like 4 or 5 buildings? so it didn't seem like a very sociable place to be. i did speak to the woman in charge of it though and she gave me loads of info on the new halls - they'll be a mixture of shared kitchen flats, self contained studios and..twin rooms. :O

Reply 5

milopsychonaut

Original post by beccafairy

i went for a viewing today at the halls of residence open day, and the rooms themselves are quite standard for student accommodation, a little on the small side but they're all en-suite. the kitchen areas are really nice and spacey though! the flats are really spaced out, one per floor i believe? i can't remember exactly haha, but since they're spread out quite well i can imagine there'd be less noise issues. there's no main communal area, but apparently instead people invite other flats to their kitchens and such. it's really, really close to the camberwell campus as well. :smile:

Tbh im international and dont know london that well, is bernard myers in a good location ? if im a student at kings guys/waterloo campus ? and like as a neighbourhood how is it ? thanks :smile:

Reply 6

darshannaa

1

Hi, I read few reviews that the accomodation itself is noisy and the area is unsafe as there are mugging issues. Could you advise on that matters?