Choosing between Birmingham and Nottingham

[HecticHettie]

DC can’t decide which one to firm for English with Spanish. We’ve visited both and loved them. His GF’s mum has kind of put him off Birmingham by saying Y2-3 accommodation is in grotty area. I think that’s v unfair to Selly Oak but interested in other’s views pls?

My dd is at Nottingham and I work at Birmingham. We had a drive round Lenton - where most 2nd years live- and I thought it was fairly depressing/run down. I can't see that Selly Oak is any worse. Maybe it's because I know it well, but I like Selly Oak and it's right next to the uni, on the train line into town and on several bus routes too. There's an Aldi and lots of takeways, what more can you want!?

I also prefer Birmingham's campus, but dd loves the Nottingham campus with all its wildlife.

DD lives in a lovely leafy road of semi detached mock Tudor houses backing onto Wollaton Park. 5 minute walk to campus and right by tram stop. For the heady price of £95 a week. Lots of friends live nearby. Not all student areas are horrible.

I loved Birmingham and thought the campus was lovely. The people we met on the open day were incredibly kind and friendly. Nottingham campus is stunning though and quite traditional in the sense that a lot of the halls have a dining room and common room so it feels quite collegiate. I’m not hugely keen on Nottingham city centre. It feels a million miles behind places like Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Any recommendations for halls at Birmingham?

Depends on budget and requirements (eg ensuite). Chamberlain is called Tory Towers by students who don't live in it! It's expensive and quite fancy. Mason is also all en suite. Some people don't like the wet rooms.

My DS is in Aitken. Shared bathroom but sink in rooms. Perfectly nice and far cheaper. He has had black mould though.

I think Mason has been rebuilt since I was there (as a mixed hall it had the usual rep and the bar was popular). I stayed in the self catered Maple Bank - a bit of black mould in the warmer months and ice on the insides of the windows in winter was par for the course.

Mason i very modern so it must have been completely knocked down and rebuilt.

Only Shackleton has its own bar. That's where all the food is too.

My mom worked as a cleaner for years at Mason ! She loved her job and was a mom figure to the students.

Selly Oak is not a bad area .Most locals would say it’s the students that bring the area down encouraging rats etc .
Stirchley would make a good area for 2 nd years .Right next to beautiful Bournville .
Birmingham is my hometown and my son is at Nottingham Uni.

DS was in Elgar Court at the top of the Vale last year, but he said he wished he'd been in Tennis Courts and if he had his time again that's where he'd live. Elgar was perfectly nice, but a bit of a hike - Tennis Courts is halfway to the main campus (I also think it's one of the more reasonably priced).

DD1 is loving Birmingham. Not so much the strikes!

Her house for next year is a 5 bed, 5 bath in Selly Oak. All bills included for £135/ week. Seems really nice.

I have spent a lot of time in both cities and prefer Birmingham.

Nottingham is a bit more edgy I guess, but there's a lot of drugs and homelessness around the student areas.

Nottingham seems to be in a dismal state now. Don't know Birmingham and I'm no longer a student so possibly the wrong person to comment, but Notts is pretty bloody grim imo.

My daughter went to Birmingham and loved it - the uni and the city.

She didn’t get allocated to any of her choices for accommodation in her first year and ended up in the one out of all of them that she least desired - I think it was Mason - but she absolutely loved it there!

She lived in shared houses in Selly Oak in 2nd & 3rd years and there were no complaints there either.

Something on The Vale. I was in Maple Bank and it didn't have en suite (the others on the vale did), was a bit dingy and the kitchen was tiny. Mason was the newest at the time (10 years ago so I guess others may have been upgraded since) and was nice although the room layout/shape wasn't great. If I remember correctly it also had the biggest beds, but it was also the most expensive. Shackleton and Elgar court were both fine I think. Shackleton is in the same building as the main canteen, bar, little shop etc so is convenient. Elgar court is the furthest away from the main campus.

My DS is in Aitken. Not en suite so cheaper. Perfectly nice. Sinks in rooms.

Tennis Courts is popular.

The halls of residence all have pros and cons but in the end it depends if they gel with the others in their flat/on their corridor/ on their course

I went to Nottingham uni and live and worked very near to Birmingham main campus.

Honestly. They're very equal in pros and cons. I can't comment on the course as I did a medical degree but I was happy at Notts both for study and to live and I also see many happy students living in selly oak.

I do know a couple of people doing English lang and lit in Birmingham at the moment and they're happy.

Selly Oak is fine - scruffy student housing but not an unsafe area. Surrounding areas are posh. Shops and train line are good.
I know nothing about Nottingham!

DD was in Battery Park (Unite Students, all en suite block newly opened for her first year, which was 2019/20, so only there for 6 months), but it had been her last choice and she always was rather sad that she hadn't got Tennis Courts, her first choice. Literally next door to Sainsbury's, though (Battery Par, I mean), although she generally shopped down the road at Aldi.

If you search on YouTube for a video called 'The Original Purple Station', you will find a section with views of the area around University Station, and the canal, including the bit near Battery Park.

DS1 was in Jarratt Hall ('Selly Oak Village', very close to one of the gates onto campus and very close to Aldi and all the other shops etc on Bristol Road. Flat of 4, en suite

Btw, the Vale may be 'where it's at', so to speak, but not the most convenient location for the weekly shop.

Btw, the Vale may be 'where it's at', so to speak, but not the most convenient location for the weekly shop this is so true. DS used to walk to Morrisons though ended up getting supermarket deliveries towards the end.

Not in the area I live in there isn't! It's student central. It feels really safe, I've lived here 19 years. But I do agree that the city centre has seen better days.

I was in Maple Bank nearly 40 years ago, when en suite wasn’t a thing in student accommodation (it was a thing that you paid extra for in B&B accommodation as I found out when I graduated and started a job which involved staying away during the week).

Each flat had 5 bedrooms, a loo, a bathroom and a kitchen with a big table and chairs but no comfy seating. I don’t remember the kitchen being tiny. Probably kitchen size and sharing a bathroom was what I was used to at home.

I find it hard to believe that Maple Bank and Elgar “are a bit of a hike” from the campus though. It was a 20 minute walk!

I liked a lot about Nottingham but what I didn't like was that virtually all on campus accommodation is catered.

Then since then, I've found out they panic people into booking accommodation on the day it opens, which I have been told is in March - before some other Universities have even interviewed, let alone offered. Put me right off.
I understand B'ham accommodation is something of a lottery, but at least it is a fair lottery of everyone being offered accommodation once the results are in and places confirmed.

Oh, and the roads full of student housing in Selly Oak are really no different from terraced streets near Universities in Cities across the country.