Athena Hall Reviews

I have lived here for 3 years and it has gotten worse every year. Firstly the water pressure and hot water is always an issue. In 2020 our flat mates couldn't take a shower if one of us was shower or there would be no hot water. Now in 2021, I haven't been here since December, came back in May and the hot water in my shower isn't working. There was an email on the day of my return that someone has inspected our hot water boiler, however when I arrived in the evening the hot water in my shower and toilet sink was not working. First return back started off with a cold shower. The amount of cold showers I have had to take in this accommodation is ridiculous. I do not know what I am paying for, I paid the full price even though I was not living here for a few months due to Covid, so when I return for the last few weeks I expect the basic necessitates. Enjoy freezing cold showers? Enjoy having trickle of water coming out of your sink due to water pressure problems the? You found you place

I have been living in a studio in Athena hall for 3 years straight. I found it as a great option for when I was student. It is so close to the University campus (for whenever you wake up later, you can always go to the university fast by foot and not be late at all), always great maintenance of the flats and studios (the mainteinance guy has always been there to fix everything needing it, he is amazing!! Always so fast in his work and the quality afterwards - just 5 stars!), having a Tesco next to the building (for whenever you want a quick snack after being in lectures all day). It's all worth it, I mean it! ❤️

For all the problems I've caused throughout the years I cant fault Debra for being caring and passionate about looking after us and providing everyone with a safe home while at university. My mental heath is not the best and she helped me through growing up (to a point). I would highly recommend this accommodation to anyone!

The photos they post online are a scam. Most ovens don’t have any stickers on. All the kitchen stools are broken. Curtains have suspicious stains on. No plugs in the sinks. The fridges are damaged. Mattresses are ripped and paper thin. Walls are stained and dirty. The showers are disgusting and mouldy. Same with the sinks. Water is never hot enough. One maintenance guy for the entire building, so nothing gets fixed. The common room is barely ever used because there’s nothing to do and rarely any events. The flats are dark and dingy. They don’t clean it before you arrive (and if they do, they do a shoddy job). It’s always too hot, or freezing cold. Overall, really poor student housing.

Excellent service from the team! Over the past few months the team have managed to withstand the stupidity of self initialed people who think it's great to knock down the staff as they don't get their own way! Would recommend this accommodation to anyone who wants to live in a friendly and welcoming place! Debra and Daniel work hard and to slate them on other platforms is totally unnecessary! Good work guys and look forward to seeing you soon

Slow staff, slow internet, slow to act, slow to inform. Far from anything good, please commute if you can.

This is an absolutely horrible place to live. Filthy in both my room when I first moved in as well as in communal spaces. Awful environment. Would not recommend.

Absolutely shocking. The deposit given at the start of the year is NOT spent on fixing anything. They keep it for themselves and leave damages that don’t need immediate fixing. Rooms are dirty upon arrival for the new students. I found an diabetic needle in my draw and poo in my toilet. My friends have found much worse. I had a flood on my first night in first year as someone left the tap on upstairs. The rooms flood so easy. All my clothes were damaged and a pair of headphones. They tried to replace my Apple headphones for cheap ones. I wasn’t having it. They replace my damp laminate flooring with flooring that was a lighter colour and the shapes didn’t match. I had a patchy floor for the whole year. My friends have had much worse experiences. The landlord during covid is forcing us to pay 25% of rent even though none of us were living there at the time. They don’t care about our wellbeing You’re better off going to Spring Court round the corner.

I would not recommend this place. The amount we pay should mean that maintenance issues should not be a regular occurrence. This is not the case. And when maintenance issues are reported, they take a while to fix and sometimes don’t even fix them.

Expect for the fire alarms this place does what it says on the tin! Daniel in the office makes you laugh with his emails but he means well! Overall happy here and the other students are friendly! The location is perfectly close to everything I need.

Untidy environment, too loud, and most neighbors are not considerate of others. Pricing is ridiculously high and not worth the money for the 10 minutes of hot water in the studio flats.

There is very little student-friendly accommodation in Ipswich that has bills included, is close to the uni and to the town; for less than the cost of Athena Hall. It is not bad for the price, but it could be a lot better. Overall rating 3/5.

Most of the issues arise when management leave at 6, feels like the night staff/security do not do their job properly (doors are broken, broken glass on courtyard etc)

Found a used condom wrapper behind my bed when I moved in.

