Okay so this has been a post I've been asked to do a lot, and before I start it's really important that you remember that the halls experience is what you make it - you are the one that needs to go out and make friends! Also, the halls cohort changes year to year, and a lot of your experience is determined by the people that live there - no 2 experiences are the same! In short - take what I'm saying with a pinch of salt, haha. I'm taking what I write here from my own experiences, the experiences of my friends, and what I've heard, so what I say might not necessarily be true for you, or other people that have studied here this year! Anyway, that said, let's begin.
The halls at Bristol can be broadly split into 3 groups - Stoke Bishop halls, Clifton halls, and City Centre halls. You'll be offered a first choice and a second choice hall when you apply (some halls can only be put down as a first choice due to demand), however you need to remember that you are in no way guaranteed a place at either of your choices - I know plenty of people who put down SB or Clifton halls as their choices and got put in City Centre.
We'll start with Stoke Bishop, as I lived there and know plenty about it. There are 6 halls in SB (listed in descending order down the hill): Wills, Churchill (& the Holmes), Durdham, Badock, Hiatt Baker and UH.
Let's begin with catered halls:
WILLS.
Wills gets a bad rep every single year for being the hall that's full of 'rahs'. It's on top of the hill and it looks like an Oxbridge college - it's absolutely stunning. In terms of this year's residents, it's true that they tend to be slightly posher than the rest of the SB lot, and in that sense they fit the stereotype, but to be honest apart from a group of dentists I met in freshers (who were sat near me on the bus and referred to HB as 'social housing'), literally everyone I have met from Wills has been polite and just generally really really lovely and not superior at all - some of the Wills medics were just the nicest people ever, so generous and well-mannered. Wills holds the Stoke Bishop Ball at the end of the year, which was just amazing this year - they had a ferris wheel and dodgems, loads of acts and a silent disco. Wills are also famed for having formals all the time - something other halls don't have; they sounded like a nice chance to get dressed up, and quite often they'd have big events like the James Bond night that other halls could go to. Wills also have tennis courts, basketball and squash courts that they share with Durdham.
If I could apply to halls again, I don't think I'd choose Wills, because I can't afford it, haha.
CHURCHILL (& THE HOLMES)I had quite a few friends in Churchill this year, and from what I could see the rooms were split into the quad rooms, which were big, modern and lovely, and the rooms in 'Shanty Town' block, haha, which were very small and nowhere near as nice. The friends I had in Shanty Town were all really close to the people in their corridors, though. Churchill is MASSIVE - it has a really nice bar and a biiiig JCR, I did first aid training this year and all of it was held in the JCR rooms; they also held the Stoke Bishop polling station in there for the European elections. Churchill is slightly outside of the main SB hub - it's the furthest hall away from the bus stop, and it's closest to Badock Hall. The Churchill stereotype is 'Wills rejects', but to be honest most people that come to Bristol are fairly posh anyway so I don't think it means anything - the people that I know from Churchill are just generally really nice - I can't say I met anyone that wasn't lovely from Churchill, but again it depends on the cohort. The Holmes is a gorgeous house set in the uni Botanical Gardens - I've never been in and didn't have any friends in there, but from what I can gauge from my Churchill friends they keep themselves to themselves - I think they tend to become quite close-knit.
If I reapplied would I choose it? No, just because of its distance from the bus stop...I'm lazy
BADOCK.Some of the best friends I made this year were in Badock. Its stereotype is the 'edgy' hall - a running joke amongst most of the people living there - but in general my impression of Badock was that it's filled with a mixture of people who want to live up to the stereotype and people who take it all with a pinch of salt - my friends from there are all cheerfully self-effacing with a sarcastic, intelligent sense of humour - they don't take themselves too seriously. Again, it depends on the cohort, but I know second-years that lived in Badock, and they too are laid back with a great sense of humour. On the other hand however, there is an interesting Badock sub-culture referred to as the 'jingly-janglies' by the other residents - one guy I knew in Unit 7 said he lived above the 'head jingly-jangly' - who are a group of (usually blonde) girls who have been 'enlightened' on their gap year and enjoy wearing harem pants and bells around their ankles and John Lennon glasses etc. There's also quite a strong drug culture in Badock from what I've heard - even though there's certainly a drug presence in every hall it seems to be strongest in Badock. Badock has the nicest bar in SB in my opinion (I know plenty of people who'd contest me on that haha) and, from what I can see, a community feel. They also have the Badock Ball and various formals throughout the year.
