Hythe Mills, Colchester

Staff bribe you first month to leave reviews with free “pizza and Prosecco” and then they are horrible. No hot water barely at all! Cleaning staff have no respect for personal belongings. Nothing this place does is acceptable. Please save your money and time and go somewhere else, the looks are deceiving

The property management is awful, no hot water supply nearly every month ! You will be sent emails to inform someone will get into your room frequently. All kinds of repairing works happening over time to time.

Personally , i don’t recommend that accommodation. Reasons: •the things that suppose to be or work wasn’t! Air-condition, roof top , bigger gym with more equipment as the pictures showed! And most important of all 24-hour security as promiced! •not prepared staff in case of emergencies etc. •reception was close insted of open 24-hour as promised. •not cleaning staff as needed. • not a small table in the studios. ( for eating or even an extra chair) • the staff was not professional. ( a lot of times the staff was knocking once and then go in the rooms without permissions and without a remind before doing that. * a lot of times when i was even sleeping or doing shower the staff went in my room just like that without asking!! * the worst accommodation ever and the most unprofessional*

This place is so nice and fancy but it is kind of expensive compared to other accommodation that you can find which offers the same thing. Another thing I didn’t like is the management and their way to deal with problems. Imagine looking down the common room for everyone because some people misbehaved. What about the other residents who payed that huge amount of money mainly because of the fancy common room?

It’s a good building and the location os really close to the uni as well. However, the management hasn’t been the best, we were promised a rooftop terrace which has been cancelled and the gym is more of a small fitness studio. Reception services and security was initially promised to be 24 hrs, but security was removed and reception desk hours have been cut back. Rooms are decently sized and the aesthetic of the building overall is pretty good. Definitely could have more improvements for a place that is as expensive as this. Despite the few disappointments living here wasn’t too bad, i enjoyed my stay for the most bit.

Don’t waste your money here. They charge you a premium rate for no reason and don’t even bother to provide you with the essentials. They placed too many people in my flat and now I have no kitchen space which they haven’t fixed my whole stay. They refuse to reduce rent, had heating issues last year and they fired security they promised us as an incentive without consulting residents or reducing the fee we pay. They are untrustworthy scum that prey on students naivety, don’t make the mistake of staying here. Any good review you see is fake as they bombard us with emails promising free pizza for a good review and often write fake ones up themselves

Some practical design errors and resources. I.e no coat hooks, only 2 hoovers for the entire place, kitchen cupboard sharing is not numbered right, and not enough freeezer space

THE STAFF ARE CROOKS. IN THE DEAD OF WINTER THEY LEFT ME WITHOUT HEATING AND NO RESOLUTION THEY EVEN STOPPED RESPONDING TO EMAILS. UPON ARRIVALTHEY WERE CHARGING PEOPLE WITH TINY ROOMS A PREMIUM RATE AND THEY SACKED THE 24/7 SECURITY THEY PROMISED BECAUSE THEY COULDNT AFFORD IT AND THEN REFUSED TO REDUCE RENT. THEY PROMISED US A ROOFTOP HANGOUT SPOT AND NEVER CAME THROUGH THEN PROMISED US AN £100 VOUCHER AND DIDNT DELIVER ON THAT EITHER. CURRENTLY STAYING HERE DURING COVID THE CLEANER THAT IS MEANT TO COME WEEKLY HASNT COME IN MONTHS AND THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING ABOUT IT EXCEPT STILL CHARGE ME A PREMIUM RATE. THERE WAS A NIGHT OF EXTREME FLOODING WHICH TRAUMATISED ME AND NOTHING WAS DONE TO COMPENSATE VICTIMS. DO NOT STAY HERE!!!!!!

This accommodation is categorically not anywhere near worth the price listed. Security is non existent and the management is dreadful. Many false promises made at the time of signing contracts which never came to fruition. (this included ‘24hr Security’, which is in fact a resident in the building who IS NOT SIA registered). The common room area closing at 8pm every night as well, which also not written in the contract signed at the beginning of the tenancy. The only good part of this building is the location and even that is mediocre! I very strongly recommend you find somewhere else to live if you are student at UoE, and take some time to read the reviews on Google and other student websites regarding accommodations.

When you pay these prices you expect something slightly better than a glorified Maltings. This year we had many misleading promises and changes to the rooms that we lived in. It felt like a massive f*** you. We got limited with our heating in the middle of winter, they closed out social place because of “noise complaints” - which could’ve been easily managed with a security team that they stripped out. No security either. The people leading this accommodation obviously were far too ambitious and couldn’t manage their costs. For this reason my experience here was ruined. The staff on site are professional and friendly.

So happy here , am planning to complete my degree at Hythe Mills . Secure environment and friendly staff always available to help with any issues . Thank you ????

Rooftop bar advertised - did not happen prices for rooms compared to size is inconsiderably high Gym only has bikes and couple weights Only two or three Hoover’s for the whole building and some people keep it for days in their room Common room closes at certain time what are we 5? Issues with security many times we have had a student warden instead of real security

overall a very comfortable and nice living space but lack of staff an issue

Overpriced. Don’t get your value for money. Fired 24/7 (after being promised) during first term. Cut heating off during winter. Did not support any students during covid19. Will charge students over £100 a month just to park on site. Communal areas closed by 6pm. Just an overall horrible place to live. Rooms come with a free TV though.

No security, front door was broken for months allowing anyone to come in, over promised and under achieved. Very expensive and never worth the money! Had no heating throughout the winter either, and once my room got flooded out. Just go to the maltings, much better run, this place is an utter disgrace.

Would not recommend.

It's clear to see that there have been a few growing pains with Hythe Mills in it's first year, as one would expect. Facilities not working correctly, faulty fire sprinklers (there was a sprinkler on the first floor going off for 3 hours and RIP to the property and belongings of all first floor residents, this hasn't happened since and I believe there was compensation, fortunately for me I live on the second floor). There is no rooftop terrace or top floor bar like advertised and I do not think there are any plans to implement this, but I cannot help but feel somewhat short changed in paying under these pretenses when it just doesn't exist, and worse yet, restrictions keep being implemented on the existing resources because students keep abusing them. OTHER THAN THAT, these apartments are lovely conditions to live in. The TVs are great, the Combi Ovens are great, the staff are nice, it's stylish, the communal areas are nice, the on-site maintenance people are hard working and very patient, can't say the same for the off-site agency they've used in the past unfortunately. The location is ideal just a 20 minute walk from the campus and on the doorstep of the Asian foodstore, Pizza Hut, Ccino Vino, etc. The fees are nowhere near as extortionate as MOST apartment fees you'll find in Colchester and I think that's something people really need to experience before being quite so harsh on Hythe Mills. In my previous apartment rented under Essex and Suffolk Lettings, now Leaders (AVOID) I paid well over £1000 in fees. Here, just £250. Overall while it's had it's growing pains and empty promises, it's still a good block of apartments and if it weren't for the false advertisement I think everybody would be a lot happier with it for what it is.

The Management are only after your rent. They promise the world but you get the bare minimum for your money. No roof top terrace, no security. A very basic gym and rude staff. The rooms are freezing cold as the A/C stops working all the time . No maintenance requests are followed up. Just avoid