Depot Point, London

I loved this hall of residence.

The good: The rooms themselves are great - although I booked early and managed to get a larger ensuite for a bit more money per week. Plenty of space for clothes and everything else. Curtains block out all of the light at night so it's easy to sleep. Kitchen facilities are nice as well. I enjoy the sound of the trains but this might be really annoying for others.The location is great and it's easy to get home from a night out The bad: The area, because of the station, is so unsafe it's ridiculous. I've seen multiple drug deals in the car park next to the building and have been frequently harassed by homeless people and drunk creeps coming home from work. The roads that the housing is on are constantly messy and smell disgusting because of the homeless problem. I've also seen people do drugs on the road next to the accommodation in the middle of the day. Basically you have to be really careful even in the day walking to the station. Don't expect to be accommodated with preferences because they don't care. I asked to be with at least a few postgraduates or older undergraduates as I was a postgrad student myself and also asked for at least one other person from a similar country in the 7 person flat. When I moved in I was 1/2 postgrads with the rest being 1/2nd year undergrads. Everyone was from similar countries but me as well so I felt rather uncomfortable. I wish the staff gave more consideration to some preferences at all but they obviously don't. Laundry is a disaster and takes me hours to do bevause there's not enough and the washers and dryers themselves barely work - usually have to pay double to get my clothes somewhat dry.

Very unpleasant environment: adjacent to railway so you hear the trains passing by every minutes, and often the noise of maintenance wakes you up at 2 in the morning. The weekly fire alarm testing can last for an hour, around 11 on Fridays. Homeless people roaming around sleep across the road. Only four washer and four dryers available and sometimes you can wait for hours to use one.

I spent a year at Depot Point and now I wish that I could be a student forever so I could keep coming back ! The location is amazing- within a 5 minute walk of Kings Cross station. There are also quite a few bars/pubs/restaurants in the area making it hard to get bored when staying at Depot Point. The studios are spacious and everything is included, making it an area which is comfortable to live in! The staff is simply amazing- always there to welcome you with a smile on their face and ready to answer any questions that you might have about anything at all. I would recommend this residence without a doubt!

I stayed at Depot Point during the summer and found it a great environment to live in for many reasons: 1. The Room-I got an en-suite room that had a lot of storage space (more than I thought) where I didn't have things clutter in my room. Very modern and nice! My windows got plenty of sunshine so I could wake up when the sun came up. The rooms do get hot during the summer but a cheap fan does the trick to keep the room cool. The in-room bathroom was the perfect size, great water pressure, and enough space to store my toiletries. The rooms are perfect for living with a student. 2. Kitchen Area-The kitchens are shared but it's huge with two full kitchen that are great for cooking, which I took advantage of. Enough storage space for pots and pans, cutlery, plates, etc. It was also a great spot to meet your neighbors and chat. My block was great because it was a quiet floor for people to relax and study. 3.Location-This was the most important part. It's a 5 minute walk to Kings Cross/St. Pancras where you are connected to the vital tube lines that will get you anywhere in London and the train stations that can take you anywhere in the UK or to Europe from St. Pancras. Plus there are loads of restaurants, pubs, bars, shops, grocery stores, coffee shops, parks, and more where its easy to find anything you need, eat, or go out and have fun. Plus you will save money on transportation since any bus can get you to Kings Cross. YOU CANNOT BEAT LIVING IN THE HEART OF LONDON!!!! 4.The Staff-The staff are super awesome, very friendly, and super helpful. They know London very well and can help you with anything you need. Plus they always enjoy meeting and talking to students from around the world! It is very hard to find a staff this friendly, helpful, and hospitable in London. Even the handyman and night/weekend security are friendly and helpful too! 5. Extra Amenities-Besides the rooms and kitchens, you do have a common room to study, watch TV, and mingle; a TV room with comfy couches and a big TV for movies (seriously why does no one use it?!), and the laundry is great too because the machines operate using a great app on your phone! We haven't even gotten to that level in the US. The wifi is also really good as well. 6.The Price-For what you are getting it is really worth the value. On-campus accommodations are expensive in London and even finding a flatshare is expensive too. It is definitely worth the price to all the amenities you get, the location, and even how nice the rooms are. I would definitely recommend living if you are a student in London!

