UoB’s Wildest Halls: Vote Now

Each year, thousands of freshers descend on Prichatts Park, the Vale and the rest of UoB’s accommodation in order to begin their studies and embark on university life. Living in halls means surviving independently for probably the first time, meeting new people and, of course, experiencing many funny, embarrassing and crazy stories along the way. So which are the wildest halls? Who deserves the honoured title? Here’s the round-up, to help you decide.

Oakley Court:

Ah, Oakley Court. The quiet, lovely halls that look as if they were previously used as an elderly care home. You’d assume the students living here in 2016 are just as mute and reserved. However, those Oakley Courters are wilder than you’d expect. Flat wars, egging, dropping bins into front gardens: these guys know how to get revenge. Don’t mess with Oakley Court, these students are definitely wilder than your average OAP.

Ashcroft:

This accommodation is situated alongside Oakley, looking a lot more like where students would be to have a wild night, however it seems that they are indefinitely tamer than the Courters.

One student from Ashcroft said: ‘all the flat went out apart from one person (who’s Welsh) who had got really drunk at pres. When we got back, there was a note on the front door that said “this flat has officially been taken over by Wales” and when we went in, EVERYTHING was covered in post-it notes with Welsh words all over them. Every single surface was covered. This was in the first week and I’m still finding them now.’ It seems Ashcroft students are more about the friendly banter than full on flat wars.

Pritchatts House- Global Community:

This accommodation is another story. Now, the University of Birmingham’s website officially states that this accommodation ‘will provide residents with an opportunity to build friendships with students from around the world’. Is this hall sociable? Tick. Are there many people from different backgrounds, willing to have a good time? Tick. They sound pretty wild.

Jarratt Hall:

As the closest hall to the university itself, those living at Jarratt can roll out of bed 10 minutes before a lecture and still make it there on time. Which means there’s plenty of chance to be as wild as you want late into the night and still sleep off that hangover.

Chamberlain:

This hall has a banger of a story. Take a look at this convo between their residents:

Need I say more?

Shackleton:

Otherwise known as the catered hall that boasts being situated right above the Duck & Scholar, Costcutter and the laundrette. It has a couple of tales to tell. From skateboarding on the roof at night, to there being a serious mould problem that has left a student with no choice but to move out of his room onto the floor of his flamate’s, you decide how crazy this hall is.

Maple Bank:

Situated at the top of the Vale, Maple Bank recently had a fire. Alongside that, there’s a stolen mattress from Mason that’s now taken residence in a flat’s kitchen, two flats opposite each other have a tin can phone between them so they can talk to each other and they’ve even sent each other cake across. Wild.

Tennis Courts:

Word has been going round that Tennis Courts could easily steal the title of wildest hall this year. One particular flat has taken it upon themselves to display a giant inflatable penis in the kitchen, in full view of anyone walking past. There is a block war between another two areas of tennis courts (you know who you are) involving eggs, rape alarms, trolleys and post-it signs. Some crazy stuff.

Mason:

Before arriving at the university, you assume Mason to be where the party is at. However, this isn’t exactly the case. Nothing happens at Mason apart from people from other halls stumbling past at 4am, loudly rehearsing chants about Mason w******. And Mason don’t even egg them in revenge. Poor turnout guys.

Liberty Living:

We cannot forget Liberty Court, Liberty Gardens & Liberty Close. These private halls often have security going round at around 11pm in order to make sure students turn off their music and stop partying- but the Liberty students have a sneaky way around this. Stop the music around the 11pm bracket, then turn it right back up at midnight. Wild.

Victoria Halls:

These halls have a few stories of their own to share. There’s been angry emails sent to students about tampering with smoke alarms as well as incidents of windows being shattered. Maybe they aren’t the wildest halls, but there is clearly always drama not too far around the corner.

Both Elgar Court and Aitken, the two remaining halls at the uni, have failed to pass around any wild stories. However, if you know any, be sure to vote for them as the wildest hall.