Bristol university halls wisdom

[Tindrum]

Hi

My daughter has decided to firm Bristol University for English. Just wondering if anyone whose children have been in the past have any thoughts or perhaps reflections on the pros and cons of Stoke Bishop (and any further recommendations of halls here) and West accommodation (is there a reason why people don’t go for Manor Hall, Clifton Hill, Goldney etc?). West seems closer and cheaper whilst Stoke Bishop has a rep for a good social life but is pricey and a bit further out. She says she would prefer self catering but that’s not an dealbreaker. She would like a good social element - is the West Village lively as well but Stoke Bishop has the edge? As you can see we’re very confused. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Dd has firmed Bristol, and I went to Bristol myself in the late 80s. I've advised dd to go for the halls that historically belonged to the university, so Stoke Bishop or CHH, Goldney, Manor.

My dd didn’t get into the accommodation on campus, none of her choices. Instead she was put in even more expensive (and frankly
not fit for purpose) accommodation in the city centre!
Swings and roundabouts for her as she likes being right in the thick of it but she’s not had a great first year with her flatmates and the mouldy damp flat hasn’t helped!
I hope someone will come along with some experience in the areas you’re looking for. I would say go there for the day/weekend if you haven’t already, it’s worth it to drive to the uni and then have a look about yourselves to get a bit of a rough idea in real terms of how far things are and how long it takes to get to different areas.

I was in CHH and had a wonderful time. Location-wise it was perfect. It's not fancy - shared washing facilities - but that's definitely not the worst problem I've faced in life. In fact, it barely registered.

Definitely don't want dd to end up in Newport! I hope that situation has been cleared up.

according to child there: if you like the boarding school / private school vibe then choose Stoke Bishop. Otherwise for for the city centre choices.

@Tindrum
My DD was at Bristol. Admittedly a while ago but not much has changed! Although there are new city centre halls. She was in Wills. Friends were in Hyatt Baker and Churchill. She liked Stoke Bishop. She did go to boarding school but was friendly with plenty in halls who didn’t. However as Wills and Churchill are catered, and the Wills Quad rooms are very dated, it suits people who are fairly ok with average conditions and shared bathrooms! Plenty who have lived at home don’t want this. They want ensuite!

DD liked coming “home” after lectures and library. 10 mins on the bus was no hardship. She also liked having a coffee with friends near the uni. She decided that ideally she didn’t want to cook in y1 and wanted get used to university. She was also familiar with the idea of communal meals. She likes the chat!

Goldney is always very popular. The halls near the uni in Clifton are always in demand because they are handy for the uni. Clifton is also attractive . I too would only look at university run halls. The city centre ones are nearer to bars and are often chosen for that reason. Certainly by young people we know! From SB you cannot just fall into a bar!

I really would not choose a hall based on who you think might be there, or not. Choose based on catered/self catered, cost and location. Decide if modern is vital with en suite or whether a bit of character (!) means more.

thanks for all the advice 😎. We visited a months ago and both dd and us loved the city and uni.

I wonder if anyone would be able to list which of the halls were historically owned the university?

Clifton Hill House
Goldney
Manor
Badock
Churchill
Hiatt-Baker
Wills

when I was there 80s/90s

@Tindrum
It says in the description if the hall is shared with a private provider such as Unite. If the hall says it’s run by Bristol and owned by them, it’s 100% theirs. The hall might be older or quite new. I think nearly all of the Stoke Bishop halls are university owned and run. Plus there was Durdham, Clifton, Goldney, University, Manor and some houses. Plus probably some more. Quite a lot. City centre flats tend to be the ones with a private partnership such as Unite and Riverside.

Not sure about any other halls but my DS is coming to the end of his first year at Bristol and is in New Bridewell (city centre). He's had a great time and loved being in the city centre. No issues with the accommodation as far as I know!

DD was at Orchard Heights. Right in the centre, 10 mins from Uni and v sociable. Self catering, large kitchens and lovely en suite rooms. Not cheap though (but Bristol isn't !).

Definitely go for Stoke Bishop catered halls. 2 of my bristol children went to Wills Hall.

The twins of one of those was at Churchill Hall whilst his twin was at Wills.

All 3 of my children who went to Bristol had a really good first year, made friends for life and that having meals in hall made it easy to make friends. Also Wills has a Chapel, a field etc etc. It is a much nicer experience (never mind free bus into town if you are too lazy or drunk to walk it) than perhaps the more recent halls owned by outside providers.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/accommodation/about/residences/wills-hall/

Below link is a bit old now but my son who went to Churchill Hall did mention in passing the question of how many people go from various state or private schools to different halls. My sons went to a day fee paying school but mixed with people from all kinds of different schools in their halls.....

https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2015/03/25/churchill-officially-poshest-halls-residence-15211

My daughter's friend from Wills had a father who bought him a house in Bristol for years 2 and 3 where she lived for years 2 and 3 with him and friends (on a property tenancy paid basis of course) . The very lucky boy spent the summer painting it and doing it up. Sometimes it can be quite fun to make friends with people with a lot of wealth.

