- Accommodation Details:
- The majority of Keele students live on campus in University accommodation. In the second year, some students (about 25%) decide to live off campus, but then return in the final year when over 95% of students live on campus.
Overall the quality of university accommodation is fine, or at least no worse than most other universities. The general rules apply: bring a large houseplant and plenty of posters!! All the halls are self-catered and kitchen facilities depend largely on how much you are prepared to pay. At the lower end of the scale there are halls with one kitchen amoung 30 odd students, while others are split into flats (with kitchens) for 4-6 students. For those students who decide not to poision themselves by opting to eat out, there are various pay-as-you-eat refectories and campus cafes.
Presently, finding accommodation off campus is fairly easy. However, as the student numbers at Keele rise, and more students decide to live off campus, this may change. At the moment the most popular areas to live are Newcastle (not the city) and Silverdale, because they are on excellent bus routes to college. Hanley and other parts of Stoke are also popular but a little more difficult to get to. Try to avoid Knutton, as it can be a bit rough, and often the locals don't like students.
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- Accommodation Prices:
- University Owned
Self-catering:
En-suite around £86pw (33 weeks)
Non-en-suite around £70pw (37 weeks)
Private
Private rented accommodation in and around Stoke is cheap, but it can be a bit of hastle getting to college without a car. The average price is around £38 per week excluding bills.
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- Local Area:
- Most people will only know Keele by the service station on the M6. However, Keele University is situated between the towns of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme, on a staggering 617 acre campus, the largest University campus in the country!!
Many students feel as if they are in the middle of nowhere, and you can understand why...they have to walk for miles just to get off campus!! Their feelings, however, are more to do with the fact that there is no large city nearby (the largest, Manchester, being 35 miles away), and thus there is a lack of serious retail therapy or a pumping club scene. Keele itself should be described more as a hamlet than a village, and the service station provides most of the population (only joking!). There is neither a train station, or a National Express bus stop in Keele, although both of these amenities are available in Stoke.
Stoke also boasts the Potteries Shopping Centre housing all the major national chains. There are also two cinemas, numerous pubs, a few cheesy clubs and an excellent live music scene. Trains to Manchester cost just over a fiver and lots of students take advantage of it.
As for places to go in and around campus, unofficial-guides.com recommends Scruffy Murphy's, O'Neills and the Firkin pubs in Stoke, as well as the Golfer's Arms, close to campus. As for clubs, it is best to go on Monday nights as it is usually student night. The SU run a bus to Creation in Hanley which our sources say is definitely worth a look.
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