Rosalind Franklin Halls Reviews

Very good reliable WiFi’ through entire building, easy access to university buildings and very close to the clubbing scene.

- large kitchen and rooms - good WiFi - staff are friendly and helpful - maintenance requests always dealt with properly and quickly - best location for a halls, right next to lecture buildings

I wouldn’t choose to stay here for my 1st year- the fact that they are increasing the rent for future new students this year is ridiculous. The negative list is endless- for a couple quid more a week you get way nicer rooms, functioning appliances, social areas and no bugs (e.g Catherine / greentham / trafalgar and others.

Love this accommodation. Before arriving I read many negative reviews but I’ve had nothing but a good time here. Out of all the accommodation the rooms are the most spacious, the kitchen is very big in all flats. It’s a very social accommodation and I definitely recommend as its central to everything.

You don't need to upgrade your wifi it's a con... loved this halls so close to town

Great place to meet people. Can be very loud and a bit of a mess. However the cost compared to the other halls is so good for what you get.

While I was in a really good location the price I payed for what I got is ridiculous. It was £131 per week for a hall with WiFi that constantly wasn’t working, Damp everywhere in my room, a walk in shower that leaked all over the floor, an oven that didn’t really work. I felt very alone living in this hall, absolutely no social activities to make sure everyone is included. It is awful.

While I was in a really good location the price I payed for what I got is ridiculous. It was £131 per week for a hall with WiFi that constantly wasn’t working, Damp everywhere in my room, a walk in shower that leaked all over the floor, an oven that didn’t really work. I felt very alone living in this hall, absolutely no social activities to make sure everyone is included. It is awful.

While I was in a really good location the price I payed for what I got is ridiculous. It was £131 per week for a hall with WiFi that constantly wasn’t working, Damp everywhere in my room, a walk in shower that leaked all over the floor, an oven that didn’t really work. I felt very alone living in this hall, absolutely no social activities to make sure everyone is included. It is awful.

While I was in a really good location the price I payed for what I got is ridiculous. It was £131 per week for a hall with WiFi that constantly wasn’t working, Damp everywhere in my room, a walk in shower that leaked all over the floor, an oven that didn’t really work. I felt very alone living in this hall, absolutely no social activities to make sure everyone is included. It is awful.

All halls are great and it’s hard to review all these characteristics because most people are too busy having fun to care quite honestly.

Great budget halls but considering I was paying more when it was taken over by Unite, I would have expected more changes than just new chairs in bedrooms

Loved it, social hub of the uni, everyone ended up knowing everyone it was great

Good halls but could be cheaper

I am not sure where to start...I hate it to be honest with you. Cheaper and better accommodation - houseshares, other halls, private. The best part is the fact the bedroom is a good size. The courtyard is full of drunk people till like 4am most days, people smoke both cigarettes and...other things so your room and the first floor always stinks. Silverfish are my only friends here because my housemates are social and there's no common rooms other than the entrance room with a pool table. When I moved in my bathroom was gross and had to hoover and clean, strange marks on the walls and floor which was a bit disturbing. Maintenance don't really seem to be that great, we still have a broken sink and I know other people here with blocked bathroom pipes, gross smells and paint peeling off walls. I feel so sorry for the staff having to deal with the disrespectful students that destroy the hallways ceiling tiles, leave rubbish and food everywhere etc. Honestly do a houseshare xD

Very nice and great location. One of the more affordable options too!

It’s not up to the expectations. They still need to improve

Good halss with a lot of good social spaces.

James Watson is a modern hall with decent kitchen sizes (sort of makes up for the crappy common room). Bedrooms are okay, not a bad size but desks could have been bigger. Everything seemed to break when I was there - maintenance were pretty good at fixing it quickly. I was never sure about the receptionist hours but I found that they were hardly ever there? This is also a security issue as it is very easy to get inside this place without a card.

If you like stuffy hot rooms with limited window access then this is the accommodation for you! On pictures the rooms and kitchen look decent but once you’ve moved in you’ll notice things falling apart very easily with walls coming off and water leaks in the kitchen. However, you’ll never be lonely as you have the silverfish to make friends with!

In serious need of a refurb. If you’ve booked in take a mattress because the ones on the beds are hard you can feel the springs and they are uncomfortable. The paint in my room was peeling off the walls take photos of all damage in room prior to unpacking so you have a record. Kitchens need replacing as draws were broken and all they did was screw it closed rather than replace. The cupboards were a bit loose. The hoover smelt horrible. Very little ventilation and room always too hot. Rooms are really small. Shower had mould in the silicon and to close the door you have to squeeze round the toilet. When I arrived it was obvious no maintenance had been done over the summer the flat door was hanging off. Kitchen needed some repairs and the lock on my door didn’t work. For £133 a week it’s a rip off. The government seriously needs to review student accommodation charges as it appears they can charge what they like as students have little choice.

