accommodation at university of reading
i'm looking at self-catered ensuite's, preferably premium but i don't mind too much 
which would you say are the most sociable? i'm leaning toward bridges, child's, mackinder, and stenton for my options but i'm a little clueless on the social side of things.
any help would be appreciated!
which would you say are the most sociable? i'm leaning toward bridges, child's, mackinder, and stenton for my options but i'm a little clueless on the social side of things.
any help would be appreciated!
sociable obviously depends on who youre with,but generally the cheaper the accommodation the more sociable it is. no hate, just what i noticed
I am at Reading right now, second year student, second year living in halls. Currently writing this in halls.
Mackinder, Stenton, Childs, Windsor and McCombie are right next to each other, and centre around Park Bar, a bar and food place that hosts sporting events when on, and acts as a social hub. First year I lived in Mackinder, and definitely recommend it as the choice of most sociable, because of how big it is and the overall environment of where you'll be living. Stenton is a joint first, again large and generally always active outside the halls with someone you'll know.
McCombie is very small, but you're next to the other two (literally 2min walk) and will have friends in Mackinder and Stenton, so I wouldn't worry about that - depends entirely on your budget and room preferences. Child's is a quiet hall, so keep that in mind for hosting pre's or socials, however being practically attached to Stenton, will offer you the same benefits of being next to everyone else.
Windsor is the only hall I would outright say do not live in. It's a massive hall and definitely a social one, but after going in there a few times.. I wouldn't get paid to live there.
Bridges is a great hall, I live here right now. It's quite big, around half the size of Mackinder, but it's quite a walk from the others, being on the other side of the lake. This makes it a lot more quiet naturally on a day to day. The security is also centred right in the middle, which makes the mischief people get up to much less frequent here.
You can still have a great social life in Bridges, just as active as the others if you meet people from the halls, outside the halls and in societies - but based purely on personal experience, if you're looking for the most social hall it would be Mackinder or Stenton, as you get the freedom of not being in a quiet hall, while also being in the heart of the student living area with a nice enough kitchen to host pre's and such.
Hope that helps!
Edit: here's the map, so you can refer to my comments: https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/Maps/Whiteknights_campus_map.pdf
Mackinder, Stenton, Childs, Windsor and McCombie are right next to each other, and centre around Park Bar, a bar and food place that hosts sporting events when on, and acts as a social hub. First year I lived in Mackinder, and definitely recommend it as the choice of most sociable, because of how big it is and the overall environment of where you'll be living. Stenton is a joint first, again large and generally always active outside the halls with someone you'll know.
McCombie is very small, but you're next to the other two (literally 2min walk) and will have friends in Mackinder and Stenton, so I wouldn't worry about that - depends entirely on your budget and room preferences. Child's is a quiet hall, so keep that in mind for hosting pre's or socials, however being practically attached to Stenton, will offer you the same benefits of being next to everyone else.
Windsor is the only hall I would outright say do not live in. It's a massive hall and definitely a social one, but after going in there a few times.. I wouldn't get paid to live there.
Bridges is a great hall, I live here right now. It's quite big, around half the size of Mackinder, but it's quite a walk from the others, being on the other side of the lake. This makes it a lot more quiet naturally on a day to day. The security is also centred right in the middle, which makes the mischief people get up to much less frequent here.
You can still have a great social life in Bridges, just as active as the others if you meet people from the halls, outside the halls and in societies - but based purely on personal experience, if you're looking for the most social hall it would be Mackinder or Stenton, as you get the freedom of not being in a quiet hall, while also being in the heart of the student living area with a nice enough kitchen to host pre's and such.
Hope that helps!
Edit: here's the map, so you can refer to my comments: https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/Maps/Whiteknights_campus_map.pdf
(edited 4 weeks ago)
Original post by kiremio
i'm looking at self-catered ensuite's, preferably premium but i don't mind too much
which would you say are the most sociable? i'm leaning toward bridges, child's, mackinder, and stenton for my options but i'm a little clueless on the social side of things.
any help would be appreciated!
which would you say are the most sociable? i'm leaning toward bridges, child's, mackinder, and stenton for my options but i'm a little clueless on the social side of things.
any help would be appreciated!
