So far no one I’ve talked to has been very happy at the halls, but then horror stories make better conversation than happy stories. The one universal complaint has been with catered accommodation: the food’s not great, and the meal hours are extremely restrictive, making it hard to fit them into a daily schedule. We’re on break right now so I don’t know how many people will be checking Typophile, but I’ll nudge the people who know more about the halls to checkin and offer some advice.

When I was at Reading I commuted from home in Baughurst (a lovely ten mile drive past the atomic bomb factory in Aldermaston, and through the woods and farmland of southern Berkshire) anyway I’d agree with Dan, my fellow students had little if anything good to say about catered halls. Sherfield is nice (or at least was 12 years ago) but its a bit of a trek.

will you have typography classes from Gerard Unger?

I would avoid halls too. :^/ When I did the course at Reading I was in St. George’s which has since been torn down. Is Gerry’s flat all booked for your year?

The rooms in the new St. George’s kind of feel like the cheap cabins on a cruise ship: very tiny, built-in desk and shelves that can’t move around, harsh lighting. And they seem to have fire drills very often.

Oooh. The fire drills. I truly, honestly, dreaded those. In between the food, the 1st years’s amazing party habits, and those fire drills it is a wonder I finished at all.

Thanks for all the replies. I’m wasn’t keen on catered halls to begin with so with your points added I will definitely avoid those.

Sherfield seems to be most popular... or what? Is it quiet and nice? Any more tips?

When I studied at Reading I experienced three kinds of accommodation: in-hall fully-catered (Childs hall), in-hall self-catered (Bridges hall), and in private house (Gerry’s at Oaklands). I recommend the latter.

In-hall fully-catered is definitely NOT a good option. The food is bad (lots of deep fried stuff, like fish and chips), the meal times are restrictive (plus you have to wait in a line, and, if I remember correctly, dinner is not served on weekends), it’s way expensive (you pay double just because of the food), and you’ll be disturbed by obnoxious undergrads.

In-hall self-catered can be OK, depending on the people you share the unit with. If someone decides to throw a booze-party in the pantry, you’ll have a difficult time cooking your meal. And if they don’t clean up afterwards, or if somethings gets broken, everyone in the unit will be held responsible and fees may apply. Apart from that, you get to have/cook your meals at your discretion, and the units tend to be quite because they’re mainly filled with postgrad students.

In private house tends to be the best, but it’s good to know in advance the people you’ll be sharing the house with. It requires a fair amount of discipline, community sense, and organization, to keep life running smoothly and everyone happy. It can be the most enjoyable and least restrictive accommodation option, as long as everyone is responsible and respects each other. And, in general, you won’t have to worry about keeping everything locked (room, belongings, food), unlike in the halls.

Gerry’s sure looks good. Should I contact Gerry directly for more information?

Yes. Contact Gerry directly. g.leonidas -at- reading.ac.uk — Introduce yourself as you have here. He should be able to help.

At this moment I study in Reading and live in St. George’s Hall. The accomodation is very small, but I am lucky that the people I share the unit with are quiet and serious, sometimes there are parties, but they never last longer than 01.00. Besides, I have very nice classmates who invited me regularly in their ’normal’ houses. And then there are the firedrills, there not very nice especially the one’s in the night. It is a good second option to live in a Hall. The only nasty thing is the cooking, when everyone is in it can be very busy and if you are not the first you have to wait.

Thank you. That is very informative.

Parties never lasting longer than to 1 is quite acceptable. The student housing I live in now has alot of people that break that rule (having parties til 5 or 6) and it can get quite annoying on weekdays.

Halls aren’t the only option for more affordable places to stay. You can also find houses off campus that have single rooms to rent (for example, a landlord with a four bedroom house who rents the rooms individually or a group looking for a house-mate). The University accommodation office has listings like these or you might be able to find them in classifieds.

But, you won’t really know how you will get along with your roommates until you move in...

Since the break at Reading is probably over by now I was hoping other Typophiles maybe have some info, tips and pointers about the accommodation.

I am still wondering about things like:
- Bridges & Wessex Halls, so close to the dept. why no mention?
- Sherfield, long distance but is it worth it?
- Which Hall has the best en suite rooms (self catered)?

Thanks in advance.

I’d check out Wantage Hall. They tend to put mature students in the ’Old Court’, which has spacious rooms and is very quiet compared to St. Georges etc. It’s also considered the most ’elegant’ of the residences here.

The same also applies to St. Patricks but i can’t say the food there was any good!

The en suite rooms here tend to be small and miles away from the department. Bulmershe campus has nice accomodation but it’s a small trek away from the main campus. Student village is also decent and tends to be occupied by international students. Stay away from Bridges, Childs & Wessex halls!

Oh, i almost forgot... Whiteknights hall is also another good possibility, some en-suite rooms, located on campus and relatively modern!

Hope this helps...

It sure does - exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

I stayed in Sherfield when I was at Reading (2003) and I highly recommend it. The rooms are large by student halls standards and you get to have a private bathroom which is quite an important thing. There’s also a cleaning lady that fixes up the kitchen every day and the room once a week. This is quite a treat as the only bit of housework you’ll do is the dishes.

The hall is 5-6 minutes off from Queens’ drive but you’ll need a total of around 25 minutes to get to the department as it is on the other side of campus. Still, it’s a wonderful campus and if you get a bicycle it’ll be quite ok.

I was lucky to have very nice flatmates and in a way was a good thing to have my course friends and a seperate group of “normal” people. It makes you able to switch off from type design (i need that sometimes).

The hall organises some parties, pub crawls, and pub quizes. It also has the JCR which is quite handy if you feel like going out but can’t be bothered to get to town. The computer room and laundry are quite ok as well.

We had some fire drills. I actually accidentally caused the fire alarm to go off (at 10 pm) because i was boiling pasta and 2 other pots of vegetables and had the kitchen windows closed. It was cold outside and we actually thought it was really as we were the only house that got evacuated. It’s one of those things you laugh about afterwards.

There is a downside though. You can never know who you get as flatmates. One of mine finished in June and we got a series of unfortunate flatmates afterwards:
- a guy who would walk around in very brief boxers (it was difficult to have conversations with him...)
- a guy who cooked salmon in the oven and invited all his friends but did not clean up afterwards. The whole building stank of fish.
- a guy who had loud sex
- a guy who was just weird
- we also had a girl who caused a racket every time she was on the phone

Still, it was a wonderfull experience and Sherfield is a great place. As far as I know, they usually place postgraduates together so you might be able to escape the noise.

I hope this helps. Enjoy Reading!

Thanks. This sure helps. By now my top two considerations are Sherfield and Gerry’s flat.

Thanks again!