Carnatic just isn’t worth it anymore

The once beloved Carnatic student village is far past its sell by date.

One glance at the shoddy brick work and it’s safe to say that Carny is getting on a bit.

With the recent arrival of Crown Place, hundreds of freshers have been left gazing enviously at those with double beds, swanky ensuites and most importantly: the phenomenon of cold water taps that actually work – amazing.

Inside it’s cramped and uncomfortable with up to a ridiculous 22 people sharing just two showers and four toilets.

The facilities students actually have in Carnatic are extremey limited – with very basic kitchens and toilets that have only empty hand sanitisers in replacement of sinks.

If ‘basic’ was a picture…

Image isn’t everything, but having a room that doesn’t resemble a prison cell is a luxury that those at Carnatic just aren’t lucky enough to have.

Of course each of the halls has their own ‘unique’ interior but even the recently refurbished Rankin hall is hardly anything to scream and shout about (at least not in a joyous sense) – from ghastly white brickwork to sickening brightly coloured floors.

And then of course we have the infamous Carnatic cuisine – chips upon chips upon chips served with the fantastically soggy vegetables that appear on student’s plates day in day out.

you are what you eat…

If only it was possible for students to cook for themselves they wouldn’t have to put up with the Carnatic delicacies.

But the lack of a freezer, oven or even a hob in each of the kitchens means that students have no choice but to eat what they’re given.

The arrival of Crown Place this year has caused quite the divide between students living in the plush on-campus abodes and the not-quite-so-plush digs in Carny, only highlighted how basic the off-campus accommodation truly is.

With a large number of students understandably putting Crown Place as their first choice, only to find out it was massively oversubscribed, many were disappointed to find out they were spending their first year in Carnatic.

Over £60 million was splashed on Crown Place

Even those that chose Carnatic as their first choice, often because it was considered the cheap and better value for money option found that the extortionate bus prices made living in off-campus deceptively expensive.

The whopping £339 for a yearly bus pass and all the taxi fares after nights out raise the question as to how much cheaper it really is to live in Carnatic and even whether it really is worth living there at all.