If I have to choose my hall again given my experience this year, I'd definitely consider Badock, just because of the people I met and because most of the units become really close, but at the same time I had a few people say to me that unless you smoked weed it was quite difficult to get to know certain groups of people (I don't), so it's hard to say.
HIATT BAKER
Okay so I probably know the least about HB - I knew quite a lot of medics in there this year but I only really had one good friend there - but I can say that HB is an absolute maze (navigating it when drunk was difficult) and that the people in HB tend to live up to the stereotype of the 'party hall'; everyone I met from HB without exception was confident and friendly. The units tend to be quite close-knit, although I can imagine it would be difficult if you don't gel with your unit - but that's the luck of the draw I guess. It's a massive massive hall (the biggest in SB) that they were building an extension to this year so it must be easy to find friends. Apparently HB has a gym, and it has the Source Cafe attached to it (a cafe at the Hub which stocks essentials like bread and milk etc as well as doing pizzas and wraps and stuff like that). I don't think they have as many formals as other halls but they have the Hiatt Baker Ball at the end of the year, which I've heard was amazing.
Would I apply to HB if I was choosing for the first time? Maybe!
And now for the self-catered halls:
UNIVERSITY HALL
I didn't know anyone in UH hugely well, but I did know quite a few medics and non-medics there, and by all accounts UH has a fairly laid-back atmosphere, and the people I do know there are open, friendly, generally non-judgemental and relaxed. The UH nickname is 'poverty hall' because it's the cheapest option in SB, but it does seem far less pretentious than some of the other halls can be. The kitchens are tiny but from what I've heard (I haven't been inside) the rooms have a lot of storage and are an ok size. They don't have many formals, being self-catered, and I think it's arranged in flats of 5 or 6...I can't remember. It is also the closest hall to the Hub where the bus stop is...a mate of mine there could see the bus arrive from his bedroom and run and get on it easy - so jealous of him haha!
UH was almost my second choice of accommodation, and in hindsight I'd definitely choose it as my 2nd choice if not my first.
DURDHAM.
Ooookay. I lived in Durdham this year, it was my first choice as to get a place at all you had to put it first due to demand. Durdham's nickname is 'Dulldham' and I used to get loads of stick from my other friends about living there, haha. Durdham is the only hall in SB where all rooms are en suite, and having an en suite was just awesome. You live in flats of 6, and to be honest (as I'm sure the case is in UH) the time you have really depends on how well you get on with your flat. I guess this could be the same in halls as well but corridors and units in halls contain many more people to meet and get on with. Durdham is arranged in blocks, but due to the set-up of closed flats it can be quite difficult to get to know your block. At first I found it quite difficult to relate to my flat, as we were all completely different people, but the great thing about flats is that you learn to get on with anyone - by the end of the year it felt like a family, and I miss them! Durdham had one Christmas formal and we had a music festival (Durdhambury) in the quad at the end of the year. I didn't always feel like part of a community at Durdham, but on the other hand I know some people that did - like anything, it's the luck of the draw. Some of the porters could be a bit patronising, but some of them were lovely and it was nice (because it's quite a small hall) to have the banter with them when you went down to get your mail. The kitchens in Durdham are notoriously big, and have a dining/seating area, which is ideal for flat parties. The downside of that is that even though we have the biggest bar in SB, it's dead about 85% of the time bc everyone drinks in their flats, haha.
If you would have asked me earlier in the year whether I would have reapplied to Durdham I would have said no, but looking back now I've moved out, I think I'd apply there again.
Pros and cons of Stoke Bishop in general.
The free bus is a godsend as the halls are 45 mins walk away from uni (if that) but to be honest the distance is walkable - I was just lazy! The nearest shop is the Sainsbury's across the Downs, which is about a 10-15 minute walk away from Durdham. In SB you are literally right next to the Downs which is good for sports teams and such, and you are also the closest halls to the Sports Complex at Coombe Dingle, where some exams are held (I had 3 exams there this year). Even though living further out from uni wasn't a big inconvenience, it was frustrating having to plan it every time I wanted to go out for a drink or out in general - I couldn't just pop down the pub, and back from a night out you either got a taxi or you walked (I got a taxi). I'm living much closer this year, and I'm really looking forward to it. On the other hand, it's true that SB is the 'social' group of halls - you do tend to meet a lot more people in freshers - however that stereotype does attract quite a few less-than-nice people.
Anyway there you are, I'll write a post on Clifton and the Centre halls later, I've done them separately because I know much more about Stoke Bishop! As always, feel free to comment with any questions!
Tash x
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