Hi @kiremio,
Great question! Say @Q and A summed it up quite well - Stenton, Childs and McCombie are all on one side of park group, and Mackinder is literally a 3 minute walk away on the other side. All are quite lively - although McCombie is smaller - around 6-10 per flat as compared to 8-12 with the other three, its closeness to the others and Park Bar still mean it's really social. I would say to have a look at your budget and how many people you would feel comfortable living with - as Mackinder, Childs and Stenton tend to have more people in their flats, the kitchen/communal space is necessarily bigger, but other than that they're largely the same. The walk to laundry is a little shorter for McCombie too - I lived in its sister accommodation, Greenow, in my first year and thought it was great, smaller than the others but still 7 other flats in the same building full of people to get to know so don't be put off that it doesn't look as big as the others you're considering!
The social value at home depends on your flat really, but there's so many society socials and Student Union mixers that you won't be missing out on anything whichever you choose. My only other advice would be to think about your walk to lectures in the morning - there's virtually no difference in the length of the walk (about 5 mins) from all of our Park Group halls to the centre of campus, but if you're studying a science, psychology, art, agriculture or typology, you may want to consider Bridges as those buildings are all situated on Bridges' side of campus so will be easier to get to from there. Check out our Whiteknights Campus Maps to make this make more sense!
Hope this helps - any other questions please do let us know!
Kat
MA Diplomacy Student
Original post by Q&As
I am at Reading right now, second year student, second year living in halls. Currently writing this in halls.
Mackinder, Stenton, Childs, Windsor and McCombie are right next to each other, and centre around Park Bar, a bar and food place that hosts sporting events when on, and acts as a social hub. First year I lived in Mackinder, and definitely recommend it as the choice of most sociable, because of how big it is and the overall environment of where you'll be living. Stenton is a joint first, again large and generally always active outside the halls with someone you'll know.
McCombie is very small, but you're next to the other two (literally 2min walk) and will have friends in Mackinder and Stenton, so I wouldn't worry about that - depends entirely on your budget and room preferences. Child's is a quiet hall, so keep that in mind for hosting pre's or socials, however being practically attached to Stenton, will offer you the same benefits of being next to everyone else.
Windsor is the only hall I would outright say do not live in. It's a massive hall and definitely a social one, but after going in there a few times.. I wouldn't get paid to live there.
Bridges is a great hall, I live here right now. It's quite big, around half the size of Mackinder, but it's quite a walk from the others, being on the other side of the lake. This makes it a lot more quiet naturally on a day to day. The security is also centred right in the middle, which makes the mischief people get up to much less frequent here.
You can still have a great social life in Bridges, just as active as the others if you meet people from the halls, outside the halls and in societies - but based purely on personal experience, if you're looking for the most social hall it would be Mackinder or Stenton, as you get the freedom of not being in a quiet hall, while also being in the heart of the student living area with a nice enough kitchen to host pre's and such.
Hope that helps!
Edit: here's the map, so you can refer to my comments: https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/Maps/Whiteknights_campus_map.pdf
Mackinder, Stenton, Childs, Windsor and McCombie are right next to each other, and centre around Park Bar, a bar and food place that hosts sporting events when on, and acts as a social hub. First year I lived in Mackinder, and definitely recommend it as the choice of most sociable, because of how big it is and the overall environment of where you'll be living. Stenton is a joint first, again large and generally always active outside the halls with someone you'll know.
McCombie is very small, but you're next to the other two (literally 2min walk) and will have friends in Mackinder and Stenton, so I wouldn't worry about that - depends entirely on your budget and room preferences. Child's is a quiet hall, so keep that in mind for hosting pre's or socials, however being practically attached to Stenton, will offer you the same benefits of being next to everyone else.
Windsor is the only hall I would outright say do not live in. It's a massive hall and definitely a social one, but after going in there a few times.. I wouldn't get paid to live there.
Bridges is a great hall, I live here right now. It's quite big, around half the size of Mackinder, but it's quite a walk from the others, being on the other side of the lake. This makes it a lot more quiet naturally on a day to day. The security is also centred right in the middle, which makes the mischief people get up to much less frequent here.
You can still have a great social life in Bridges, just as active as the others if you meet people from the halls, outside the halls and in societies - but based purely on personal experience, if you're looking for the most social hall it would be Mackinder or Stenton, as you get the freedom of not being in a quiet hall, while also being in the heart of the student living area with a nice enough kitchen to host pre's and such.
Hope that helps!
Edit: here's the map, so you can refer to my comments: https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/Maps/Whiteknights_campus_map.pdf
Just accepted my offer to Windsor… 😃
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