Keele Reviews

Living in Keele

Situated in the heart of the UK and with good transport links to local towns and cities, students at Keele University can enjoy the benefits of visiting larger cities but study at a university set in over 600 acres of parkland.

Students choose their universities based on a lot of different things and location is definitely one of them (the male:female ratio is another, but we’ll get to that some other time). Some people are desperate to be in the big city, with a hundred and one different things crying out for their attention. Others prefer to be in the middle of nowhere, away from all the noise and distraction that can come with bigger towns. With Keele what you actually get is something between the two.

Keele University is easy to find, sitting snugly between the M6 motorway and the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme (locally just called Newcastle, for simplicity’s sake). The campus itself is in a rural spot, with the nearest signs of human civilisation being the golf course across the road. There’s also a very large contingent of squirrels living in the area.

No really, there’s a LOT of squirrels. Is nobody bothered by this? From what we hear they outnumber the students, so if they ever tried to take over the world you could be fighting off several at once! They could be secretly plotting an uprising right now, waiting for the day when they can finally overthrow the campus and run it themselves, filling the lecture theatres with tiny squirrelly undergrads. Adorable as this would be, it would upset your future career plans, so don’t let it happen on your watch Keele Student!

Newcastle is your nearest big town, and caters for all the general shopping and groceries, with a good range of supermarkets and discount shops. As with most universities there are a lot of facilities and shops on site but these tend to be more expensive, and with the price of living in Newcastle so low surely no self-respecting student could fail to take advantage. Buses run from campus to Newcastle at regular intervals, and tickets are cheaper for students so remember to take your NUS card with you when you go shopping.

For bigger trips and nights out, the majority of students that aren’t going to the Student Union usually head to Hanley, on the other side of Newcastle. It’s about 20mins away by taxi so the best idea is to get a group of your mates together and split the fare. If you go in the daytime and take the bus the ride is a little longer but you’ll find some good high street shopping at the other end.

Oh by the way, did we mention ALTON TOWERS???  That’s right, at Keele university you are a measly 40mins away from the UK’s most awesome theme park! Let’s be honest, you may as well just buy a season ticket right now.

Nothing to do this evening?

• Takeaway: Almost all the takeaways in Newcastle are used to receiving student orders and will deliver to campus. Students recommend Chillies, and Mr Malik’s, which specialises in Indian seafood as well as your usual Tandoori.
• Hit the tiles: Head over to Hanley and dance the night away. If you’ve never been before, ask for Brunswick Street where you’ll find Sugarmill, and work your way outwards from there. Revolution, Liquid and Reflex are all within a few streets of each other.
• Movie night!: Newcastle-under-Lyme has a nice big multi-screen Vue cinema in the city centre. Check out their website for details on film times.

Good to know

• The buses to Newcastle and Hanley town centre are the First Bus 25 and Bakers Bus X75. The 25 also goes through Stoke-on-Trent, which is your nearest railway station.
• Stoke train station runs direct lines to Birmingham New Street station and Manchester Picadilly.
• Taxi: Sid’s Private Hire