Re Nottingham, my eldest spent four years there, graduating this summer in maths.
He’s not the most outgoing soul, fine with people he knows but not one to put himself out there. He was in catered halls in year one and loved it. Said the food was variable but it helped to know it was paid for and ‘there’. They got a swipe card for lunch at the food outlets on campus. His Hall always had stuff going on, like a season of 80s movies in the (cheap) halls bar. Buses from the campus into town are cheap and frequent. He had a shared study room, but didn’t see the other chap much as he was an international student with his own circle of friends, but son made friends in halls quite quickly. Freshers was busy and well run in this regard.
Years 2-4 he stated in shared houses, lots to be had within walking distance. Standard very variable and he learned to be more discerning in both house and housemates as the years passed, with year 2 being... interesting and year 4 being nice.
Course, he said the tutors were mostly good, his only moan was that in year three his contact time was very low, he had two busy days then three days of no classes. Lots of self directed stuff which is normal but fees are high. His dissertation supervisor was busy but hugely helpful and interesting/fun.
He loved his four years, for him it came to a choice between Notts and Exeter and he definitely feels he made the right choice for him. And dd has Nottingham in her top two, partly on what she’s seen but partly on getting ‘real’ answers from her brother rather than open day sales pitches.