Lancaster University Colleges

[DeadOrchid]

DS has accepted an offer for Lancaster and from my understanding he has to put a preferred college when accommodation opens up.

if any of you have got any info about the different colleges from a student experience (rather than the website) I’d be very grateful. And do students tend to get their preferred college or is it more random than that.

He’s not really a party person, if that makes a difference.

Thank you.

"Oh there's pendle too which is quite central on campus"

Pendle is right at the end before graduate college.

From north to south the order I remember is:

County
Cartmel
Lonsdale
Bowland
Furness
Fylde
Grizedale
Pendle
Graduate

I would love her to choose Lancaster as her firm as I was very impressed by the open/offer days. Think the bright city lights of Leeds are calling her though which I do understand. We shall see !

That has completely changed now. Cartmel is right at the bottom of the South spine where there used to be nought but fields. Lonsdale is also down there. Old Cartmel is now part of County and Old Lonsdale is now part of Bowland.

Yep totally changed - my SIL & BIL were in Pendle many moons ago - she came to collect DD from Uni in December and was a bit lost!

And DD would agree - Lonsdale is the best (though she likes Grizedales cocktail bar)

Chippy and pizzetta still going strong

Do they still do the bedding exchange? Give them your dirty ones and walk away with fresh bedding!

I had my own bedding (that I washed in county west laundrette )

I do remember the uni bedding being rough! So eventually got my own from the market. I still have my plate I bought from there too.

No you have to take your own bedding and wash it yourself now. Not all of the kitchens/bathrooms get cleaned either, it depends which accommodation you're in.

I know students like en suites but I think in a way it was nicer when all the accommodation was shared bathrooms and self catered. Everyone was the same and we were all forced to mix. Now it's easy for less confident students to shut themselves away.

Thanks. I wondered about the bedding (crisp, ironed, white but rough!)

Yes the kitchen helped with mixing.

The shower room was opposite my room - I think 2 showers on the whole floor!

I also worked in university facilities for a short stint and the 'bedding packs' were optional. I remember spending a few days prior to freshers week going up Bowland Tower distributing bedding packs to some of the rooms (and clipping the ethernet cables before putting them in the sockets so they couldn't be removed from the room).

You were way after my time. Ethernet wasn't a thing. I had a very old fashioned "word processor". Years away from everyone having mobile phones etc.

We used to have to take our bedding down to be changed for fresh sheets each week. It was a nice luxury. I suspect a lot of the kids don't wash theirs very often nowadays!

Yes! Same here. I remember the lad downstairs had a word processor and it was considered fancy! He used to write his journal on it.

the bedding exchange was in the morning and I’d miss it a lot.

I remember the optional bedding packs. You got a duvet I think too.

@RideACockHorseToSunburyCross Going strong probably isn't the best description for Pizzetta... I ate there a couple of weeks ago and was shocked by how shabby it was.

My DC is off to Lancaster in September but opting for a different college to my Lancaster days, Sugar House and the Carlton club. Midweek clubbing felt so normal!

I think they’ve changed the name of the sugar House because it was too colonial. Now known as Sugar. In my day it was called the Shagger

yes when I was there too

Any ideas which accommodation gets cleaned please? DD is untidy, doesn’t pick up after herself and her bedroom is filthy. Maybe a little bit ND but I dread to think what kind of a mess she would live in (pity her flat mates). She may change at Uni 🤞 but I am doubtful. Gutted her bedroom yesterday and she had glasses, dirty towels, cutlery and things she had acquired in there without asking from everyone else’s bedroom in our house.

From what I’ve ready the communal spaces in some colleges accommodation is cleaned but students are responsible for cleaning their own rooms and en-suites. Even if rooms were cleaned I wouldn’t expect a cleaner to be sorting out wet towels and glasses etc.

All apart from the studio flats and the townhouses (county and Grizedale) have a cleaning service in kitchens and the shared bathrooms. They do floors, work surfaces etc. They don’t do bedrooms and they don’t do en suite bathrooms. Townhouses get no cleaning at all even though their bathrooms are shared.

If your accommodation gets into a state you get a warning and then fines are imposed.

So if you want a cleaner you need to avoid county and Grizedale townhouses.

Bedrooms also get inspected

@WednesdaysPlaits that is really helpful about the cleaning! My DS is the opposite of @BettyBoo123456 DC and tidy - if he was in a townhouse he’d end up doing all the cleaning because he can’t function in a really messy environment (just normally tidy - not obsessive). He had liked the look of the townhouses because of the large number of flat mates and super social space. What other accommodation is suitable please - ie. large flat, with cleaner and social space?

Not sure on the social space aspect of Cartmel - apologies if this has been mentioned - as DS1’s year there was Covid lockdown time so they could only socialise within their flat, but it was set up in flats of eight en suite rooms with a large kitchen. As others have said, cleaners for the communal kitchen area but otherwise responsible for own room and bathroom. DS1 said they were all quite tidy anyway, unlike what I recall from the time I went to see my younger sister when she was at Leeds in her big shared house

If he wants large flat and cleaner I’d go for one of the older accommodations like Bowland. They have shared bathrooms and big kitchen spaces. Rooms have sinks too.

This is Bowland Ash house - superior standard (old Lonsdale)