One of the better deals at Oxford Brookes (Cheney Hall)

Member Name: grey0220

Product:	Cheney Hall
Date:	02/11/09 (2 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ridiculously close to Headington Hill lectures, new build so everything still works, quite spacious

Disadvantages: More expensive than other halls, no post-grad/undergrad segregation, smells a little

I lived in Brookes University's Cheney Student Village during my LPC - my room was en suite, and I shared a kitchen/dining room with 5 other people. During my previous degrees, I had alternately lived in private accommodation and in halls. Cheney Village was my first experience in halls in about three years, and I had sought to live there because as an American, it's incredibly difficult for me to rent privately as a student - the restrictions for my guarantors, in particular, are very high. I also knew I was only going to be in Oxford Tuesday through Friday (spending the weekends and my day off in London) so I wasn't particularly bothered about having loads of space, catering, or even a common area - this was going to be purely a place for me to sleep and occasionally study (as I very rarely opted to study in my room and not the library).

Overall, I was happy with Cheney, as it basically ticked all the necessary boxes - decent enough to sleep in, scouts kept it relatively clean, kitchen was OK, very close to my classes (literally 2 minute walk from the Gipsy Lane and Headington Hill campuses), and it was great to have an en suite. This is not to say, however, that there were no problems.

For one, the accommodation office didn't seem to have any policy of putting graduate students with only other graduate students, and undergrads with only other undergrads. I found this out the worst way possible - my course had an exam on the Saturday of freshers' week, and I met my next-door neighbour at 3 in the morning that Tuesday, having been woken up by him and 5 of his drunk friends as they trashed our kitchen. I kicked them out quite forcefully and he was very apologetic the next day, and the rest of the year was without incident. However, at the other end of the hallway, the only other undergrad in our flat of 6 had a habit of bringing his girlfriend back at 2 in the morning. The PhD student who lived directly next to him tried to reason with him throughout the year, but eventually moved out in the second semester because he refused to stop taking showers at 3 in the morning, talking until 4 in the morning with his girlfriend, and playing music loudly at all hours of the day. Like I said, it was on the other side of the flat, so thankfully I couldn't hear it, but she was unhappy enough to leave. In my opinion, this was the worst thing about this accommodation - it simply makes sense to have grads rooming with other grads, and I'm sure it can't be great for Brookes undergrads who want to have fun to have to walk on eggshells all the time - but I imagine this isn't really a fault with the halls itself, but rather the administration.

Another thing is that when I first moved in, my room reeked of cigarettes - when I asked to have the curtains changed, the smell almost instantly dissipated, which leads me to question how thoroughly each room is inspected and cleaned at the end of every tenancy (this was in addition to cobwebs in the high corners of the ceiling). The maintenance staff were very timely about responding to this, however.

Overall, I had a passable experience at Cheney. For halls so close to the sports pavilion and bar and so full of undergrads, I very rarely had a problem with being woken up in the middle of the night as people came home from bars. The heating always worked, which was fantastic - I had lived in older halls during my previous degrees, and knew how a dodgy boiler was liable to ruin your day. I never used the laundrette system, but it was quite central to all the halls buildings and I often saw people going in and out of it.

If your classes are on Headington Hill, I would definitely recommend these halls - the commute is great! The Brookes Bus is so intermittent as well that I wouldn't rely on it to get to class on time. If you're a postgrad and debating between living privately or in halls, definitely bear in mind all that I've said above - but it did work out in the end.

Summary: Better than average student accommodation