Accommodation in general

Reading some of the reviews on here i'm really surprised to hear some of the horror stories about accomodation in the halls of residence at Birmingham. I lived in Mason Hall in 1997 and would definately recommend it to anyone starting at Birmingham. The rooms are basic but always warm and cleaned regularly with bins being emptied daily. I understand that they now also have phones in each room which is an advantage as there used to be quite a que for the two public phones near the entrance hall. The staff were always really friendly and helpfull and the security guard was always willing to help with small emergencies such as having locked yourself out of your room ...

I was at Brum Uni from 91-94, so this might be a little outdated, but still should apply. The various halls are spread over quite a large area. The bulk of them are in The Vale area, and are quite a fair walk into uni. If you are lucky then you might get into University House which, back in my day, were reserved for posh people as far as I could see. This one was right next to the Uni, so very convient. I lived in Manor House, which like Griffin was out towards Northfield. These were about 40min walk, or a 15 minute bus ride away from uni. Griffin were the big self-catering blocks where a lot of the foreign students lived. Manor House ...

As a new student at Birmingham university I am disgusted at the housing that they offer students. Not to mention the food! For the first 3 weeks of term our flat in Maple Bank had no heating or hot water. The rooms are infested - we all wake up in the morning with bites all over us. The rooms are damp and so nothing can be left on the floor or the windowsill. The food served in the halls is literally terrible and unidentifyable. All this for about £3000 a year! Aren't I the lucky one?! Nobody expects university accomodation to be wonderful but for the money that we pay I think that we should be able to expect places where there is hot water and heating not ...