Honestly save your money and go elsewhere. This place is the worst possible accommodation in Portsmouth. They have silverfish everywhere and the WiFi is s***. There is only one pool table and nothing else to socialise with. They always have issues with no water and something is always broken.

Great fast wifi (free, but fast fiber internet only costs about £14 a year). Very helpful, social and nice stuff (except a few who act very stuck-up as if you owe them something). There is only one small pool table space as the common room, although the pool is free and if noones playing its great to play with friends. The smoking area is nice, although i feel bad for the people who have windows directed to it. There's a lot of drunk students, some are stupid but most are funny, you will probably become very social living here if youre not already. The cleaning ladies are nice and they have to go through a lot of sh*t, so i respect them a lot. A lot of students grew up with no sense of respect towards neighbors and super bad hygiene. You will probably be mad about a neighbor never helping with cleaning the kitchen and throwing the bags. Theres also a chance you will end up on spottedpompey, the Pompey's equal of WSHH. The location is GREAT, everything close! Lower the price though...

Terrible experiences! Main Door not working, couldn’t come into flat not even from the master key unite students staff own, room 5 days to solve the problem with hassle and arguments with the team! Night time staff and day time staff have no communication between each other when you report a problem in the night and go down the next day to reception to update you on the situation they have no clue what is going on terrible experience! DO NOT STAY HERE. Heating during the winter is bad and the room remains cold, heating switches on for 3 minutes and then switches off and decides that it’s enough done enough heating! Internet doesn’t work properly on all devices and,switches off! There are Shower floods, common room is not really a room but more of a pass through to get to all the flats only contains a pool table really not worth £133 per week. Not all building works outside are made aware, had builders lifts at the start of the academic year outside my window playing d&b music @7AM

This is such a great halls, definitely the best in my opinion. Great balance between quality and cost. Other halls can be very expensive, or a bit grim.

Don't listen to half of these reviews!! I remember reading some of the reviews on this website last year when applying for university halls and it put me off so much but do not be put off by them! Living in James Watson is SO much fun! The location is absolutely amazing, it's so close to the library, the majority of lecture buildings, the gym, Gunwharf and 5 minutes walk from the town centre. You don't need to get public transport anywhere because everything is so close! Most of the staff are really helpful, the only downside Is the lack and awful quality of laundry facilities but hey ho just take your washing back home to your parents lol! It is directly opposite one of the main nightclubs Astoria and is one of the most social halls! The facilities are a little outdated but the rooms and kitchens are massive, bigger than the newer halls such as Catherine house! Overall I have loved living in James Watson and would defo recommend it to anyone, especially due to the location.

Overall, this place is pretty terrible. The building is infested with silverfish. You can find them everywhere although you probably won't find one everyday. There is a terrible shortage of washers and dryers (8 washers for the whole building I think) and the laundry rooms and tiny and cramped. It's a very noisy place to live: at night time there is constant noise from shouting drunk people and you can hear the bass from the clubs, even with the windows closed. The "common room" is literally just a pool table by reception with a TV that normally plays bad music. Everything is very ugly and old: in my flat, there was cracks in the ceiling and the kitchen skirting board was ripped off, leaving black marks all over the place. The appliances are all old and there is very little space in the fridges and freezers for everyone. As for good points, The WiFi works fine most of the time and the halls are close to everything due to being in the city centre.

James Watson has been a o k a y experience so far. We are on the 6th floor but our flat is infested with a ton of silverfish which is revolting. I've seen too many in our kitchen and a few in my bedroom. The appliances in James watson are quite outdated but the bedroom space is rather nice and I would in fact say it is the most social place to stay. The location is the best out of all of the other halls but if you get placed in a bad room you will not be able to get much sleep due to noise from clubs and other flats kitchens if they're situated right outside your bedroom window! The wifi is pretty good, it's fast but has sometimes turned off randomly at around midnight. The common room in James watson isn't really a common room - it's just a pool table lobbed with a few sofas situated right to the stairs. If you have a look at Greetham hall - their common room is really nice. The hall is okay price for money but I do wish I had looked at Greetham or private housing.

