Holly Cross & The Oaks Hall

Oaks locations would be perfect for those individuals who like a quiet atmosphere where they can get work done is peace, the area is a good 10 minutes walk from the heart of campus meaning overall there isn’t much noise around. Overall social experience at oaks is quiet low this is due to like mentioned above it is a very quiet area where you’ll commonly find a lot of 3rd years or postgraduates. However, there is a common room where students can meet and watch movies and play games. Overall the rooms are quite large in size with a good sized bathroom making you feel more comfortable in your own space.

Stayed in The Oaks in my first year of uni. Loved having an en-suite. Had no issues. Lovely cleaning staff. Would stay again/return there in later years if I had the money to.

Good sized rooms and ensuite which get cleaned every 2 weeks, could do with a better common area for holly cross.

Lack of social space was the biggest issue, and very very expensive. The halls were easily situated for getting to lectures but definitely not worth the amount they charged for them.

The ensuites are very big! Quite a quiet location as well and lovely desk size and bed size! However, the kitchens are quite small and the kitchen benches are uncomfortable! It would also be good if there was a TV in the kitchens at least or a place to chill.

The location is lovely as it’s more in the countryside than the other halls of residence but well situated so that it’s only a ten minute walk to the centre of campus. The facilities are also great but it is sad that there is no bar for these halls as it would have improved the social aspect of staying here.

The location of Holly cross & the oaks is perfect only be around a 5 minute walk from the main building. There isn’t much of a social area aside from a couch near the entrance which hardly anyone uses. The rooms themselves are a good size, which a spacious en suite.

I like my room a lot, it is very spacious and the en suite is a very good size. Also, the location is very good as it is only a 5 minute walk to lectures. A positive to these halls is that the cleaning staff are very friendly and do a great job cleaning your room every fortnight. However, the kitchen is very small for 8 people as there are not enough fridges/freezers/cupboard space to hold all of our things. There isnt any access to cleaning products such as mops so that we can clean our kitchen floor if we have spilt anything and this is needed when the kitchen is cleaned once every week. The WiFi connection is absolutely dreadful and it will only connect if I am sat on my bed so my desk is pretty much useless. Also, you have to be on top of the accommodation staff is something is broken as it took me 4 emails and almost 3 weeks to have something essential in my room fixed. Additionally, the dryers in the laundry room are diabolical and do not dry your clothes on the first cycle so you have to spend unnecessary money and 2 hours just to get your clothes dry. Finally, there is very small value for money in the accommodation at £145 a week which is a crazy amount for what we get.

All rooms are ensuite so people rarely leave the rooms and there seems to be very few people that are willing so socialise. Most people choose this accommodation because they want to be isolated.

Hollycross was in an ideal location, about a 5 minute walk from the centre of campus. It was reasonably nice, and kept warm throughout the year, but it had a very impersonal feel like you were staying in a hotel/prison. With 8 people per flat it was good for socialising but could have been improved by either a lounge area in each flat or a halls bar. The laundrettes were useless, sometimes stained clothes and would never dry them.

Very nice, lots of room but there is not much social space compared to non ensuite and new Barnes accom. Socially quite boring due to lack of living area space. Ensuite was nice and had no problems. Large enough wardrobe and a lot of shelf/desk/ under bed storage space!