It’s moving out week for UCL residents. Now that the year has come to a glorious finish, we visited six of UCL’s most popular student accommodations to find out how students really feel about their home away from home.
It seems that wherever students have stayed, whatever problems they’ve dealt with – mould being the most common issue – they have an undeniable and sometimes defensive soft spot for their lodgings.
So if you haven’t got your first choice of accommodation, don’t fret. We’re sure you’ll find yourself surprisingly fond of the one you’ve been given, or at least of the people that come with it.
Garden Halls
You may have read that Garden Halls boasts a cinema room, a flashy study room and a games room equipped with PS5s, Wiis and a pool table. But these lavish facilities don’t truly make Garden Halls. The real gem is the unassuming tower next door where the self-catered kids hang – and host excellent pres – Hughes Perry Tower (HPT).
With a capacity of 1,200 students, Garden Halls is freakishly huge, and the main building resembles a hotel more than student halls. HPT is the place where you can get to know friends more personally in the comfort of more intimate quarters.
For those that will be catered, you should know that Garden Halls recently changed its catering provider after complaints about the food. I don’t know what the food tasted like before, but whilst living there I genuinely looked forward to breakfast every morning, so they must have done something right. I confidently declare it the reason I made it to all my morning lectures.
What makes Garden Halls special compared to the other accommodations on this list, apart from its extensive facilities, is that it is intercollegiate. This means you can make friends that go to other London unis such as LSE, King’s, Birkbeck, and City. Many of the friends you make living in these halls won’t go to UCL, even though it’s only a 10 minute walk from the UCL’s main campus. London is a big city. Intercollegiate halls help you take advantage of that.
Lastly, thank you to Garden Halls for installing a table tennis table in the main lobby – it’s really helpful for letting off steam during the exam period.
Langton Close
You won’t find students more enthusiastic about their accommodation than the residents of Langton Close. They only surrender to the criticism that it’s one of the furthest accommodations from the UCL campus – a strenuous 26 minute walk. This has earned it the nickname “Langton Far”.
Despite this, Langton Close prides itself on being a hotspot for parties and gatherings. Students say they felt limited by the size of their bedrooms, but only because they struggled to squeeze in more than 20 people. We hear there are plans to gift chocolates and flowers to the security guard for shutting down their festivities so politely and reluctantly over the year. Even if you don’t stay at Langton Close, you might find yourself trekking there anyway for an open invite flat party.
Langton Close residents also gloat over their halls being the “best value for money”. If issues occur, they’re dealt with fast, and one student was happy to say that Langton Close accepted a request for a three week tenancy extension without much fuss.
Perhaps on account of its recent refurbishment, the building smells consistently clean. The toilets, the lifts, the kitchens and the laundry room all smell fresh.
Resident Archie said he was “actually really sad to say goodbye” to his days at Langton. However, the majority of his accommodation buddies have found housing within a 10 minute walk of each other for next year, so he can’t mourn for too long.
If we were ranking UCL accommodation, Langton Close would definitely be a competitor for number one.
St Pancras Way
St Pancras Way seems to be loved by everyone except the students that actually live there. The general feeling is that the building isn’t being used to its full potential by residents.
The best explanation from its residents is that the social life is “a bit bizarre”. Not to mention, it has a maze-like layout (seriously, good luck learning how to get to your room) and a super protective night guard. Residents say you’ll remember the rooftop parties, the rooftop smokes and, well, basically the rooftop. The Asian vending machines are cute too, selling things like strawberry milk and the Korean snack Pepero, but apparently no one uses those – this is what we’re saying about potential!
Those that don’t live there talk about St Pancras Way excitedly. It’s enjoyed mostly by nighttime guests as a place to chill. The message for future residents would be to actually appreciate the facilities (ROOFTOP) at your disposal without the help of guests or the last-minute realisation that you’re leaving for good.
Ramsay Hall
Ramsay’s prison-like gate
Everyone at Ramsay Hall knows that Coldplay members Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met there. Next time you listen to Fix You, tell your neighbour that the line “lights will guide you home” refers to the band members using the BT Tower to find their way back to Ramsay. Fans sometimes take pictures outside if you’re interested in having a taste of that celebrity life.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s tackle Ramsay Hall’s other reputation: That it looks like a prison. “It’s our prison,” one very passionate tenant implored. He also joked that the wood panelling makes the place “so sixties, so retro”- it’s part of the aesthetic, I guess.
Like the main building at Garden Halls, Ramsay Hall isn’t arranged into flats. Ramsay lodgers say that’s part of the appeal – it’s a big pool of people where you’re guaranteed to make friends. At dinner, served everyday from 5pm to 7pm, everyone gets the chance to mingle. The food is good, but to make the most of it, you’re advised to make friends with the dinner ladies.
There’s plenty of spacious common spaces including a courtyard of picnic tables and a study room which they call the “fish bowl” because of its wide, exposing windows – more effective for socialising than studying, perhaps.
A huge win for Ramsay Hall is its location. It’s only five minutes from the UCL main campus, but even more attractively, less than a minute from the almighty Court: UCL students’ favourite non-Students’ Union pub.
Schafer House
Living at Schafer is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. Although most flats consist of five people, some are made for a lonely two and equipped with a rather small kitchen. You could be in one of five blocks, which vary massively in size.
Schafer has a mind of its own. It’s famous for its Halloween parties – last year’s saw the whole of block D coming together to host. The picnic area is delightful but it closes at 10pm, so don’t end up like the student we spoke to who was trapped there after hours.
This is definitely an accommodation with personality.
Ifor Evans Hall
via Google Maps
Ifor Evans used to have a reputation for being the worst accommodation in London. But this was 10 years ago, so what’s it like now?
Well, it’s actually pretty loved by its residents, and this former reputation doesn’t harm the students’ attitudes towards this iconic accommodation.
Being a 35 minute walk from the UCL main campus, residents feel like they’ve escaped the “Bloomsbury bubble”. They live in Camden. They’re cool. They can stroll down to The Blues Kitchen whenever they please, or hop on the Northern Line, or work out which room Ricky Gervais stayed in – the possibilities are endless.
The Ifor Evans clan are quite close with each other. Catch them cracking open some tinnies at Hampstead Heath on a sunny day, casually exchanging an inside joke or two. They even claim to have become acquainted with the kitchen staff “quite personally”. There’s a strong feeling of community in this distant accommodation.
