Owens Park Reviews

Lived in room 15 of Tower level 5 in 1983/4 !!! Lots of fun. Great social. Don't miss it!

Terrible conditions here; if you get stuck with messy housemates expect regular bills, unusable kitchens and useless cleaning staff. The distance adds another bill onto your student loan for travel, but the only real redeeming factor is the quantity of people available to make friends and the food service they provide.

This is, quite frankly, the most abominable accommodation I have ever lived in throughout my entire life. Not "one of" - simply the worst. The facilities were faulty (elevators were often not functional), the security was inadequate (someone broke into my room in the middle of the night at 2am) and perhaps most importantly, the residents utterly lacked common courtesy or/and intelligence: The countless fire alarms set off because of idiotic incidents, the number of cakes explosions that occurred in flat corridors (and the ensuing fines), the unrelenting tsunami of noises that people make even during exam periods... they all amount to an irrevocable brain damage to one's mental wellbeing. So... if you are looking at this and considering whether or not you should spend your next 9 months in OP, this is my message for you - If there ever was a rewind button in life, I would, without a shadow of a doubt, have chosen any accommodation other than The Shit Hole™ that is Owens Park.

I was allocated the tower and literally freaked out, had heard bad things about it online and wanted to drop out. Arrived at tower on my frist day and my room was pretty small, but now I am in love. Tower is the best place you could get accommodation at the UoM. There is no social scene quite like it!!! Made friends on my floor and loads from other floors, have friends living around OP and its so dead there compared to tower! My friends I made from manny met love tower so much even though their accommodation is smarter. Literally, if you want to make tons of friends and party non stop, tower is for you. Floors 16-18 are known as "the stables" due to all the ket, but the whole vibe is insane! I have been coming back from a night out at 5am and gone to so many random after sesh's with complete strangers and then seen them on other nights out and hung out again. Res Life are so annoying and shut you down all the time (been fined £250 lol) but worth the risk. I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE

At Owens Park, the main attraction is the Social Life. Many of these reviews will give one the impression that this often becomes an annoyance, or a hinderance, but let me assure you that if you don't let it, it won't. If you manage your time, and enjoy the people who surround you OP couldn't be any better. Rooms are great, lots of storage! The surrounding area is brilliant, with fallowfield being a huge student area. Food is abundant, Sainsburys, Tesco and Lidl down the road, as well as plenty of fast foods. Other reviews will also lead you to believe that the food is grim, and i'll break that trend too. The food is certainly on par with expectations. For a hall that caters to over 300 students there are certain limitations, but if you aren't overly fussy, they are definitely good enough. Breakfast is a big bonus also! The kitchens are a little small, but for those who like to do basic cooking they are fine. Small but fine. Fridge is small, but 'okay'.

Of everyone that I spoke to in OP nobody said it was their first choice but not a single one of them said they would have rather lived somewhere else. There's a sense of community that comes with living in OP, you'll always have something to talk about with your neighbours, granted, it's probably about how shit the showers are or how the fire alarm went off at 5am again but all of that is just part of the experience. The rooms are actually quite big, with the exception of the ones in the tower (but you do get a hell of a view), the staff are friendly and the common areas are perfect for larger groups, especially at the start of the year when you're getting to know the people you're living with. My first year at UoM was the best of my life and I can't imagine it would have been even half as good if I'd lived anywhere else. If you are struggling to decide on the right halls for your first year and are not averse to having fun and making new friends then OP is definitely for you!

Obviously v good for first year as it's the most sociable halls in Manchester

A local landmark, wouldn't want to be anywhere else

If you want a hall with peculiar mould and horrendous dinner lady canteen but also didnt make the cut for the better self catered oak house then stop by Owen's Park.

If you're looking to get the best out of your university experience head to OP. It has a huge social scene and an opportunity to meet a lot of new people. The rooms are big enough to feel comfortable in, and massive wardrobe spaces too. If you love sharing a bathroom then OP is for you. The food isn't so bad once you get used to it and the breakfast is a help in hand on those dark winter mornings. There's a large computer cluster just above reception if you fancy taking a break from socialising and catching up on some work - but remember 1st year doesn't count - so why not head elsewhere? On the door step of OP, there's so much to offer - so many pubs and bars, large supermarkets, Starbucks, Nandos (if you're cheeky) , McDonalds (obviously) plus many more smaller restaurants with a variety of foreign cuisine. Don't forget to head to Koh Tao for a drink and an underground dance or maybe even the infamous 256, and en route home don't forget to pop in and say hello to Paz (Kebab King).

I had certain expectations when I found out that I'd been allocated Owen's Park and somehow it fell below them. The rooms are huge is my positive. Other than that, it's not great. The kitchen is way too small for 12/15 people to be sharing at the weekend. The food is really not good. The bathroom is in the middle of the staircase so anyone can, and does, walk in at any time. Actually, people can walk around between all the 'flats' (which are actually more like blocks, with 42 people sharing my common room) freely once they're in the building. It's a very social area, which is great at first, but then you realise that you can always hear music thumping, which is really annoying when it's 7am and you're pulling an all-nighter trying to do that essay last minute. Also, the cleaners tend to forget things - we weren't given toilet paper for almost 2 weeks.

PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! PAY CLOSE ATTENTION! DO YOU WANT A LIFE: YES OR NO???? IF YES KEEP READING... if no victoria park is calling your name OWENS PARK is for the cool kids and everyone is great and you will 100% MAKE FRIENDS HERE!! The rooms are big enough for activites and NO WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS PEOPLE MAKE OUT!!! PLS LIVE HERE IF U LIVE TO PARTAY ...