1. Unsafe area. Located in a shady and dodgy area of King's Cross despite being relatively near to the station compared to previous accommodation. Especially in winter when it gets dark very quickly, it always feels unsafe walking back as the streets around it have gangs, drunk people (there is a club nearby too), homeless people and occasional muggings 2. Maintenance and management comes into the room at VERY often, sometimes even once a week with very short notice and sometimes even unannounced beforehand. A few times they entered whilst I was in the shower. This is very disruptive as the floor gets dirty with shoes (they even step all over the bathroom and bath mats!) and I have to end up cleaning so often which is especially annoying during exams season 3. Fire alarms goes off for no reason often. Few times ended up having to stand out in the cold with everyone else while they find out it's a false alarm. 4. Insufficient number of washing machines and dryers so doing laundry is a hassle unless you do it at odd hours (It usually takes me half a day just to get laundry done with all the waiting) 5. Management conducts room inspections so often but are not frank about charges for the room repairs or disposal and say that students are EXPECTED to read the tenancy agreement very carefully themselves. A quick reminder to students before moving out takes a mere minute or less to say and little effort and could save everyone the trouble but no, read the contract to protect yourself. 6. A friend moved out after a year due to the terrible noises from the trains running just next to the building. So if you are unlucky and are allocated a room in the wrong block, good luck having a good night's sleep. 7. My studio (a bigger studio) was so dark and not conducive for studying due to minimal number of lights installed. 8. Water poured from the ceiling one night whilst sleeping. Massive cleanup by myself afterwards in my flooded room. No help whatsoever. 9. Neighbours party all the time even till early mornings and no action taken 10. Courtyard facing rooms have noise/yelling/screaming/partying from the courtyard and smoke if you live on lower floors Only reason I booked this place was that it was relatively less expensive (but definitely not cheap + increasing prices yearly) compared to my previous accommodation and near my school.

Great staff and facilities! Finishing the rooftops and allowing the tenants to smoke there would be better to reduce the noice in the courtyard.

The management team are really friendly and always be there to help you, especially with deliveries (I buy lots of stuffs online). Room are tidy and well-spaced, same for the bathroom (en-suit). Kitchen is gigantic, definitely the best thing in a flat for people to hang out and party. King cross is a blast for active people to live in. Overall, I like it.

Booked the hall when I was in my home country and didn't manage to visit it in person. Thought the hall would be fine as it was built recently and I was excited to be the first batch of tenants. However, everything turned out to be a nightmare once I arrived at the doorstep. The underlying central problem is the location of the building itself, LOCATED NEXT TO THE KINGS CROSS TRAIN TRACK. Kings Cross is one of the most busiest station in London, having said so, one can imagine the pain of being disturbed by the train noise EVERY SINGLE MINUTE in the room. Guess what, the management actually told me to shut all the windows to prevent the noise. Come on, what is the purpose of the window if it has to be shut all the time? Decoration purpose? You got to be kidding with me! How can the windows be shut all the time, especially in summer. So how to air the room? The worst is the window can't actually prevent the noise entirely, even if they are all fully shut. Seriously, double glazed window should have been installed instead of the normal one to block 80% of the train noise. So yeah, you can't really listen to the music in the room even when you shut all the windows. At first, I got allocated to a studio room which located at fourth floor without the lift facility, only I came to realise that there are certain rooms without the lift facility. I could imagine no groceries driver would be willing to deliver the goods to my doorstep on the basis of health and safety reason. So, I complained and management reallocated my studio room. (At first, they refused but I insisted on the basis of disability issue) Anyway, the new room still failed to solve the noise problem. This time they refused to reallocate my room because the entire building is actually affected by the train noise. As a postgraduate student, I realised the hall wouldn't suit me and I was lucky enough to get another tenant to replace my tenancy after staying there for a month, of course at the expense of my deposit. To be frank, everything in the room is good as the hall was built last year. However, I would still not recommend it as the train noise problem is overwhelming. Unless you can resist the train noise, otherwise there are better choices available in London. On the safety issue, the area is not student friendly but this is not surprising since the hall is secluded nearby the train track. Be careful at night. Also, washing machines on site are not enough. *** PROPERTY NOT RECOMMENDED

Very basic area is in the heavily polluted kings cross area Camden council can be difficult with council tax - took 6 months to sort Noisy train line, runs through most of the night Was told studios would have a tv, they don't Took 2 weeks for a light to be changed No toilet in common room Have to share building with business offices - which was not mentioned prior to booking Area is not nice at night - very rough, offered drugs regularly,/ a gang hangs around in the car park close by Road is used for parking next to local club, very loud at weekends post has gone missing more than once Promised a balcony, nor been given access Internet regularly cuts out Hot water issues and drains often smell Too many maintenance issues- with staff regularly having to enter rooms at inconvenient times often with only 24 hour notice Building is very catered to international students rather than domestic Staff however are good and friendly

Upon walking into Depot Point whether it be when you first checking in or after a long day of uni, you are greeted by friendly staff and always welcomed back to an incredible environment. Depot Point builds their housing accommodation of the idea of community by creating the best space for the most people. With monthly themed social events & communal rooms, depot point is a great place to meet people from all over the world. The rooms are spacious and provide all the essentials to live comfortably and happy and since the accommodation is only in its first year, everything is in ideal quality and runs ever so efficiently. With central location to Kings Cross and 24 hour surveillance, Depot Point can get you anywhere while allowing you to feel safe just staying where you are. All and all, two thumbs up, a must stay for all!