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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

Halls at Nottingham and Newcastle

29 replies

Stringbean70 · 31/01/2023 16:05

Does anyone have any insight please as to first year accommodation at Nottingham and Newcastle unis please? DC wants catered on campus at Notts but can't decide on a hall. Newcastle is insurance and there doesn't seem to be any catered - which is fine - but, again, which halls are the most sociable?

OP posts:

RampantIvy · 31/01/2023 17:36

Castle Leazes in Newcastle has a catered option. By all accounts the food isn't great and the meals are at set times. DD had friends who had to dash off after late lectures to get their meal before the dining area closed. Also, if they aren't going to bother to get up for breakfast or the student is doing sport or other activities over a meal time you might as well not bother paying for it.

Accommodation at Newcastle is allocated randomly after results day, so you can put all your options down and not get any of them.

mumsneedwine · 31/01/2023 18:29

@Stringbean70 all Notts halls are sociable. Some have their own bars which are handy. But all so close together there seems to be a lot of mixing.

PritiPatelsMaker · 31/01/2023 20:04

That's good to know @mumsneedwine as that's DS' first choice.

Blewitt · 31/01/2023 21:22

I can tell her not to go into Lower Court, Broadgate Park Nottingham. Its self catered though so she's probably ok! My daughter is there in her first year and it's awful. Very outdated, tiny kitchens, no social space at all. Small blocks. Has become very cleaky. She is very sociable and up for anything but she hates it and is thinking about starting again elsewhere next year. So definitely cross that one off any lists!

PritiPatelsMaker · 31/01/2023 21:28

Is it just the accommodation that she doesn't like @Blewitt? How does she feels pit her course?

Highlyflavouredgravy · 31/01/2023 21:31

My son was in Marris House in Newcastle. The flat was modern and clean and supersociable.
He had a grwatvtime and made lovely friends who he is livng with now.

StrawberryPi · 31/01/2023 21:34

I graduated several years ago now, but I was at Broadgate park in Notts and loved it! No real difference between lower and upper court. They are smaller flats/blocks so it does depend a bit more on your flat mates but also makes it a bit more sociable and personal rather than big long corridors.

Blewitt · 31/01/2023 21:35

@PritiPatelsMaker Mainly the accommodation, course would be ok but probably could be better. Such a shame, and very unexpected! She's been looking forward to this for so long. If she decides to stay she is going to try and move halls for rest of year.

Blewitt · 31/01/2023 21:38

She'd love a long corridor! Horses for courses I guess. I just feel its such a shame there is nowhere for them to hang out. The other parts of Broadgate may have been refurbed since you were there as they are much nicer, big open kitchen living rooms with TV etc, en suites. They all feel they have done badly as paying the same per week as upper court for far less.

bguthb90 · 31/01/2023 21:43

@Blewitt I feel your daughter's pain. I got a room in a Lower Court flat 30 years ago, when doing a post-grad, and they were awful then - no lounge, only a small kitchen with a dining table and chairs.

I lasted 2 months and then moved on to a house-share off Derby Road with 3rd years who had a spare room. I'd never met them, but went on to have a fantastic time for the rest of my year in Nottingham

Blewitt · 31/01/2023 21:49

@bguthb90 sounds as though nothing has changed. Can't believe how much it can affect their experience. They don't show Lower Court on open days.......

GothSummer · 31/01/2023 21:50

I was in Florence Boot many years ago at Nottingham. Friends from course were in Nightingale - both nice halls and I'd imagine they would have been done up since (I graduated in 2008)

Hottubby · 31/01/2023 21:54

Highlyflavouredgravy · 31/01/2023 21:31

My son was in Marris House in Newcastle. The flat was modern and clean and supersociable.
He had a grwatvtime and made lovely friends who he is livng with now.

@Highlyflavouredgravy I was there when they were first built in the 90s. It was posh then and known as Marris Palace!

VanCleefArpels · 31/01/2023 22:07

A caution re catering at Nottingham. The food isn’t great and evening neal in particular served quite early so that kids with later lectures and/or activities such as sports often miss it. They have tiny kitchenettes to reheat ready meals/ make noodles which is not ideal. I felt we paid for a service which wasn’t being used very much. Formal dinners were popular though and Sunday brunch.

RampantIvy · 31/01/2023 22:21

DD was at Park View in her first year at Newcastle. She was lucky enough to get a room overlooking the park at the front and not the building site at the back.

I have heard that about Nottingham catering. DD looked at Nottingham and when we asked about self catered options the student showing us around said that first years generally go into catered. It put DD off straight away. She is vegetarian and likes cooking so it was a deal breaker for her.

Xrays · 31/01/2023 22:29

Dd was in Cavendish last year at Notts. She said she wishes she’d just gone self catering as the food was absolutely horrible and she ended up getting take aways a lot of the time just because she was so hungry (she sent me a lot of photos of the food and it looked vile). It cost so much more than the self catering halls she had hardly any money left over. She loves Nottingham university generally though and has made some amazing friends and loves it there - she’s now in her second year and sharing a house.

VanCleefArpels · 01/02/2023 09:12

It’s a shame because the main benefit of the catered halls at Nottingham is that they are on campus and so right in the centre of things. It would cost a fortune to convert those old style corridor halls to a flats format though so you can see why they still exist. And one benefit if a corridor set up is that there’s no communal space to be dominated by party hearties and create noise and mess which is often an issue in halls made up of flats.

crossroad21 · 01/02/2023 18:51

Newark on jubilee was amazing
Amazing food
En suite
And buses took us to all the nightclubs
Loved it

cptartapp · 01/02/2023 19:02

DS1 was also in Cavendish last year. En suite room. Room a decent size with a small fridge. Lots of storage. I think they had a common room and the advantage of being close to the sports centre.
The catering was very hit and miss, DS didn't complain too much but he's not fussy, and actually found the communal dining great socially.
Now sharing a house in Lenton and absolutely loves Nottingham. The campus is gorgeous.

FictionalCharacter · 01/02/2023 19:35

Will your DC be based at University Park or Jubilee at Notts? Mine is in first year at Notts and in self catered halls near Jubilee. Didn’t want to trek from Uni Park to Jubilee every day. They’re not miles away but it’s worth considering.

Original poster

Stringbean70 · 01/02/2023 19:43

@cptartapp DC massively into sport, so halls near the Sports Centre will narrow it down - thanks for that thought

@fictionalcharacter Course is on university park campus (the main one)

OP posts:

cptartapp · 01/02/2023 19:57

Stringbean70 · 01/02/2023 19:43

@cptartapp DC massively into sport, so halls near the Sports Centre will narrow it down - thanks for that thought

@fictionalcharacter Course is on university park campus (the main one)

Anything on the West side would be close.

mushroom3 · 02/02/2023 23:54

DD was also at Park View in Newcastle. She had a great time. Most second years share houses or flats in Jesmond

KingscoteStaff · 03/02/2023 03:30

DD loving Park View in Newcastle - nice kitchens encourage experimental shared cookery (!) and the door to the SportsCentre is immediately opposite.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 03/02/2023 03:44

DS was in catered halls in Nottingham. He was in Ancaster and loved it. The corridor format worked for him. There are communal areas on the ground floor next to the dining room.

I can't comment on the food as DS will eat anything. He loved being on campus and near the sports hall as he did loads of sport. In the summer they all hang out on the grass, playing Frisbee etc.

If DS was late because of sport, his friends would collect a meal for him to eat later.

In his second year he moved to a shared house with 4 friends from.his corridor.

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