Holly Cross is located towards the edge of campus, and is only a 5-10 minute walk from the facilities in the heart of campus. Throughout my stay the maintenance team have been quick acting in solving any issues. En suite is cleaned every two weeks. The only real issue is that the heating in the building is dodgy as it only turns on during day/evening and not during some cold nights. However this can be fixed with a thick blanket (7.5+ tog recommended) From my experience the accoms would be ranked: Holly Cross: biggest en suites, double bed, peaceful Barnes: best social spaces, temperature, double bed Lindsay: best value for money, shared bathroom Horwood: best location (but depends where your lectures are), overheats, shared bathroom, noisy
Keele University Hall Rankings
| Keele House | #1 |
| Orme House | #2 |
| Hassells Bridge Apartments | #3 |
| One London Road | #4 |
| Horwood Hall | #5 |
| Holly Cross | #6 |
| Barnes Hall | #7 |
| Lindsay Hall | #8 |
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Holly Cross is located towards the edge of campus, and is only a 5-10 minute walk from the facilities in the heart of campus. Throughout my stay the maintenance team have been quick acting in solving any issues. En suite is cleaned every two weeks. The only real issue is that the heating in the building is dodgy as it only turns on during day/evening and not during some cold nights. However this can be fixed with a thick blanket (7.5+ tog recommended) From my experience the accoms would be ranked: Holly Cross: biggest en suites, double bed, peaceful Barnes: best social spaces, temperature, double bed Lindsay: best value for money, shared bathroom Horwood: best location (but depends where your lectures are), overheats, shared bathroom, noisy
Read Holly Cross Reviews
Holly Cross is amazing for student accommodation, although it is slightly pricey its definitely worth it. The bathroom and kitchen facilities are great, big spacious bedrooms and the kitchens are perfect for socialising in. The common room isnt particularly appealing however its still a very nice space to chill. The beds are perfect size lots of storage honestly the best first year i couldve asked for in this accommodation.
Price of accommodation is high considering what you get
Nice accommodation. Room and bathroom size is decent and equipped with the things you need. However, paying WAY too much for what you get. Doors slam way too loud here too.
I've enjoyed living in this building however, the flats have been broken into several times as there is no security inside the building with only 2 cameras facing the car park and one road. Don’t feel very safe and for the price it could be a lot better. A lot of things are very loose like my desk leg and bathroom door handle.
Holly Cross is located towards the edge of campus, and is only a 5-10 minute walk from the facilities in the heart of campus. Throughout my stay the maintenance team have been quick acting in solving any issues. En suite is cleaned every two weeks. The only real issue is that the heating in the building is dodgy as it only turns on during day/evening and not during some cold nights. However this can be fixed with a thick blanket (7.5+ tog recommended) From my experience the accoms would be ranked: Holly Cross: biggest en suites, double bed, peaceful Barnes: best social spaces, temperature, double bed Lindsay: best value for money, shared bathroom Horwood: best location (but depends where your lectures are), overheats, shared bathroom, noisy
Good distance to campus making it easy tk get to lectures. However, there is only a kitchen and no other social space which is disappointing for the price we are paying.
Holly Cross is a strange hall. Instead of separate blocks, it's set up so you might have to walk through up to two other hall 'blocks' to get to your own. You can reach the science areas of the University in under 10 minutes on foot. There is a bus stop nearby. The vast majority of the bathrooms here use non-touch shower units. They turn themselves off after 2 minutes. I'd just prefer a normal shower (especially as mine often malfunctions). You don't get mixer taps. Unfortunately, the walls are NOT soundproof. I can often hear things like loud music and banging in the rooms near me, and I have had to submit noise complaints because of this. The desks are not suited for desktop PCs, there's no cable management holes in the desk, so cables need to go over the edge. You don't get Ethernet, only WiFi. For the record, I'm autistic, which allowed me to claim a discount (through DSA), making the price I pay the same as a Classic Plus room. I wouldn't pay for this room at full price.
Unfortunately gone a bit downhill since the unnecessary renovations. The yellow, brown and grey colour scheme is vile. However, it's a nice enough place to live with spacious rooms and bathrooms. Kitchens are also decent for sharing between 8 people.
Accommodation is decent but I'd say way too expensive for what you get, so take it as a tax for living on campus but if you have DSA, you're eligible for a discount if they see you have a reason. The room and bathroom is a decent size and you get a pretty big desk, along with having a 3/4 size bed. Internet is good but there's no ethernet in the rooms and the desks are bolted to the wall with no where for cable management if you have a desktop. Rooms are cleaned every 2 weeks but only the bathroom.
Clean and modern. Rooms are relatively spacious. Generally, very good. A very pleasant (and short) walk into the heart of the campus. The only caveat is that there’s no bar within these halls, and so, if you fancy a pint, you need to walk to either the Sneyd arms (just up the road), or to lindsay cafe bar (again, a 5 minute walk).
Loves living here, not the most modern but is a nice size room with a huge bathroom, the kitchen is not cramped and there’s places for everyone to hang out
I have not enjoyed living in these halls. It's very loud at night and the facts that the walls and doors are paper thin, and that the noise carries through the vents don't help. The rooms are incredibly overpriced and the social spaces are quite bad (although The Cross is alright). The showers get incredibly annoying, as you need to push the shower head into place each time you turn it on and as it has a "non-touch" system, it turns off every time I wash my hair and accidentally go too close to the sensor - it also turns off by itself randomly and lowers the water temperature. Good sized beds. Halls smell strongly of dust because of old carpet-flooring. I haven't unfortunately enjoyed the company of my annoyingly messy, loud and thoughtless flatmates either, but that's just me. Wifi works very well and the location is nice, as it's not too far nor too close to the central campus.
I had a horrible time living here, the people were very hostile and you felt completely trapped, and the rooms felt like hotel rooms. Despite being en-suite, it was very noisy and the halls and rooms were very dark which was depressing. I would recommend Hawthornes as it is cheaper, and even though you have to share with more people, it feels like more of a homely environment, and not a massive block of flats, but individual blocks.
Very outdated halls of residence. Needs major updates.
Lovely Halls but personally didn't have a good experience with the people I was with. Would be great if the university out you together with people on your course
Holly Cross is the best accommodation on campus! I love how it is one block so it makes it very easy to meet new people!
The overall halls were brilliant, very clean and for accomodation you are given alot of space. The cleaners did a good job, however the management of the halls were shocking.The management were never there, arrogant and patronising when they were plus always tried to avoid doing anything.
Could have done with a bar but good location and nice rooms
find it ridicules that we have to move out over Easter with nowhere to put our stuff and then if we leave anything we get fined.. its stupid.
It's great having an ensuing bathroom, but we have no bar :/
Had an amazing time living in these halls so far. The kitchen's are a great size and a good place to chill with your flatmates. It's close to the centre of campus just a 5 minute walk from most places!
Massive problem with bed bugs in this hall and management are not keen to address the issue.