@Tindrum Bristol accommodation web site also lists the accommodation in price order. Manor is cheapest. Orchard house is £8200 for self catering. So near the top end. All ensuite. You can catered at Wills in a single room for a few £ hundred more. Or pay considerably less in Wills if you are ok about sharing a room. Orchard House is run with Unite so it’s not a uni Bris accommodation. Hence the cost.

Orchard Heights is fully Uni of Bristol and totally related to Uni. Know this as during the pandemic the Uni delivered v generous food parcels when the students were in lock down.

It does depend whether you want catered/self catered. En suite or not. And city centre of not. But in the end it really doesn't matter, they'll make friends and have fun wherever they end up. And Wills would have been my DDs idea of a living hell. But others love it. Walking distance to clubs and pubs has its advantages at 5am.

Never quite sure how anyone can say anywhere is a 'better experience' than anywhere else. Unless they've lived in all available halls. 🤷‍♀️

I agree and it depends on your friends as much as anything. One of my sons was in a bit of Churchill known as "Shanty" ie a shanty town as pretty basic (but new, small rooms, shared bathrooms). He made so many friends for life it would not have mattered had they lived in a tent he had the time of his life.

Most students do like where they live. It’s just a case of budget and being in the city, Clifton or Stoke Bishop. Orchard Heights is not fully UOB. I have attached the info from the Bristol accommodation web site.

I think it's quite funny that there's so many people commenting on here, but most seem to have stayed in Wills! Considering that choices are guaranteed that's quite impressive. My dd is in her first year and also in Wills. She is from a state school and definitely in the minority by a long way. It's not phased her though. She's got an en suite which is pretty grotty but it does the job.
She decided she wanted Stoke bishop from early on. I was dubious as I was concerned about the distance but it's actually really good because she gets to switch off on her way back. All buses are free and frequent anyway.
Beat in mind that you put 9 choices but they say that 1/5 don't get any of their choices, so don't let them set their heart on a particular place.

Oops considering that places are not guaranteed

I think it's quite funny that there's so many people commenting on here, but most seem to have stayed in Wills!

A good indication of the typical poster to the HE board in MN I think @NCTDN

It was also posted on TSR recently that Wills is usually available for Insurance candidates - who aren't guaranteed accommodation - so probably an indication that's it's not overly popular, I'm guessing, due to the number of shared rooms it has.

I don't know @bguthb90 - dd only knows of people who got in as their first choice. But she's in the newer quad so no shared rooms there. The ones in the old quad a much bigger but much older!

@NCTDN @bguthb90
DD was insurance. They don’t have that many shared rooms in Wills. She was grateful to get a room anywhere! She had one where the other student had to go through her room to get to hers. So it was a linked room! She had to maintain a “corridor” through the room. If you think the new rooms aren’t great, the old quad has some corkers! Not sure if shared bathrooms have been updated but DDs shared one was out of the ark! As Bristol reduces DC from boarding schools, maybe fewer people are prepared to slum it? Maybe Bristol allocate Wills (and Churchill) to students who put it as first preference? Some DC do know which hall they want and it’s catered. It can also be decent value when you look at the newer self catering accommodation as I’ve posted above.

DD liked the going home aspect of Stoke Bishop too. It’s actually closer than the new student village at Liverpool which is 3 miles from the university. No one seems to worry about that. Bristol students tend to move nearer to the university in subsequent years anyway. In some other universities , such as Warwick, you move much further away. There’s plenty to recommend about living in the Clifton area near the university. Except cost!

NC, yes, my older daughter had Wills as first choice and in a sense did not get it in terms of normal place, but they said arrive on moving in day and usually 4 or 5 people back out to do a gap year and if not she could have - cannot remember now - some kind of strange or shared room there - anyway we arrived on the day and they have a normal room available after all for her in the modern block bit which was fine.

My twins got their first hoice of halls at Bristol which given my daughter's experience and given that between the 13 years since then university were allowed to increase numbers for those with AAB grades rather than be capped by the state surprised me. One of my twins did the same course as his sister 13 years before and there were double the number of people on it. Anyway may be the twins were just lucky. They didn't both want the same halls so applied to different ones but nearby.

I also think if people avoid halls where the 20% of sixth formers who go to private schools go that removes a bit of the nice thing about university - mixing with people of all kinds from all over.

Years 2 and 3 my Bristol 3 moved to places like Redland or Clifton.

Whatever hall they get, they'll enjoy it. You get what you're given and then turn up and get stuck into student life. Hall friends, course friends, society friends etc will come from a variety of halls, and even some commuting from home.
Rank your 9 then sit back and wait til the fun begins. Bristol seems a lot of fun !

And not sure DD has any idea where her Uni friends went to school. Only people who've ever asked her seemed to go to a small selection of schools (that she had never heard of) and she was always a bit bemused how they all knew names of any other schools.
She knows some of her friends are very wealthy now as she's been on the yachts 😂.