It's not classy, and never quiet, but you'll meet the best people and have so much fun that you'll stop caring about how gross your shared bathrooms and kitchens can get and learn to live with the constant fire alarms. If you're looking to have fun this is the place to be, and if you got stuck here after opting for fancy en suite accommodation like I did, don't despair - I promise you'll love it!

Old furniture but great location

The kitchens are the most shocking - would not even consider them as habitable. The campus is too far out from the university, the staff at the accomodation office are unhelpful and not friendly at all. It's dirty, often smells of mould and damp, the ceeling is about to crumble in the bathroom and most of the toilets do not work. Yet, we pay £134 a week.

Although Owens Park gets a bad rep and wasn't my first choice of accommodation or any of my choices for that matter, it is an experience. You will have one of the most social and amazing times of your life here and still contrary to popular belief you can get work done. Would 100% recommend it to anyone who wants to have a good time.

Notorious as the most rowdy accommodation in Manchester, it may not be the nicest but you're guaranteed some fun

I have no common room and it's ruined my first year

Although everyone says it should be knocked down, that it has the highest dropout rate of students at the university, it is the best halls ever!

Owens Park has quite a reputation and rightly so : though the rooms aren't brand new, though the bathroom isn't always spick and span, though we're a little further off from uni than most halls, the social experience is DEFINITELY worth living here! Owens park accommodates over 1050 students (1st years and exchange students) which guarantees that you can continue meeting people indefinitely. The catered meals are a life saver - less to organise - and their quality is good (diverse menus, good serving times, vegetarian option, salad bar....) I would definitely recommend living here :)

I'm staying in the tower in Owens Park and so far (after 15 days) I can say that I enjoy it on the whole. The people you meet are fantastic and always up for a chat. The location is great because you're far enough away from uni so you can escape it all (but Fallowfield does have everything you need too) but you're near enough so that you're never more than 20 minutes away on the bus. The food is universally accepted as "better than expected", although don't expect anything too extravagant! I would say that for the money you pay (around £5,300 for the tower) it's fairly good: the room size and amount of storage you get is really good, but I would have expected to be fed 7 days a week, even if it is only two meals a day, but that is really my only qualm with the place. Overall I would probably give it an overall 4 stars out of 5, even if that's not what my other ratings average it out to be.

Owens park would never be my first, second or even third choice.

a ghetto of a hall with little redeeming features other than the bus journey through Curry Mile. If you value your child's safety, DO NOT send them to this hall.

I'm in Little Court and it's a very 70s boring dark building, but the people are great so far and it's good fun being here. The common room is the bare minimum at the moment, just a bunch of chairs in a little room.

When I was applying to accommodation at Manchester University, all I found about Owens Park online was scathing reviews. I ended up going with my gut instinct and applying there, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. While it may look old and dated, there isn't a better place that you could be if you're a student at Manchester. It is the social hub of the Fallowfield campus, packed with students. The layout of the halls (excluding Tower which is a little different) sees you share as a block of 30 (three floors of 10), with each floor designated to a gender. Each floor shares two toilets, two showers and a small kitchen for cooking at weekends. The food is better than what i would be cooking alternatively. Everyone gets the bus from here to uni (its far worse being at a campus nearer to the uni buildings - you'll have no social life with any flatmates there). The social opportunities are endless and you will meet amazing amazing friends. It was the best year of my life.

Most sociable halls, party party!

Tower was a dump and the food wasn't great either, the only good things about it are that its so disgusting that there are just constant parties! it's also just next to the bus stop

Location is nice, food is crap, cleaning staff are really crap but the people you are with make up for it.

Owens Park is a super social place to live, though it lacks modernisation.

The very opposite of you get what you pay for but the social scene is something to write home about. Whilst these are catered halls, the likelihood is that you will have to sustain yourself as the food is far below par. If that wasnt enough, bear in mind that you have to feed yourself at the weekends. For this they provide what can only be referred to as a jumped up microwave and one small fridge between 14 people. But, as I near the end of my time in L6, cant help but say I wouldnt have wanted to be anywhere else.

very lively always something happening

Owens Park was one the best years of my life! Absolutely incredible social scene, in Manchesters hub of Fallowfield. Whilst it might look a bit s**t, and rough around the edges, expect to get to know 100s of people in your year there, and have so much fun!

Food is decent, if not a little bit expensive. The only thing you need to worry about is the weird socialist londoners who wear beaten up adidas clothes from the 1980s and look down on anyone who doesn't live within 10 miles of central London. If you consider yourself a nice person then owens park probably isn't for you. If you smoke weed everyday and look down on people then you'll be welcomed with open arms.

Owens Park is really great for a social life - the halls aren't divided into flats like other universities I've visited so people constantly walk into each others rooms and there are always people pottering around. The room size is really good, you get a very good sized desk, a standard single bed, a sink and a large wardrobe with storage space and a chest of drawers. In Owens Park, each floor (12 people) share two showers at least, two toilets and a small kitchen space for cooking at the weekends. It's an extremely friendly environment, provided you get on with the people on your floor. The whole of Owens Park is catered which, again, provides room for socializing. There are three dining halls in total. One for Tower (the biggest of the blocks), one for Tree Court and one which is shared by the Mall, Green Court and Little Court. For my year in Owens Park I have resided in the Mall. It's been a really great experience and I've met some really wonderful people.

Bad layout, poor social spaces, ridiculously tiny kitchen space for 12 people.