I'm about to start my third year at SB - doing animal science. SB is about 11 miles from uni park. In my first year the campus was pretty dire, there was a free shuttle bus between uni park and SB in the week, which was pretty irregular and often late, there were no buses on bank holidays and only a couple a day at the weekends (one in the morning and one in the evening.) You were stranded there to a large degree if you didnt (or a friend didnt) have a car! The shop was only tiny and open a short time mon-fri, nothing at the weekend. It improved last year, they upped the bus services and improved them (still not great though!) The shop was open all week and for longer, they finally got a cash machine on campus etc. The vet school has opened at SB this year and they have improved it lots for that, probably to try and increase uptake for the vet course, they built lovely brand new accommodation blocks for it etc. When I have been back in this week there is a new (bigger) shop, they have extended the bar and cafe etc, sorted out some of the old rubbishy rooms and other stuff.
The campus itself is nice, out in the country if you like that kind of thing. It has a good atmosphere with it being quite small and you get to know most people by sight. It can be a bit isolated, it is difficult getting it Nottingham for a night out without organising to go with a big group of people so you share a taxi back. Also, UP tends to forget about SB and you dont get told about things happening at the main campus, although that seems to be improving as well.
I lived on campus in my first year and it was good, you get to know people who are in your lectures/doing your course etc. People I knew who lived at UP found it harder to mix in, not impossible, but took more effort as people already knew each other in lectures. It takes time travelling between the two sites each day as well, (can be between 30mins-1hr each way.) A lot of it would depend on if you wanted to live where you are based or want the extras that UP offers and are happy travelling out there each day.
The only halls at SB are Bonington Halls, but they are then split into smaller kind of 'sub-halls.' Some people live on uni park and commute each day, but they are def in the minority. It was catered when I lived there, but then last year it changed to self catered, but had a canteen on campus so you could buy meals if you wanted. I havn’t seen any of the new accomadation they have built inside, but it looks nice from the outside.
Overall I would say that it is a nice campus, it was quite isolated, but they seem to be improving it abit now, mainly due to the vet school opening and there being more students there. You can socialise with people from main campus, but it just means making more of an effort to travel over to UP rather than already being there.
Thats all I can think of off the top of my head, but if theres anything else you want to know – just ask!