Outdated. Everything breaks and I mean EVERYTHING. Chairs, stools, cooker, kitchen taps... One time the cooker broke mid-meal and reception said it was "too late to fix" IT WAS 7PM. They couldn't help meaning 6 of us had to live off take aways until maintenance fixed it. THERE ARE BUGS EVERYWHERE. Silverfish overpopulate the building. So be prepared to find them running on your carpet, and if your clothes if you leave them on the floor. Never experienced these bugs before, but apparently they are 'normal'??? Not to forget the fire alarms across all 3 blocks because some drunk students have decided it will be funny to smash the alarms, or smoke in their rooms at 4 am. This can happen 3 times a week. And if you forget your keycard, you're not allowed back in by security, so good luck!! You cook and smell like you've been deep fried. And prepare to hear everything that goes on in rooms next to you, as they're paper thin. You will meet good friends though & all suffer together.

the maintenance is the worst, they are not approachable and not friendly, and they certainly take ages to get things fixed, i mean months

Absolutely waste of your money. There is no security, desk is open few hours a day and nothing works. Maintenance requests take ages to be reviewed. They don't fix anything and the cleaners are a joke. Met some amazing people living there but would never ever recommend unite to anyone.

The stairs constantly stink of piss and all you hear all day and night is thug boys screaming on the courtyard outside. The staff speak no English and openly admit they dont know what to do half of the time. Several people have been locked out of their rooms for days on end because the batteries have died in the card readers on their doors and the staff say that they don't have time to come and fix it. If theres a block-wide maintenance issue, beware that the maintenance staff have the right to access your property with our without your presence or your consent, and yes they will simply open your door if you dont open it for them. They dont speak any English either so don't bother trying to reason with them. Nothing is ever going to get fixed. Ever. Dont even try it because the amount of times I've been told it will be done 'today' would make your head spin. The only communal space is the one pool table by the front door which Is also always dominated by thug boys.

Although the rooms are a little small I think that there is a lot of space in the rooms. It's lovely having your own bathroom in your own room. The kitchen space is really nice and the seats provided are really comfy and it's nice and colourful with the green wall in the kitchen and the different colour seats! It's really close to every building it takes less than 10 minutes to walk to the furthest uni building from James Watson and is nice and close to the town center and gunwharf quays. Overall I've really enjoyed living in James Watson.

1st floor stinks of weed constantly. Right in the centre of everything, everything of interest is no greater than a 8 minute walk away

Overall James Watson is not worth your money. The lift breaks down constantly for one, so if your on the top floor it sucks. Students break the ceiling and after big nights its all over the floor along with takeaway boxes. The internet is appalling unless you connect to the ethernet cable. If someone is sick in the hallway its never cleaned properly. The sealant in a lot of the windows are broken and Ive had a problem with mould several times. Even after telling them im asthmatic it took them a month to clean it

Absolutely horrible place to live, I've requested a move to Trafalgar as their rooms are much bigger and much cleaner/ nicer. If you're unlucky enough to end up with a room like mine opening onto the courtyard you better be happy with the sound of people screaming and throwing up until about 3am... As well as the useless maintenance who try to blame you for everything. Not to mention how disgusting everything is, the stairs in A block smell of pee and the walls and carpets are all stained, the ovens are old and only just work and the plugs in the rooms are dodgy and if you try to use more than one plug or the Hoover it flicks the fuse switch. The WiFi is AWFUL in a block on the corners and they try to blame you for it and refuse to fix it. It's just a horrible prison like place which gets so so hot at night even with the window open. Which barely opens. Maybe 10cm?

Excellent location but takes forever to get anything fixed, and the fire alarms go off about twice a week!

Really bad experience here. Incredibly noisy so impossible to get a good nights sleep. Internet crashed many times. Bad value for money.

Location is all this halls has to offer. I was lucky to live with some great people and we ended up with a big social group, but no common rooms, the place was a mess every morning the rooms were awful and the staff were miserable. WAAAAY too expensive

Perfect location, lots of fire alarms, expensive compared to other halls or student houses in Portsmouth.

Great, friendly staff and nice rooma although lifts kept breaking and the wifi was bad.

James Watson was not fun to live in. It was always noisy and people would trash the place, break the lifts and destroy the roof tiles to the point where they banned us from having guests! The reception is literally never open so you have to either ring bateson or walk over there. Not that it's far but if you have opening times for a reception the it should be open in those times. However you get the student experience here, parties till they bam you from having flat parties and you can't bring anyone home so as they Id you at the door you can barely get WiFi anywhere but the kitchen. On the plus side the cleaners are an assure delight and if you get locked out and they're around they'll let you in for free. But if they aren't you face a £12 charge.

modern, gauche, well located. s******

Great for location but you pay way too much considering the amount of things you find broken in the flat

It's a very good Hall, the building is nice in an amazing heart of the city location. Sadly people that don't know how to look after themselves ruin the experience by breaking stuff in the building.

Very tidy and clean kept halls. Central location is perfect.

Bit loud but very central and close to university, large number of people and student support are amazing

rooms are an okay size, MAINTENANCE IS AWFUL NOTHING EVER WORKS AND THERE IS NO SENSE OF WELFARE FOR STUDENTS, if you lock yourself out you have to pay... Security is good that's about it. But if you're looking for constant partying this is the place to be! Never boring and can always here a couple parties on the go!