In general the place is quiet good but there's are other student accommodation that is better value for money in the local vicinity

The best thing about it is the location. All the rest are so bad and frustrating that make you want to move out right from the first day. I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemies. The staff treated me with disrespect on multiple occasions and the room was really dirty when I received it. Also, water infiltrated into my room through the walls when it rained for a small period of time and destroyed a lot of my work and materials which were worth a lot of money. Even in this situation, the staff treated me like they weren't responsible and it was such a big thing for them to resolve. They moved me temporarily in another dirty room, much smaller than mine and I have to go through the pain to talk to the insurance and wait god knows how much to claim the compensation.

More modern than most. friendly staff in reception. great kitchen/living areas great maintenance could improve on cleaning external areas more regularly must improve online portal

Great location to uni but it’s far too expensive! The courtyard is a mess. Sometimes cannot collect parcels from reception in the day!

Poor security, a homeless person got into the halls. staff are cold and have been known to withhold mail from people they do not like. Washing facilities are too expensive. Internet is slow. Drugs are a problem. Getting out of tenancy is difficult. Mental health a moral are poor across athena hall. Manager refuses to engaged with the uni and su. Room prices are too expensive, silver room prices are pointless as they are only one floorboards wider than bronze. Overall a poor experience and poor value for money

If the laundry would take cards as it is at other universities, that would be great

Maintenance is too slow in fixing issues. Laundry is extortionate and complaints are not responded to.

Halls are okay, however marks on the walls and missing paint was not painted over before moving in. Very view appliances were provided (not kettle, toaster, bin). However staff are very friendly and helpful. It is also close to campus

Not great. Noisy neighbors and nothing is done about it. A lot of money for a s***** broken room. Just commute or get student housing elsewhere

Friendly staff, ideal location with a 10 minute walk into town centre

Don't rely too heavily on the photos online because upon arrival you'll be disappointed. It does the job, but isn't worth the money in my opinion. Very convenient. Fire alarm goes off a lot. Staff are nice, just think it could do with a bit of upkeep (particularly with the kitchen appliance, painting and floor)

Wouldn't choose to live here... But here I am.

Rude and obnoxious staff. Way too expensive rent for what the rooms are like. Cleaning people are shocking, had to deep clean the kitchen when I moved back in cause it hadn't been done...

Doesn’t take parcels on weekend but didn’t say when they changed. Very expensive considering washing and tumble dryer isn’t included and the machines only take cash only. Security spend the whole time on their phones watching Netflix. They let random people into the building and they were banging on the doors in the middle of the night

Is a very nice place to live for university bit pricy but that's expected for student living. The day staff and very nice and friendly never spoke to night staff so can't comment on them. There are little problems with this place but doesn't get in the way of living here. If you're going to live here definitely try get a gold suite room the extra space is worth it.

No cleaners available but great location and nice rooms. Some small issues with cleanliness when I first moved in but nothing major. My personal experience has been positive but I know others have had issues.

I recently moved in but wish I hadnt - the room was filthy, and it's too expensive. There isn't 24 hour security as they claim either. Had so many maintenance issues but had problems trying to get them fixed - freezer was broken when I moved in but staff said that it was my responsibility to fix it despite fact that I hadn't broken it in the first place. Took a month before they finally decided to look at it even then I was still left to fix it. Continuous fire alarms which is extremely annoying. Also had problems with the electrics keep tripping. Do not recommend staying here.

it’s a student accommodation but security moan and have ago on a weekend. Find that hard to understand at student accommodation at university.

It's great for making friends because you share the kitchen and living spaces, but you also get your own space and bathroom.

The building itself is nothing spectacular, there is no ventilation residents are expected to live in rooms with no open windows throughout the year, rooms are barely even breathable in the summer, staff are extremely rude, miserable and unhelpful. The prices are extremely high, considering this is probably the worst accommodation in the Fresh Student Living company.

I lived in Athena Hall for two years and it was my first time living away from my parents. The move in day was full of issues about an initial payment, and the issues only grew from then on. I had issues regarding fire alarms going off at 2am, not once or twice, but at least once a week. These issues were not resolved in my two years there. Issues regarding ventilation in the rooms was a huge one - you could barely breathe over summer in the flats as there was absolutely no way you would get fresh air through windows which open 2 inches wide. Along with these issues were issues with security who did nothing about rowdiness from people who didn't even live there in the car park who would harass residents, issues with other residents were also not resolved in an appropriate manner. Magnetic locks on doors did not work meaning anyone could walk in, and so long as you paid highly overpriced rent on time, the management did nothing. I would not recommend this accommodation to anyone.

Lovely accommodation, it's a shame some of the staff can't be bothered to Sort out some of the issues I've had that weren't my own fault. Usually takes weeks for them to sort it