| Product: |
Accommodation in general |
| Date: |
24/08/00 (119 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Some cheap houses
Disadvantages: Poor, lots of crime
I'm a Staffs Uni graduate and lived in Stafford for a little over three years (as is the norm) and have had some negative experiences with accomodation there.
Thankfully, the old flats in Highfields are now boarded up, so I won't cast judgement on the University owned accomodation. However, there is a distinct problem in Stafford with regards to the location of the University.
You see, the Stafford campus is located at the far end of the town, just past the army base.
This means two things: 1 if you're not careful you could live upto 6 miles away from the uni whilst still being in the boundaries of Stafford & 2 most of the nearby accomodation is unavailable because it's army housing.
Therefore there is the common problem of travelling to the university. Most people try to limit this problem by living in the estates on the other side of the army base and that is as near as you can get. This means about a 30-45 min walk to Uni every day.
The problem is that the areas within walking distance includes Oxford Gardens (famed for a murder a few years back, was next to a factory), Sandon Road, Bellasis Street and other poor terraced streets.
Without exception, all of these roads are crime ridden. This is partly because of the high student population that are often easy (and rich) pickings for thieves, but also because of the numerous hidden back passages.
Most houses are in a pretty bad way round there, run by landlords whose prime concern is to jam as many students into a house as possible.
Here's my top tips to get the best student accomodation (applies to anyone really):
- Pick houses that don't have a public footpath running alongside: footpaths make it easy for theives to get into the back of the house (as I found to my cost)
- Avoid houses that have lanes running behind them (as previous point), this includes Oxford Gardens and some parts of Sandon Road.
- Ask landlords if
you can fit window locks (assuming they aren't fitted already)
- Don't leave keys in locks or anywhere else easy to find
- Don't forget the basics too: smoke alarms, fire blankets, hoover, etc.
- Try to choose housemates you know
- If you have a car then alarm it!
Good luck!
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